Category: Exclusionary Discipline: Suspension, Expulsion, and Alternative Placement
Subcategory: Grounds for Suspension or Expulsion
State: Tennessee
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49-2-203. Duties and powers.
(a) It is the duty of the local board of education to:
(7) Suspend, dismiss or alternatively place pupils, when the progress, safety or efficiency of the school makes it necessary or when disruptive, threatening or violent students endanger the safety of other students or school system employees.
49-6-3401. Suspension of students–Expulsion of students–Exception for self-defense.
(a) Any principal, principal-teacher or assistant principal of any public school in this state is authorized to suspend a pupil from attendance at the school, including its sponsored activities, or from riding a school bus, for good and sufficient reasons. Good and sufficient reasons for suspension include, but are not limited to:
(1) Willful and persistent violation of the rules of the school;
(2) Immoral or disreputable conduct or vulgar or profane language;
(3) Violence or threatened violence against the person of any personnel attending or assigned to any public school;
(4) Willful or malicious damage to real or personal property of the school, or the property of any person attending or assigned to the school;
(5) Inciting, advising or counseling of others to engage in any of the acts enumerated in subdivisions (a)(1)-(4);
(6) Marking, defacing or destroying school property;
(7) Possession of a pistol, gun or firearm on school property;
(8) Possession of a knife and other weapons, as defined in § 39-17-1301 on school property;
(9) Assaulting a principal, teacher, school bus driver or other school personnel with vulgar, obscene or threatening language;
(10) Unlawful use or possession of barbital or legend drugs, as defined in § 53-10-101;
(11) One (1) or more students initiating a physical attack on an individual student on school property or at a school activity, including travel to and from school or a school activity;
(12) Making a threat, including a false report, to use a bomb, dynamite, any other deadly explosive or destructive device, including chemical weapons, on school property or at a school sponsored event;
(13) Any other conduct prejudicial to good order or discipline in any public school; and
(14) Off campus criminal behavior that results in the student being legally charged with an offense that would be classified as a felony if the student was charged as an adult or if adjudicated delinquent for an offense that would be classified as a felony if the student was an adult, or if the student was convicted of a felony, and the student's continued presence in school poses a danger to persons or property or disrupts the educational process. Notwithstanding § 37-1-131 or any other law to the contrary, the principal of the school in which the student is enrolled and the director of schools shall determine the appropriate educational assignment for the student released for readmission.
(b)(1) Any principal, principal-teacher or assistant principal may suspend any pupil from attendance at a specific class, classes or school-sponsored activity without suspending the pupil from attendance at school pursuant to an in-school suspension policy adopted by the local board of education. Good and sufficient reasons for in-school suspension include, but are not limited to, behavior:
(A) That adversely affects the safety and well-being of other pupils;
(B) That disrupts a class or school sponsored activity; or
(C) Prejudicial to good order and discipline occurring in class, during school-sponsored activities or on the school campus.
(2) In-school suspension policies shall provide that pupils given an in-school suspension in excess of one (1) day from classes shall attend either special classes attended only by students guilty of misconduct or be placed in an isolated area appropriate for study. Students given in-school suspension shall be required to complete academic requirements.
(c)(1) Except in an emergency, no principal, principal-teacher or assistant principal shall suspend any student until that student has been advised of the nature of the student's misconduct, questioned about it and allowed to give an explanation.
(2) Upon suspension of any student other than for in-school suspension of one (1) day or less, the principal shall, within twenty-four (24) hours, notify the parent or guardian and the director of schools or the director of schools' designee of:
(A) The suspension, which shall be for a period of no more than ten (10) days;
(B) The cause for the suspension; and
(C) The conditions for readmission, which may include, at the request of either party, a meeting of the parent or guardian, student and principal.
(3) If the suspension is for more than five (5) days, the principal shall develop and implement a plan for improving the behavior, which shall be made available for review by the director of schools upon request.
(4) (A) If, at the time of the suspension, the principal, principal-teacher or assistant principal determines that an offense has been committed that would justify a suspension for more than ten (10) days, the person may suspend a student unconditionally for a specified period of time or upon such terms and conditions as are deemed reasonable.
(g)(1) It is the legislative intent that if a rule or policy is designated as a zero tolerance policy, then violations of that rule or policy must not be tolerated and violators shall receive certain, swift, and proportionate punishment.
(2) Notwithstanding this section or another law to the contrary, a student has committed a zero tolerance offense if the student:
(A) Brings to school or is in unauthorized possession on school property of a firearm, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 921;
(B) Commits aggravated assault as defined in § 39-13-102 or commits an assault that results in bodily injury as defined in § 39-13-101(a)(1) upon any teacher, principal, administrator, any other employee of an LEA, or a school resource officer;
(C) Is in unlawful possession of any drug, including any controlled substance, as defined in §§ 39-17-402 - 39-17-415, controlled substance analogue, as defined by § 39-17-454, or legend drug, as defined by § 53-10-101, on school grounds or at a school-sponsored event; or
(D) Subject to subdivision (g)(5), threatens mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity pursuant to § 39016-517.
(3) Nothing in this section prohibits the assignment of students who are subject to expulsion from school to an alternative school.
(4) Disciplinary policies and procedures for all other student offenses, including terms of suspensions and expulsions, must be determined by local board of education policy.
(5) If a student threatens mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity pursuant to § 39-16-517, then the director of schools or the head of the public charter school, as applicable, shall require the student to submit to a threat assessment to determine whether the threat of mass violence made by the student was a valid threat. The student may be suspended from attendance at the school and from school-sponsored activities until the threat assessment is complete. If the director of schools or the head of the public charter school determines, based on the results of the threat assessment required in this subdivision (g)(5), that the threat of mass violence made by the student was not a valid threat, then the student shall not be expelled for committing a zero tolerance offense, but may be suspended in accordance with this section.
(6) For purposes of this subsection (g):
(A) "Expelled" means removal from the student's regular school program at the location where the violation occurred or removal from school attendance altogether, as determined by the school official; and
"Zero tolerance offense" means an offense committed by a student requiring the student to be expelled from school for at least one (1) calendar year that can only be modified on a case-by-case basis by the director of schools or the head of a charter school.
(i) Notwithstanding subsection (a) or (b) or any other law to the contrary, if a pupil is determined, via a fair and thorough investigation made by the principal or the principal's appointed representative, to have acted in self-defense under a reasonable belief that the student, or another to whom the student was coming to the defense of, may have been facing the threat of imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury, which the student honestly believed to be real at that time, then, at the principal's recommendation, the student may not face any disciplinary action.
(j)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (a), a principal, principal-teacher, or assistant principal of a public school in this state, including public charter schools, shall suspend a student who commits an assault, as defined in Section 39-13-101, against an employee of the LEA or the public charter school in which the student is enrolled from attendance at school for the period of time specified by the principal, principal-teacher, or assistant principal, and from attendance at all school-sponsored events for no less than one (1) calendar year, unless modified by the director of schools or the director of the public charter school.
(2) Each LEA or public charter school shall advise an LEA or public charter school employee who is assaulted as defined in Section 39-13-101, by a student of the employee's rights as a result of the assault, including, but not limited to, the employee's right to file a report with the appropriate law enforcement agency and judicial authorities.
(3) If a student is suspended for committing an assault against an employee of the student's LEA or public charter school and attends a school-sponsored event during the period of the student's suspension, then the LEA or public charter school must report the violation as trespassing, pursuant to Section 39-14-405, and the designated representative for the LEA or public charter school must notify the appropriate law enforcement agency and request the removal of the student from the school-sponsored event.
(4) Each LEA and public charter school shall support and assist an employee who is assaulted by a student in prosecuting the student who committed the assault, and shall encourage the prosecuting attorney to request that the court prohibit the defendant from attending school-sponsored events for a time the court deems appropriate as a part of the sentence for the offense.
No relevant regulations found.