Student Discipline - Part I - Suspensions

T.C.A. § 49-6-3401 lists the grounds on which a student may be suspended in Tennessee. The list is not exhaustive, reading carefully you will notice that those violations listed are mere examples of actions that would give an administrator "good and sufficient reasons" for the suspension. So, the bottom line is, you need a good reason to suspend a student, but even the code makes it pretty subjective. The examples include persistent violation of the rules to possession of a pistol at school. It also includes truancy which is a bit confusing. If they aren't showing up suspension kind of loses its teeth (that is if it ever had any) and if the truant student just came back it doesn't seem in the kids' best interest to remove them from the educational environment. 

Types of Suspensions

When I was in school there was only one type of suspension, today there are two primary types, in-school (ISS) and out-of-school (OSS) suspensions, but school officials also can limit their suspensions to specific classes and school-sponsored events. The effective use of limited suspensions will provide the student the best opportunity to maintain their current academic work while allowing administrators to specifically tie the adverse behavior to the punishment. For example, if Student A's behavior is in Class B, then removing the student from that class only allows the student to receive the same instruction in other classes and also relieves the school of its statutory restrictions (See Table Below) further limiting the placement of the affected student. 

Reporting 

Schools are required to record suspension and report those incidents to the Tennessee State Department of Education. Over the last few years, there has been increasing pressure on schools to reduce the number of and length of out-of-school suspensions. As a result, most schools now have a staffed in-school suspension room to accommodate students who might have been sent home in the past. To a large extent, the vast majority of o out-of-school suspensions are given out with severe school violations often including those involving drugs, alcohol, and violence. Tennessee has formed a Discipline Reform Task Force which can provide parents with discipline data, you can view that report HERE.

 Keep in mind that the policies may vary between districts so interested parties should review those policies or a local attorney should they have an issue concerning a discipline matter at school.

Schools must also meet additional requirements when disciplining a student classified as a special education student (one with an IEP) or a student who has a 504 plan. For more information on the discipline of students with IEP’s or 504 plans read Part II – Special Education Discipline. 

Finally, check out our resource page for more information on school discipline.