I just want to go back to school… What should I do?? Any teachers or principals would be extremely Helpful!!?

Okay, I have a serious issue at my school…

I’m a senior on the last semester of my high school career, and I have pretty much upheld good grades and almost a perfect “A” average.

Well, on Monday I was called up to the office and told that I was suspended out-of-school for ten days, and I would be given a tribunal within those ten days to try and prove my innocence.

Well, there are two rules in the category of the rule book I may have broken. One is “Computer Trespass” and the other is “Computer Misuse” and I was filed under the first one, “Computer Trespass”. Computer misuse yields a punishment that is far less severe and does not include expulsion. I strongly believe what I did was Misuse, however I do understand what I did was wrong, and could very well be “Computer Trespass”.

I’ll explain exactly what I did, and what I used it for. I used the portable version of “Firefox”, a free web browser, and went through a proxy into a server to bypass the firewall and get to “Facebook” (Yes, I know that now in retrospect it was remarkably stupid). They called me into the office and had some pictures as evidence of my school account going onto “Facebook.com” and they explained my punishment.

I have two problems with this, one being that I might have been punished for the wrong rule (Thinking maybe I broke misuse as opposed to trespassing), and two being that I received a much harder punishment than others with the same issue.

I will also explain that I hosted the “Firefox” with the proxy already set up on my web server available for anyone to download. Some of the other kids in the school began to catch wind of this, and began downloading the program. I use the program for other things outside of school as well, so I did not notice, and even if I had, what they choose to download is there issue. I am legally allowed to own and run this proxy and host this program, and I have checked with my hoster, as well as Mozilla, the creator of “Firefox”. The other students who were caught with the same program were given one day of inn-school suspension and nothing else. I was given a report that stated I distributed the program to other students, which is not true, however even if it were, I cannot be held responsible for what others choose to download onto their school accounts. They found out that I was the owner of the proxy and expelled me when I technically did not commit anything more than the others, seeing as though running a proxy outside of school is 100% legal. So I believe if I am being expelled then that would mean the dozens of other students should be as well.

I have already taken the initiative to e-mail my teachers and ask for work while on suspension and I have also e-mailed my principal hoping he could override the assistant principal’s decision. My teachers all have e-mailed me back and told me that they would talk to the principal to inform him that I am indeed a good student. My principal has not e-mailed me back yet, and it has been almost a week. I am running out of ideas of what to do. I was thinking of maybe getting my local news involved because my school is a “school of excellence” and any media disturbances would be devastating to their reputation. I am just really upset by this and I am trying to find a way to be allowed back in to finish my senior year. I would even be willing to help them fix holes in their network in exchange, or really anything. I truly am sorry for what I did; all I want is to finish school.

Here is the actual report I got:
“School tech. specialist discovered inappropriate programs in student’s folder. It was later determined that student was using program to bypass the school filters and all of the safety protocols. Student also shared the program with other individuals. OSS 10 days pending tribunal Feb. 18-March 3.”

I certainly appreciate honesty; however please don’t take this the wrong way.

I DO know I did something wrong, I just don’t believe it was any worse than any of the other kids, and I don’t believe I should receive the same punishment as someone who deals crack. I would just take my punishment, but the punishment is being removed from school, I don’t know how else to show them that I am truly remorseful and I would undoubtedly accept a punishment, all I want is to be able to go back to school.

Again,
Thank you very much for any help ahead of time!