MS - School Board

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MS - School Board

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School Board Disciplinary Authority - Discretion, Primacy, and Delegation

Mississippi school boards have discretion in how they choose to punish students,[6] including the ability to decide the terms and conditions of student expulsion or suspension.[7] This discretion is so substantial that they are free to diverge from their own published school board policies,[8] so long as the divergence promotes substantial, legitimate interests of a school district.[9] School personnel, however, lack this level of discretion.[10] They must follow school board policy, as well as obey the requirements of the state and U.S. constitutions.[11]
In most instances, school boards delegate the responsibility for initial disciplinary decisions to school administrators and teachers,[13] but school boards retain the authority to make the final determinations in discipline.[14]

References:

[6] Op.Atty.Gen. No. 2006-00362, Roach, 2006 WL 2789375, August 25, 2006; Miss. Code Ann. § 37-9-71; Clinton Mun. Separate School Dist. v. Byrd, 477 So. 2d 237, 240-41 (Miss. 1985); Colvin v. Lowndes County, Mississippi School District, 114 F. Supp.2d 504 (N.D. Miss., Eastern Division 1999); New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325 (1985) ("maintaining security and order in the schools requires a certain degree of flexibility in school disciplinary procedures"); 7 MS Prac. Encyclopedia MS Law § 65:213.
[7] Op.Atty.Gen. No. 97-0508 (97-17475) Davies, Sept. 12, 1997, citing Miss. Code Ann. §§ 37-7-301(e), 37-9-71, and 37-11-18.
[8] See, e.g., Byrd, supra note 6; In the Interest of T.H., III, 681 So.2d 110 (Miss. 1996) (school board may administer disciplinary rule with "flexibility and leniency," despite mandatory wording of school board disciplinary policy), citing Byrd, supra note 6; Miss. Code Ann. § 37-7-301.
[9] In the Interest of T.H., III, supra note 8.
[10] Byrd, supra note 6.
[11] Byrd, supra note 6; see also Jones v. Board of Trustees of the Pascagoula Municipal Separate School District, 524 So.2d 968 (Miss. 1988) ("the board's authority is limited by law"); Covington County v. G.W., 767 So.2d 187 (Miss. 2000), citing Byrd at 240; Colvin, supra note 6, citing West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 637 (1943); Warren County Board of Education v. Wilkinson, 500 So.2d 455 (Miss. 1986) ("school boards exercise only such powers as are conferred upon them by law").
[12] Miss. Code Ann. § 37-7-301(e); 7 MS Prac. Encyclopedia MS Law § 65:71.
[13] Miss. Code Ann. § 37-7-301; 7 MS Prac. Encyclopedia MS Law § 65:207.
[14] Hinds County School Dist. Bd. of Trustees v. R.B. ex rel. D.L.B., 2008 WL 5174068 (Miss. 2008).
[15] Miss. Code Ann. § 37-7-301(e); Miss. Code Ann. § 37-6-69; 7 MS Prac. Encyclopedia MS Law § 65:207.
[16] Miss. Code Ann. § 37-9-14(2)(r); 7 MS Prac. Encyclopedia MS Law § 65:207.
[17] See Op.Atty.Gen. No. 97-0152 & 97-15179, Benvenutti, April 4, 1997; Miss. Code Ann. § 37-11-18.