Substantive Due Process in Student Discipline - The Judicial Role (From School Safety Legal Anthology, P 54-62, 1985, George Nicholson, et al, eds. - See NCJ-101885)

• NCJ Number: 101888
• Author(s): G Epley
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: Carver Cty Court Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from Education Law, 1984

Annotation

Although the U.S. Supreme Court has held that students retain their constitutional rights while under school authority, the courts have afforded school officials broad discretion in assigning punishment.

Abstract

Court decisions involving students' rights under school disciplinary procedures and judgments have not disputed that students have substantive due process rights. The judicial tendency, however, is to allow locally elected school officials to administer their schools with a minimum of judicial intervention. Cases involving court reversal of school disciplinary decisions include a school's reduction of grades for misbehavior unassociated with academics, a school board's use of punishment that exceeded its own rules, and a school board's automatic expulsion of students for drinking alcohol without considering mitigating factors. Overall, the courts will not substitute judicial judgment for that of school authorities unless the judgment lacks a rational basis or is arbitrary. 53 notes.