Law and Rights
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995
California parents can often be shocked when they receive a call stating their child is being sent home for five days for saying a bad word at school. I have seen a lot of discipline matters centered around language, including swear words. However, unless the profanity is habitual, a suspension or expulsion may not be legal.
Per California Education Code section 48900(i) a student may be suspended or expelled for engaging in "habitual profanity." Note the code does not say a child may be suspended for "profanity," but rather HABITUAL profanity. This wording is important, and not always understood by the school imposing the discipline.
Habitual is defined in "thefreedictionary.com" as follows (adjective form):
1. done or experienced regularly or repeatedly
2. by habit
3. customary, usual
In other words, habitual profanity must involve swearing as a regular activity of the student. One slip up of saying the "F" word or the "S" word is NOT grounds for suspension or expulsion per the California Education Code. However, easy as it seems to read the statute, I have seen discipline imposed for simply saying a bad word on a single occasion. Technically, this is not a legal basis for suspension.
As it is often harder to remove a record, or reverse a suspension (suspension appeal), than to prevent a suspension in the first place, all parents should discuss language at school with their children. Profane speech may result in a student having a permanent black mark which may haunt them beyond high school. Suspensions (and expulsions) must be revealed when inquired about by colleges, or even when seeking to enter various professions (even becoming an attorney).
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Law and Rights
Suspension or Expulsion For Profanity At School? It's Supposed To Be Habitual
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995
California parents can often be shocked when they receive a call stating their child is being sent home for five days for saying a bad word at school. I have seen a lot of discipline matters centered around language, including swear words. However, unless the profanity is habitual, a suspension or expulsion may not be legal.
Per California Education Code section 48900(i) a student may be suspended or expelled for engaging in "habitual profanity." Note the code does not say a child may be suspended for "profanity," but rather HABITUAL profanity. This wording is important, and not always understood by the school imposing the discipline.
Habitual is defined in "thefreedictionary.com" as follows (adjective form):
1. done or experienced regularly or repeatedly
2. by habit
3. customary, usual
In other words, habitual profanity must involve swearing as a regular activity of the student. One slip up of saying the "F" word or the "S" word is NOT grounds for suspension or expulsion per the California Education Code. However, easy as it seems to read the statute, I have seen discipline imposed for simply saying a bad word on a single occasion. Technically, this is not a legal basis for suspension.
As it is often harder to remove a record, or reverse a suspension (suspension appeal), than to prevent a suspension in the first place, all parents should discuss language at school with their children. Profane speech may result in a student having a permanent black mark which may haunt them beyond high school. Suspensions (and expulsions) must be revealed when inquired about by colleges, or even when seeking to enter various professions (even becoming an attorney).
Best,
Michelle Ball
Education Law Attorney
LAW OFFICE OF MICHELLE BALL
717 K Street, Suite 228
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-444-9064
Fax: 916-444-1209
Website: http://www.edlaw4students.com/
Education Law Attorney
LAW OFFICE OF MICHELLE BALL
717 K Street, Suite 228
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-444-9064
Fax: 916-444-1209
Website: http://www.edlaw4students.com/
Blog: http://edlaw4students.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/michelleaball
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/EdLaw4Students
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Law-Office-of-Michelle-Ball/191273330901857
Please see my disclaimer on the bottom of my blog page. This is legal information, not legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is formed by this posting, etc. etc.! This blog may not be reproduced without permission from the author and proper attribution of authorship.
- Does It Really Matter If Students Can't Be Expelled Or Suspended For Willful Defiance Or Disruption?
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 Recently, the suspension and expulsion codes of California were altered to take "willfully defied" and "disrupted" out of the mix as bases for expulsion (any grade) and for suspension...
- Can My Kid Be Suspended Or Expelled For Providing A Fake Drug Or Non-alcohol?
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 Would you be surprised if you received a phone call stating that your son/daughter was being suspended or expelled for providing a "drug" to another student? What if later...
- California College Suspensions And The Right To A Hearing Within Ten Days
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 Pursuant to California Education Code section 66017, a California Community College, California State University (CSU), or University of California (UC) may suspend a student...
- What Happens After A School Expels A Student? Can They Still Attend Some School?
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 No one likes to think about school expulsions or their child getting kicked out of school. But what if the very worst happens? What if an expulsion from the school district...
- Offenses Where A Recommendation For School Suspension Or Expulsion Is Discretionary
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 I previously blogged about offenses which do not give California school districts any discretion on whether to recommend and/or actually expel a student. However, there is a...