A parent is among the last to know when a child gets into trouble at Gwinnett County’s public schools.

Misbehaving students are first interrogated by principals — and sometimes police — before a call home is made. What rule-breaking students say in a discipline investigation can be used against them to file behavior code violations and criminal charges. Even if a child confesses to a crime without understanding that he has a right to remain silent.

• QUIZ: How much authority do schools have?
• DISCUSS: Should your child be questioned without your knowledge?

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Officials with a coalition working to protect students from expulsion and criminal records say most parents are clueless about such school discipline practices until their child lands on the hot seat. Metro Atlanta districts publish their discipline procedures in handbooks, but some parents don’t read or fully understand the manuals.

“I don’t think parents understand that there are some charges that occur as part of the discipline code that allow a child to be handed right over to the school resource officer,” said Marlyn Tillman, co-founder of the Gwinnett Parent Coalition to Dismantle the School to Prison Pipeline. “The more informed the parent, the better they can advocate for their child.”

The community coalition is sponsoring a free training session at 10 a.m. Saturday at Five Forks Branch Library in Lawrenceville to help parents learn about the more than 120 infractions that can be considered crimes in Gwinnett County Schools such as fighting, thefts, disorderly conduct, carrying pocketknives on campus, and violent offenses and drug possessions listed in state codes. Parents also will get tips on how to navigate the discipline system and protect their children’s rights.

“If we believe there has been a violation of our discipline code all we have to have is reasonable suspicion to interview a student, search a student’s book bag and car,” said Bobby Crowson, an associate superintendent for the schools. “It is not mandated by law that we contact a parent. Also, the SROs [school resource officers] have the authority to search or interview a student without parental authority.”

Coalition leaders, who are partnering with Gwinnett’s NAACP branch and the ACLU of Georgia in the training effort, say parents should be the first to be informed that an investigation against their child is under way.

“Parents need to provide intervention early to keep their kids from going down a path that is going to risk their educational opportunities,” said parent Jennifer Falk, co-founder of the coalition. “If they understand the discipline process and code, they can step in and change the behavior of their student or the way the situation is being handled.”

In DeKalb County, for example, administrators advise parents as a courtesy when their kids will be interviewed by police. A local court ruling doesn’t require notification, however, said Dale Davis, a school spokesperson.

Tom Bates of Lilburn says he would have appreciated notification from Gwinnett about his son’s interview with police and an administrator at Brookwood High School. His youngest son, who was 14 at the time, was charged with assault for throwing pennies out of a car window that bounced and hit students jogging nearby.

“I was unaware of it until the time I picked him up,” Bates said. “He admitted guilt. He was never read his Miranda rights. How do you question and file charges against my son without an adult present or an attorney?”

Bates’ son was expelled for another infraction and now is in school elsewhere.

Children have the right to “plead the Fifth” and not incriminate themselves to school administrators or police during an investigation, said lawyer J. Tom Morgan, who wrote the book “Ignorance is No Defense: A Teenager’s Guide to Georgia Law” and tours schools speaking to parents about the topic. “What they say to a school resource officer can be used against them. You are only obligated to be advised of your Miranda rights if you are under arrest,” said Morgan, former DeKalb disrict attorney.

Officials at Gwinnett County and DeKalb County school districts, however, say their officers Mirandize students before interviews. Cobb County Schools officials said their police follow constitutional law when Mirandizing students.

In Gwinnett, some police already have access to confessions made to administrators before they even launch their investigations. Principals share information with officers. “The principal is an eyewitness to an admission,” Crowson said.

Students who chronically misbehave or commit serious discipline violations also may be referred to hearings called panels that can sentence them to alternative school for up to a year or recommend them for expulsion. Last year, about 1,900 students attended panels in Gwinnett, the state’s largest system. Cobb’s schools held 156 tribunals and DeKalb’s schools had 1,600. DeKalb schedules local hearings first to determine whether cases should move on to panels.

Students can refute accusations there, and parents can begin to mount their defense. “We provide the opportunity for the parent to come in and review the evidence of the incident and ask questions before it moves forward to some high level of due process,” explained Quentin Fretwell, DeKalb’s director of the department of student relations.

At discipline panels, school officials present cases against students, reveal evidence and call witnesses to back up their accusations.

Parents who can afford it sometimes hire lawyers to represent their child or do so themselves. Parents can present arguments and subpoena and cross-examine witnesses.

NAACP president Jorge “J.P.” Portalatin, who is concerned about students being punished by administrators and courts for the same infractions, says parents must learn about school discipline to “protect their children’s interests.”

“The consequences are so severe,” Portalatin said.