School Expulsion & Suspension Hearings – Grounds for Suspension/Expulsion – California Education Code Section 48900

Under California law, a student is subject to suspension or expulsion when the principal or superintendent has determined that the student has violated a provision of the California Education Code.

California Education Code section 48900 specifies the types of violations that warrant school suspension or expulsion.  A student violates section 48900 when the student:

•    Caused or threatened to cause physical injury to another person;

•    Willfully used force or violence upon the person of another, except in self-defense.

•    Possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a firearm, knife, explosive, or other dangerous object;

•    Unlawfully possessed, used, sold, or otherwise furnished, or been under the influence of, a controlled substance;

•    Unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell a controlled substance;

•    Committed or attempted to commit robbery or extortion;

•    Caused or attempted to cause damage to school property or private property;

•    Stolen or attempted to steal school property or private property;

•    Possessed or used tobacco;

•    Committed an obscene act or engaged in habitual profanity or vulgarity;

•    Unlawfully possessed or unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell drug paraphernalia;

•    Disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties;

•    Knowingly received stolen school property or private property;

•    Possessed an imitation firearm, which means a replica of a firearm that is so substantially similar in physical properties to an existing firearm as to lead a reasonable person to conclude that the replica is a firearm;

•    Committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault or committed a sexual battery;

•    Harassed, threatened, or intimidated a pupil who is a complaining witness or a witness in a school disciplinary proceeding for the purpose of either preventing that pupil from being a witness or retaliating against that pupil for being a witness, or both;

•    Unlawfully offered, arranged to sell, negotiated to sell, or sold the prescription drug Soma, which is a muscle relaxant;

•    Engaged in, or attempted to engage in, hazing. “Hazing” means a method of initiation or pre-initiation into a pupil organization or body, whether or not the organization or body is officially recognized by an educational institution, which is likely to cause serious bodily injury or personal degradation or disgrace resulting in physical or mental harm to a former, current, or prospective pupil.

•    Engaged in an act of bullying, including, but not limited to, bullying committed by means of an electronic act, directed specifically toward a pupil or school personnel.

The law requires that the student shall not be suspended or expelled for any of the acts listed above unless the act is related to school activity or school attendance occurring within a school.  This includes, but not limited to, the following:

(1)    While on school grounds;

(2)    While going to or coming from school;

(3)    During the lunch period whether on or off the campus;

(4)    During, or while going to or coming from, a school sponsored activity.