Heard in the Halls:

One of the big battles the teachers in the alternative school in the intervention school in Oregon face on a regular basis is that teachers are under pressure to demonstrate academic success. They often don’t have time to get into their students’ personal lives and situations. “Sometimes academic success is just not the first concern we should have for some of these students.”
– Teacher at an alternative education site funded by HFI in Oregon

Primer... continued from page 6

informal review of the evidence is sufficient. In addition, no delay between notice to the student and the hearing is necessary, since a school official “may informally discuss the alleged misconduct with the student minutes after it has occurred.”

Suspensions beyond 10 days in length may require more formal procedures. These procedures are outlined in Due Process Checklist for Suspensions found in in the full article available online at hamfish.org.

Expulsions

Suspensions for a substantial period of time or expulsions typically involve a greater level of procedural protection, which may include the following:

  1. Notice to the student and parents,
  2. A fair hearing and right to appeal,
  3. An impartial hearing board,
  4. Right to be represented by counsel,
  5. Reasonable time to prepare for the hearing,
  6. An opportunity to review evidence against the student,
  7. An opportunity to examine witn- esses against the student,
  8. Opportunity to present evidence and witnesses on the student’s be- half,
  9. Recorded proceedings and
  10. Requirement that board’s decision be based on substantial evidence.

A school board should make an independent assessment of the facts and circumstances of the case in light of any adopted zero tolerance policy and not simply endorse the decision of a school official or the effect of the policy. [See Case at a Glance: Colvin v. Lowndes County (Mississippi).] Of course, an expulsion policy should be developed in compliance with the GFSA, but schools must be careful in implementing zero tolerance policies, as expulsion may be an excessive consequence when weapons are brought to school unknowingly and without a threat of harm to others. Generally, expulsion is warranted only in cases of repeated or extreme misconduct, such as attacking a fellow student or teacher, repeatedly pulling fire alarms without cause, drug use and weapons possession or use.

Emergency situations
Generally, notice and a hearing must precede a student’s removal from school, except where the student presents an imminent threat to himself or the safety of others.

Notice should be sent to the student’s parents within 24 hours of a decision to conduct disciplinary proceedings, and a hearing should be held within 72 hours (three days) of the student’s removal.


This article is an excerpt from "School Safety and Youth Violence: A Legal Primer." Download the complete text at http://hamfish.org/
framework/frameworks/primer.pdf.


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