In all states, students have a legal right to attend school.  Thus, any time that a school seeks to remove a student from school or deny a student admission, they must follow these procedures.  Moreover, the notice and opportunity to respond must occur before the student is punished.  However, the exact details of the notice and the formality of the chance to respond will vary depending on the nature of the student’s offense and the severity of the punishment. 

In determining how formal a student discipline hearing should be, courts balance a number of factors.  These factors include the importance of the students’ interests, the risk of erroneously disciplining the students, and the burden that requiring specific proceedings would have on the schools.  In general, courts assess the importance of the student’s interest based on the length and/or severity of the punishment.  Thus, the longer the punishment lasts, the more formal the disciplinary proceedings must be.  However, even for lengthy punishments, formal court-like procedures are not always required, because these procedures place a higher burden on the school.  Thus, the more burdensome a process is on the school (e.g., requiring them to allow students access to attorneys), the less likely a court is to mandate that particular process.  Courts only require more burdensome procedures when the student’s interest is high (a severe punishment is to be imposed) and, without these procedures, the circumstances surrounding the allegations suggest a risk of wrongful punishment.

This website’s purpose is to help parents identify what particular procedures should or should have been afforded to their child.