2019 North Carolina General Statutes
Chapter 115C - Elementary and Secondary Education
Article 27 - Discipline.
§ 115C-390.3 - Reasonable force.

115C-390.3. Reasonable force.

(a) School personnel may use physical restraint only in accordance with G.S. 115C-391.1.

(b) School personnel may use reasonable force to control behavior or to remove a person from the scene in those situations when necessary for any of the following reasons:

(1) To correct students.

(2) To quell a disturbance threatening injury to others.

(3) To obtain possession of weapons or other dangerous objects on the person, or within the control, of a student.

(4) For self-defense.

(5) For the protection of persons or property.

(6) To maintain order on educational property, in the classroom, or at a school-related activity on or off educational property.

(c) Notwithstanding any other law, no officer, member, or employee of the State Board of Education, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or of a local board of education, individually or collectively, shall be civilly liable for using reasonable force in conformity with State law, State or local rules, or State or local policies regarding the control, discipline, suspension, and expulsion of students. Furthermore, the burden of proof is on the claimant to show that the amount of force used was not reasonable.

(d) No school employee shall be reprimanded or dismissed for acting or failing to act to stop or intervene in an altercation between students if the employee's actions are consistent with local board policies. Local boards of education shall adopt policies, pursuant to their authority under G.S. 115C-47(18), which provide guidelines for an employee's response if the employee has personal knowledge or actual notice of an altercation between students.