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A 14-year-old in Fayetteville has been late to first period a dozen times this semester. The assistant principal talks about suspending her for a week. Under North Carolina law, that cannot happen: a school may not suspend a student for more than two days for truancy or tardiness, and it may never long-term suspend or expel for those reasons alone. Rules like this one are written into state law in Chapter 115C of the General Statutes, and every district has to follow them.
Who has to go to school, and the two kinds of suspension
North Carolina's compulsory attendance law covers children from age 7 until 16. A younger child already enrolled in kindergarten through second grade must also attend.
A short-term suspension is up to 10 school days. The principal decides it. Before it starts, you get an informal hearing: you are told the charges and the reason for them, and you can tell your side. The principal can skip that step first only if you are an immediate danger or are seriously disrupting school, and then the hearing happens as soon as practicable. Your parent must be told the reason within two days. During the suspension you can take your textbooks home, get your missed assignments if you ask, and make up quarterly, semester, or grading-period exams.
A long-term suspension is more than 10 school days, and only the superintendent can impose it. It generally cannot run past the end of the school year, unless the offense happened in the final quarter. Expulsion is only for students 14 or older whose presence is a clear threat to safety, and the school board must hold a hearing first.
Your rights before a long suspension
If the principal recommends a long-term suspension, your parent gets a written notice. It must describe what happened, name the rule you are accused of breaking, explain how to ask for a hearing and how many days you have to ask, and say that you may bring a lawyer. It must also say your parent can see and copy your school records first. If English is not your parent's main language, the key parts must be translated into the district's most common other language, with a phone number for help.
Ask for the hearing. You are allowed to, and it has to happen before the suspension begins if you ask on time. The person running it cannot work under the principal who recommended the suspension.
State law also says schools should save long suspensions for serious violations. It names disrespectful language, not following a staff directive, dress code violations, and minor fights without weapons or injury as examples that are not serious, although a principal can find aggravating circumstances.
This all goes back to Goss v. Lopez (1975), where the U.S. Supreme Court held that even a suspension of 10 days or less requires notice of the charges and a chance to tell your side.
Bullying reports, and what to do next
North Carolina's School Violence Prevention Act requires every district to have a written bullying policy. It must let anyone report bullying anonymously, name the principal or the principal's designee as the person who investigates, promise a prompt investigation of serious reports, and forbid retaliation against anyone who reports. School employees who see bullying must report it. The same law says schools cannot use it to punish a student's speech just because an opinion is unpopular.
If you face a suspension, read your district's Code of Student Conduct first; each district sends its current version to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. For a short-term suspension, state law gives no automatic right to appeal, so ask whether your district allows a review. For a long-term suspension, request the hearing in writing, before the deadline in your notice. If you report bullying, write down the date and who you told, and ask the principal when the investigation will be done.
Tandaan ito
- A short-term suspension is up to 10 school days and needs an informal hearing; longer ones need a formal hearing and only the superintendent can order them.
- Being late or skipping school can get you a suspension of two days at most, never a long-term suspension or expulsion on its own.
- Before a long suspension you may bring a lawyer and see your records, and the notice must explain how to ask for a hearing.
- Every district must take anonymous bullying reports, investigate promptly, and protect people who report from retaliation.
Mga pinagmulan
- North Carolina General Assembly: G.S. 115C-378, Children required to attend (bubukas sa bagong tab)
- North Carolina General Assembly: Chapter 115C, Article 27, Discipline (bubukas sa bagong tab)
- North Carolina General Assembly: Chapter 115C, Article 29C, School Violence Prevention (bubukas sa bagong tab)
- Legal Information Institute: Goss v. Lopez (1975) (bubukas sa bagong tab)
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