An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 15 – Student Discipline

work that was not in final form. Harvard was able to defend against Walker’s claims relatively easily because it had a clearly drafted plagiarism policy in place. Rules governing off-campus conduct, such as use of social media, should explain why the school has a legitimate interest in restricting or prohibiting such conduct that does not take place on campus or during school-related activities. Establishing a nexus between the off-campus conduct and the school is a critical step towards supporting that the school’s decision to impose discipline is fundamentally fair. The school should take steps to provide all students with access to and knowledge about the student code of conduct and disciplinary procedures. For example, the school should give students a copy of the student handbook containing the code of conduct during orientation, and inform them that they can also access the code of conduct electronically if the school posts it on its intranet or website. Before imposing discipline, the school should also remind the student being disciplined of the applicable provisions of the student handbook, such as the code of conduct and/or policies against harassment, and provisions regarding disciplinary procedures, that are at issue. Do not assume that because the student received a copy of the school’s policies during orientation or at some other time in the past that the student is aware of the relevant policies. Schools should be consistent in how they apply their conduct rules to students. If some students are penalized for violating conduct rules while others are not, schools expose themselves to the risk of being sued for discrimination if a student believes that he or she was singled out for being a member of a protected class. If the actions of the parents could form the basis of a breach of conduct or separating a family for the actions (or inactions) of the parents, those provisions must also be clearly enumerated in the contract or handbook. For example, it is a best practice for schools to require that parents maintain a positive and constructive relationship with the school. In order to give a school flexibility and discretion to implement consequences, including separation, because of a parent’s failure to maintain a positive or constructive relationship, the school should have a policy that clearly explains these expectations to parents and the consequences for not meeting those expectations. Schools should also periodically review and update their rules regarding student conduct to ensure that their policies address newly emerging or evolving areas of concern regarding student conduct (i.e. cyber-bullying). 2. A DHERENCE T O D ISCIPLINARY P ROCEDURES Schools must have a process in place for handling expulsions and dismissals. Generally, the process can be as basic as allowing a student to appeal an expulsion/dismissal to the head of school, or as detailed as having multiple steps or stages for reviewing, implementing and appealing an expulsion or dismissal. Schools are free to develop different policies for handling different types of conduct violations. For example, a school may have a multi-step process for handling academic honesty violations, and a more basic process for handling other conduct

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