2021 Georgia Code
Title 20 - Education
Chapter 2 - Elementary and Secondary Education
Article 16 - Students
Part 2 - Discipline
Subpart 2 - Public School Disciplinary Tribunals
§ 20-2-754. Procedures to Be Followed by Disciplinary Officer, Panel, or Tribunal; Review

1. The provisions of Code Section 20-2-1160 shall apply to disciplinary proceedings under this subpart.
2. A disciplinary officer, panel, or tribunal of school officials appointed as required by Code Section 20-2-753 shall, in addition to any other requirements imposed by rules and regulations which may have been promulgated pursuant to Code Section 20-2-752, ensure that:
   1. All parties are afforded an opportunity for a hearing after reasonable notice served personally or by mail. This notice shall be given to all parties and to the parent or guardian of the student or students involved and shall include a statement of the time, place, and nature of the hearing; a short and plain statement of the matters asserted; and a statement as to the right of all parties to present evidence and to be represented by legal counsel;
   2. The hearing is held no later than ten school days after the beginning of the suspension unless the school system and parents or guardians mutually agree to an extension;
   3. All parties are afforded an opportunity to present and respond to evidence and to examine and cross-examine witnesses on all issues unresolved;
   4. Any teacher who is called as a witness by the school system shall be given notice no later than three days prior to the hearing; and
   5. A verbatim electronic or written record of the hearing shall be made and shall be available to all parties.
3. If appointed to review an instance pursuant to Code Section 20-2-753, the disciplinary officer, panel, or tribunal shall conduct the hearing and, after receiving all evidence, render its decision, which decision shall be based solely on the evidence received at the hearing. The decision shall be in writing and shall be given to all parties within ten days of the close of the record. Any decision by such disciplinary officer, panel, or tribunal may be appealed to the local board of education by filing a written notice of appeal within 20 days from the date the decision is rendered. Any disciplinary action imposed by such officer, panel, or tribunal may be suspended by the school superintendent pending the outcome of the appeal.
4. The local board of education shall review the record and shall render a decision in writing. The decision shall be based solely on the record and shall be given to all parties within ten days, excluding weekends and public and legal holidays provided for in Code Section 1-4-1, from the date the local board of education receives the notice of appeal. The board may take any action it determines appropriate, and any decision of the board shall be final. All parties shall have the right to be represented by legal counsel at any such appeal and during all subsequent proceedings.
5. Either or both parents or guardians or legal counsel of the student involved may obtain a copy of any documents relating to a disciplinary proceeding conducted pursuant to this Code section.

(Code 1981, §20-2-754, enacted by Ga. L. 1984, p. 908, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 20; Ga. L. 1986, p. 10, § 20; Ga. L. 1986, p. 817, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1436, § 6; Ga. L. 2004, p. 107, § 17.)

- Ga. L. 1997, p. 1436, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the Act shall be known and may be cited as the "School Safety Act."

- For article commenting on the 1997 amendment of this Code section, see 14 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 155 (1997).

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).

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).

Cited in Wayne County Bd. of Educ. v. Tyre, 199 Ga. App. 384, 404 S.E.2d 809 (1991).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Admissibility of hearsay evidence in student disciplinary proceedings, 30 A.L.R.4th 935.

School's violation of student's substantive due process rights by suspending or expelling student, 90 A.L.R.6th 235.