District of Columbia — school discipline

Governing authority stated in the sources

The Code of the District of Columbia, Title 38, Chapter 2, Subchapter II, Part C ("Student Discipline"): § 38–236.01 (definitions), § 38–236.03 (establishment of school discipline policies), § 38–236.04 (limitations on exclusion as a disciplinary action), § 38–236.05 (exclusion of students with disabilities), and § 38–236.08 (suspension and expulsion report). The Law Library publishes no currency date on the section pages beyond each section's legislative history notes; that absence is recorded here rather than filled. — D.C. Official Code § 38–236.04, retrieved Aug 30, 2026

The lines the state draws

The District defines its removals and then caps them by grade. ""Exclusion" means the removal of a student from the student's daily class schedule for disciplinary reasons and includes a suspension or a disciplinary unenrollment." ""Disciplinary unenrollment" means the expulsion or involuntary transfer of a student from a school." ""Emergency removal" means the immediate out-of-school suspension or disciplinary unenrollment of a student based on the school's reasonable belief that the student's presence poses an immediate and continuing danger to other students or school staff." (§ 38–236.01) The caps are stated as maximums: no student "may be subject to an out-of-school suspension for longer than:" "Five consecutive school days for any individual incident in grades kindergarten through 5;" "Ten consecutive school days for any individual incident in grades 6 through 12; or" "Twenty cumulative school days during an academic year regardless of grade", subject to the section's stated written-justification exceptions. (§ 38–236.04(b)) The District also fixes where due process attaches: "For purposes of due process, a suspension of 6 school days or more shall be considered a long-term suspension." (§ 38–236.04(g))

Offices and appeal bodies in these sources

The sources reviewed name no District-level hearing officer, appeal forum, office, phone number, or email for parents. The procedures themselves are assigned to each local education agency, and the statute states what that assignment must produce: school discipline policies shall "Outline procedures for communicating with students and parents regarding disciplinary actions; and" "Articulate clearly the due process rights and procedures available to students and parents." (§ 38–236.03(b)(11), (12)) Those policies must reach families: "A school, or local education agency, as appropriate, shall provide school discipline policies to students and parents and shall provide students and parents with explanations of the policies, including explanations of expectations, rights, and responsibilities of students and parents under the policies. The school, or local education agency, as appropriate, shall make the school discipline policy publicly available, including in a conspicuous place on the school and local education agency's website." (§ 38–236.03(d)) That is a delegation, and it is the docket's finding rather than an absence.

Sources last checked

Aug 30, 2026

Reproduced from the District's own code quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.

This page assembles what the District of Columbia publishes in its Code about K-12 school discipline. This is a baseline docket page: the governing sections, the lines the District draws, and the decision-makers, quoted with dates. The full sections (the framework route by route, the four hoisted process rows, every stated timeline, the delegation map, and records access) follow as the discipline layer deepens behind its breadth sprint; the change log states exactly what is not yet captured. The District writes limits that several states leave to district policy. Out-of-school suspension is restricted by grade and by reason: for younger grades, "no student may be subject to an out-of-school suspension or disciplinary unenrollment, unless a school administrator determines, consistent with school policy, that the student has willfully caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause bodily injury or emotional distress to another person, including behavior that happens off school grounds", and in grades 9 through 12 no student may be excluded for "Violating local education agency or school dress code or uniform rules;", "Willful defiance;", or off-campus behavior absent the same willful conduct. (§ 38–236.04(a)(1), (a)(2)) Attendance is not a ground: "No student, except a student over 18 years of age at a school where more than 1/2 of the students are over 18 years of age, may be subject to an out-of-school suspension or disciplinary unenrollment for an unexcused absence or a late arrival to school", subject to the stated twenty-day unenrollment proviso. (§ 38–236.04(c)) Schooling continues through a suspension: "No student subject to a suspension may be denied the right to continue to access and complete appropriate academic work or to earn credit toward promotion or graduation during a suspension." (§ 38–236.04(d)) And return is not conditioned on the parent: "The return of a student to school upon conclusion of an out-of-school suspension shall not be made contingent on a parent accompanying the student, attending a conference, or otherwise being present at the school." (§ 38–236.04(e)) Each local education agency must build a continuity-of-education plan into its policy, one that ensures the student "Continues the student's studies during the suspension and receives all appropriate assignments for the duration of the suspension;", "Can communicate with school personnel regarding academic work; and", and on return "has the opportunity to make up any school work missed during the suspension if the school work cannot be completed by the student during the student's suspension;". (§ 38–236.03(b)(4)) Those delegations will anchor the full page's delegation map. For a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan, the disability layer lives on this site's District of Columbia special education page; the Code carries its own section on that question at § 38–236.05. Confirm applicability with the local education agency and the agencies. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.