Board Policy

BP 5144.1

Students

Suspension And Expulsion/Due Process

The Board of Education has established policies and standards of behavior in order to promote learning and protect the safety and well-being of all students. When these policies and standards are violated, it may be necessary to suspend or expel a student from regular classroom instruction.

(cf. 5144 - Discipline)

Suspended or expelled students shall be excluded from all school-related extracurricular activities during the period of suspension or expulsion.

(cf. 6145 - Extracurricular and Cocurricular Activities)

Except where suspension for a first offense is warranted in accordance with law, suspension shall be imposed only when other means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct. (Education Code 48900.5)

Expulsion is an action taken by the Board for severe or prolonged breaches of discipline by a student. Except for single acts of a grave nature, expulsion is used only when there is a history of misconduct, when other forms of discipline, including suspension, have failed to bring about proper conduct, or when the student's presence causes a continuing danger to him/herself or others. (Education Code 48915)

The grounds for suspension and expulsion and the procedures for considering, recommending and/or implementing suspension and expulsion shall be specified in administrative regulation.

Zero Tolerance

The Board supports a zero tolerance approach to serious offenses. This approach makes the removal of potentially dangerous students from the classroom a top priority. It ensures fair and equal treatment of all students and requires that all offenders be punished to the fullest extent allowed by law. Staff shall immediately report to the Superintendent or designee any incidence of offenses specified in law, Board policy and administrative regulation as cause for suspension or expulsion.

The Superintendent or designee shall notify staff, students and parents/ guardians about the district's zero tolerance policy and the consequences which may result from student offenses. He/she shall also ensure strict enforcement of this policy.

Student Due Process

The Board shall provide for the fair and equitable treatment of students facing suspension and expulsion by affording them their due process rights under the law. The Superintendent or designee shall comply with procedures for notices and appeals as specified in administrative regulation and law. (Education Code 48911, 48915, 48915.5)

(cf. 5119 - Students Expelled from Other Districts)

(cf. 5144.2 - Suspension and Expulsion/Due Process (Individuals with Disabilities))

On-Campus Suspension Program

The Board recognizes that students who are suspended from school often have no supervision or guidance during the school hours when they are off campus and may fall behind in the coursework. The Board believes that, in many cases, it would be better to manage the student's behavior by keeping the student at school and providing him/her with supervision that is separated from the regular classroom.

The Superintendent or designee shall establish a supervised in-house suspension program which meets the requirements of law for suspended students who pose no imminent danger or threat at school and for whom an expulsion action has not been initiated.

The Superintendent or designee shall examine alternatives to off-campus suspension and may establish a suspension program which involves progressive discipline during the school day on campus; use of conferences between staff, parents/guardians and students; detention; student study teams or other assessment-related teams; and/or referral to school support services staff. The use of such alternatives does not preclude off-campus suspensions.

Required Parental Attendance

The Board believes that parental involvement plays an important role in the resolution of classroom behavior problems. The Board expects that teachers will communicate with parents/guardians when behavior problems arise.

Whenever a student is removed from a class because he/she committed an obscene act, engaged in habitual profanity or vulgarity, disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied valid staff authority, the teacher of the class from which the student was removed may provide that the student's parent/guardian attend a portion of a school day in that class. After completing the classroom visit and before leaving school premises, the parent/guardian also shall meet with the principal or designee. (Education Code 48900.1)

The Board encourages teachers, before requiring parental attendance, to make reasonable efforts to have the parent/guardian visit the class voluntarily. The teacher also may inform the parent/guardian about available resources and parent education opportunities. Teachers should reserve the option of required parental attendance for cases in which they have determined that it is the best strategy to promote positive interaction between the student and the parent/guardian and to improve classroom behavior.

The teacher shall apply this policy uniformly to all students within the classroom. This policy shall apply only to a parent/guardian who lives with the student. (Education Code 48900.1)

Parental attendance may be requested on the day the student returns to class or within one week thereafter. The principal or designee shall contact any parents/guardians who do not respond to the request to attend school. The Board recognizes that parental compliance with this policy may be delayed, modified or prevented for reasons such as serious illness/injury/disability, absence from town, or inability to get release time from work.

District regulations and school-site rules for student discipline shall include procedures for implementing parental attendance requirements.

Decision not to Enforce Expulsion Order

In cases where expulsion is mandatory pursuant to Education Code 48915(c), the enforcement of an expulsion order shall not be suspended by the Board. In all other cases of expulsion, the order for expulsion may be suspended by the Board, on case-by-case basis, pursuant to the requirements of law.

Legal Reference:

EDUCATION CODE

212.5 Sexual harassment

233 Hate violence reduction

1981 Enrollment of students

17292.5 Program for expelled students

35146 Closed sessions (re suspensions)

35291 Rules (for government and discipline of schools)

35291.5 Rules and procedures on school discipline

48660-48666 Community day schools

48900-48926 Suspension and expulsion

48950 Speech and other communication

49073-49079 Privacy of student records

CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

1985-1997 Subpoenas; means of production

GOVERNMENT CODE

11455.20 Contempt

54950-54962 Ralph M. Brown Act (re closed sessions)

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE

11014.5 Drug paraphernalia

11053-11058 Standards and schedules

LABOR CODE

230.7 Discharge or discrimination against employee for taking time off to appear in school on behalf of a child

PENAL CODE

240 Assault defined

242 Battery defined

243.4 Sexual battery

245 Assault with deadly weapon

261 Rape defined

266c Unlawful sexual intercourse

286 Sodomy defined

288 Lewd or lascivious acts with child under age 14

288a Oral copulation

289 Penetration of genital or anal openings

417.25-417.27 Laser scope

422.6 Interference with civil rights; damaging property

422.7 Aggravating factors for punishment

422.75 Protected classes

626.2 Entry upon campus after written notice of suspension or dismissal without permission

626.9 Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995

626.10 Dirks, daggers, knives, razors or stun guns

868.5 Supporting person; attendance during testimony of witness

UNITED STATES CODE, TITLE 20

6301-8962 Improving America's Schools Act, especially:

8921-8922 Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994

COURT DECISIONS

Garcia v. Los Angeles Board of Education (1991) 123 Cal.App.3d 807

Fremont Union High School District v. Santa Clara County Board (1991) 235 Cal. App. 3d 1182

John A. v. San Bernardino School District (1982) 33 Cal. 3d 301, 308

ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINIONS

80 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 347 (1997)

80 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 91 (1997)

80 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 85 (1997)

Management Resources:

CDE PROGRAM ADVISORIES

0306.96 Expulsion Policies and Educational Placements, SPB 95/96-04

Policy PALOS VERDES PENINSULA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

adopted: March 8, 2001 Palos Verdes Estates, California