Pubdate: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 Source: Peterborough Examiner, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2010 Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/4VLGnvUl Website: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ Author: Kennedy Gordon EXPULSION APPEAL COST $36,829 Parent says she also spent nearly $10,000 battling school board over expulsion of son for marijuana use Fighting her son's expulsion from PCVS has cost Jean Grant close to $10,000. The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board's decision to expel him ended up costing taxpayers nearly four times as much. Last week's ruling by the Superior Court of Justice awarded Grant $3,000 in costs - to come from the school board, which lost its appeal of a Child and Family Services Review Board decision to reinstate him. "That $3,000, that barely covers what it cost me to fight the appeal," Grant said. "I'd spent more than $6,000 before that." Legal expenses built up quickly, she said, starting from her son's expulsion in December 2008. She required legal counsel for the review board hearing and again for Superior Court. The school board, meanwhile, spent at least $36,829.14 trying to keep Grant's son out of school. The board amassed legal fees of $3,357.76 for the initial expulsion, $21,575.33 for the appeal and $11,896.05 in divisional court. Other costs released by the board relate to renting a room at the Holiday Inn on George Street for the review board hearings. These include charges from March 6 ($406.61), March 11 ($366.13) and April 3 ($365.35), totalling $1,138.09. Those figures were released to Grant after she filed a Freedom of Information Act request; the board released the amounts, but kept the rest of the records sealed, citing solicitor-client privilege. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D