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Home » Legal » High School Civil Liberties Project » Discipline Issues in School
Teacher ACLU Fact Sheet DISCIPLINE ISSUES IN SCHOOL Landmark Case - Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975) The Constitutional Question Do critical constitutional provisions extend to high school students as citizens entitled to equal protection? Amendments Implicated 14th -“No State shall.. deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...” Backround In 1971, widespread student unrest took place in the Columbus, Ohio public schools. Students who either participated in, or were present at demonstrations held on school grounds were suspended. Many suspensions were for a period of ten days. Students were not given a hearing before suspension, although some students and their parents were given informal conferences at a later time with the school principal. Ohio law provides free education to all children between the ages of 6 and 21. A number of students, through their parents, sued the board of education, claiming that their right to due process was violated when they were suspended without a hearing. One of the named plaintiffs, Dwight Lopez, one of the students suspended, testified that at least 75 other students were suspended from his school on the same day. He also testified that he was an innocent bystander to the student unrest. The Decision The U.S. Supreme Court established that students are entitled to due process prior to suspension or expulsion. Due process proceedings should occur before suspension or expulsion, except when a student is an immediate danger to himself or others. At a minimum, students must be told of the charges against them and given an opportunity to respond to the charges. The court ruled that the amount of due process afforded to a student should be commensurate with the potential penalty to be imposed. The Supreme Court decided that students who are suspended for 10 days or less are entitled to certain rights before their suspension. These rights include: (1) oral or written notice of the charges, (2) an explanation (if students deny the charges) of the evidence against them, and (3) an opportunity for students to present their side of the story. In 1978, The U.S. Supreme Court, in Board of Curators of the University of Missouri vs. Horowitz, qualified its decision in Goss vs. Lopez by finding that a due process hearing is not required when the dismissal or other sanction is for academic reasons rather than disciplinary reasons. In Horowitz, the plaintiff was dismissed from medical school due to academic factors, therefore a hearing was not required. Related Case Fuller v. Decatur Public Sch. Bd. of Educ – 2000 High school students expelled for fighting in stands during football game joined their adult representatives in suing school board and members, seeking order reinstating students. The lower court held that: (1) student who voluntarily withdrew from school lacked standing to sue; (2) expulsion satisfied procedural due process requirements, (3) equal protection rights of students were not violated. Web Links |
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