Once past the obstacles, parents usually find that resistance is eliminated. Level III - Punishment. At this level, retaliation can get quite ugly, with school officials openly threatening and actively trying to punish parents. In this war-like state, school officials have a variety of weapons to choose from. One is the fair hearing process.
Schools have vast financial resources to transform fair hearings into a major trial-like proceeding.
Since there is no accountability to taxpayers for the large sums spent in such legal adventures, officials have free rein to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. Aiding and abetting this practice is a network of attorneys who specialize in fighting parents. There have been recent reports of a menacing new form of retaliation involving the fabrication of child abuse charges against the target parent. Such allegations can trigger an investigation by the California Child Protective Services, which has police-like powers. Pending the outcome of their investigation, they may choose to remove children from the home.