School Discipline Procedures - Some Empirical Findings and Some Theoretical Questions

• NCJ Number: 93651
• Journal: Indiana Law Journal Volume: 58 Issue: 4 Dated: (1983) Pages: 547-596
• Author(s): L E Teitelbaum
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 50 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study of public school discipline practices in Indiana discusses judicial decisions and State laws governing disciplinary sanctions and the results of a 1981 survey of 15 high schools, with attention to their use of suspension and expulsion and compliance with procedural rules.

Abstract

The U.S. Supreme Court has imposed procedural rules for short disciplinary suspensions of students, but has declined to decide what procedures are necessary for other kinds of student sanctions. The Indiana Legislature has specified procedures for expulsion and exclusion from school, but not for in-school suspension, which involves exclusion from classes while remaining on school premises. This study surveyed the principal, counselors, and selected teachers in 15 representative public high schools regarding compliance with judicial and legislative regulations on short suspensions, expulsions, and in-school suspensions. It also examined the Indiana Due Process and Pupil Discipline Code, analyzed data on disciplinary actions over the 1979-80 academic year, and interviewed educators regarding their knowledge of procedural rules. Expulsions rarely were ordered in any of the schools, and formal disciplinary action was distributed largely between suspension from school and in-school suspension. High schools generally handled short suspension in a fashion consistent with the Supreme Court's Goss v. Lopez decision, although only 41 percent of the school administrators knew what Goss requires. Truancy appeared to be the major reason for expulsion. The most important procedures mandated by Indiana law regarding expulsion were followed in most school districts. Study findings indicate that an evaluation of school disciplinary practices using traditional measures of legal effectiveness and compliance reveals little about expulsion procedures at the local level and in-school suspension. Tables and 122 footnotes are supplied.