ABSTRACT

Lil Boy Blue, Smurf, and Juice, along with Plucy and three other students, were attending Nuestra Casa, an alternative high school program, when Debbie was hired to be their teacher. In the district where the boys attended school, students who were suspended for longer than 10 days lost the credits they’d earned in the term. Students may have been given the opportunity to return to school in the same term, but the time they invested would not be equivalent to the credits they needed to graduate. As a result, suspended students often looked for alternative schools or programs where the credits they earned were transferred back to their home school. Lil Boy Blue, Smurf, Juice, and Lil Garfield attended both alternative schools and alternative programs.