Students Rights -- Due Process And Discipline
“No state shall . . . deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
-- U.S. Constitution, Amendment XIV, Section 1
When you go to school, you have the obligation to obey your school’s written rules. But there are some limits on what kinds of conduct the school can ban. School rules must be reasonable and have a logical relationship to the school’s legitimate interests. Rules -- usually written as policies -- must also respect your fundamental rights, including your rights to free speech and freedom of religion.
1. What is due process?
The basic idea of due process is that no one should be assumed to have violated any laws, regulations, or ethical codes without first having a fair hearing in front of people who can judge him or her impartially, according to objective procedures, and without prejudice. Essential to the fairness of such a hearing is the idea that anyone accused of a violation of a rule or law has the right to face his or her accusers and defend her or himself, or have a lawyer or other advocate do so. Stated most simply, everyone is innocent until proven guilty by just and fair means. In a school setting, no one should be assumed to have violated either laws or school rules -- whether the accusers are school officials or the police -- without having a chance to defend her or himself in a fair and unbiased hearing. This is the law and the ideal. Informed students and parents can help to make it the reality in schools that fall short of the ideal.
2. What due process rights do students have in school?
In 1974, the Supreme Court heard the case Goss v. Lopez, a case involving students who had been suspended without a hearing, and ruled that students have a right to due process in school. The court’s decision gives any student accused of wrongdoing that could result in a suspension the right to tell his or her side of the story in an informal hearing. The student must be told the accusation against him or her, and the basis for the accusation. If a student is facing a more serious punishment (suspension for more than 10 days, or expulsion), the student is entitled to a formal hearing before an impartial body (usually the local school board). The student may have a lawyer present and may cross-examine witnesses.
A school can suspend or expel a student without prior notice or a hearing only if officials think he or she poses a danger to other students or school property. In that case, the school is still required to give notice of the charges and schedule a hearing as soon as possible following the disciplinary action. Students are not entitled to hearings for minor punishments.
Students facing suspension have the right to refuse to answer questions from a school official or a police officer without an attorney present, or before they have had a chance to get advice and counsel from an adult. Interrogations must take place in the presence of a knowledgeable, disinterested adult.
3. Does the law require schools to have written codes of discipline?
Yes. Vermont law requires all Vermont schools to publish written codes of discipline. If students want to know about the codes of discipline that may affect them, they should ask at their school office how to obtain a copy.
4. What can a student be suspended or expelled for?
Usually it depends where a student goes to school and what written codes of discipline the school has adopted. Most school administrators consider suspension and expulsion to be extreme punishments and use them only in very serious cases in which a student has done something illegal or dangerous.
Vermont law requires school districts to expel for not less than one year a student who brings a weapon to school, with few exceptions. Also, any Vermont student who brings a weapon to school is referred to a law enforcement agency, so he or she may face criminal charges as well as school penalties. School districts are not required to provide an alternative education for suspended or expelled students, but state law authorizes and encourages them to do so.
5. Can students be punished at school for something they did off-campus?
As noted in the Freedom of Speech section, this can be a tricky area of the law.
Vermont students may be punished for misconduct on a school bus or at an off-campus school-sponsored activity, such as a class field trip or a sport team’s game played at another school. A student may also be removed from school if his or her conduct poses an ongoing danger to other pupils or the school, or if she or he continually disrupts the educational activities of the school.
Schools may also curtail participation in extracurricular activities by students because of off-campus use of drugs or alcohol, provided this is done through concise and narrowly tailored regulations and is based on adequate facts. Many schools require students participating in extracurricular activities to sign a “contract” where they agree not to use drugs. A student can’t be suspended or expelled for breaking the contract, but they can be prohibited from participation in the extracurricular activity.
Beyond these examples, schools’ authority to discipline students has generally not been extended to things that happen off-campus. This may be changing, however, due largely to technology. Technology allows actions taken outside of school to come into school and cause disruptions, some courts have said. So exercise good judgment, recognizing that anything you post online or send in an e-mail may be seen by people other than those to whom your post or e-mail is intended.
6. Is corporal punishment at school legal?
In Vermont, no. Vermont law prohibits any “person employed by or agent of a public or approved school” from inflicting corporal punishment upon a pupil of the school or institution. This statute, however, does not prevent school officials from using reasonable and necessary force to quell a disturbance, to obtain possession of weapons or other dangerous objects, to defend themselves, or to protect persons or property. Federal law allows corporal punishment, however. In 1977 the U.S. Supreme Court found in the case Ingraham v. Wright that paddling did not constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.” More than 20 states, however, have made corporal punishment illegal. (The additional protection of a state law over-rides the federal decision allowing states to use corporal punishment.)
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