O.C.G.A. § 20-2-753 (2019)
Disciplinary hearing officer, panel, or tribunal to hold disciplinary hearing following allegation of assault and battery or recommended suspension or expulsion exceeding 10 days
(a) In addition to any proceedings which are authorized in Code Section 20-2-752, local boards of education shall appoint a disciplinary hearing officer, panel, or tribunal of school officials to hold a disciplinary hearing following any instance of an alleged violation of the student code of conduct where the principal recommends a suspension or expulsion of longer than ten school days or an alleged assault or battery by a student upon any teacher or other school official or employee, if such teacher or other school official or employee so requests.
(b) Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to infringe on any right provided to students with Individualized Education Programs pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, or the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
History
Code 1981, § 20-2-753, enacted by Ga. L. 1984, p. 908, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149,
§ 20; Ga. L. 1986, p. 10, § 20; Ga. L. 2004, p. 107, § 16.
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Timely hearing provided. - After a student was expelled for violations of the local board of education’s code of student conduct, because the determination of the student’s misconduct was a contested issue before the local board, the student was allowed to appeal the decision, and the superior court did not err in ruling that
the student’s appeal to the State Board of Education was not moot; however, despite the board’s initial ruling that the appeal was moot, the state board reviewed the local board’s decision on the merits and found that the student had not been suspended from school before the disciplinary hearing and, therefore, was provided a
timely hearing. Fulton County Bd. of Educ. v. D. R. H., 325 Ga. App. 53, 752 S.E.2d 103, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 957 (2013). Because the school officials exercised their discretion under the law to report alleged criminal action against a school resource officer by the student, there was no evidence that school officials were involved in the decision to admit the student into the youth detention center, and the student was allowed to return to school upon the student’s release from the youth
detention center, the disciplinary hearing was not untimely as there was evidence that the student had not been suspended before the hearing and thus, the superior court erred in reversing the State Board of Education’s decision and remanding the case to the state board with direction to vacate the adjudication of expulsion entered against the student. Fulton County Bd. of Educ. v. D. R. H., 325 Ga. App. 53, 752 S.E.2d 103, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 957 (2013).
RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. School’s violation of student’s substantive due process rights by suspending or expelling student, 90 A.L.R.6th 235.
School’s violation of parents’ substantive due process rights due to their child’s suspension or expulsion, 91 A.L.R.6th 365.