Hawaii — school discipline

Governing authority stated in the sources

Hawaii Revised Statutes §302A-1134, "Exclusion from school", together with Chapter 19 of the Department of Education's Hawaii Administrative Rules, which the statute names as the source of the procedure: "The due process procedures of chapter 19 of the Department of Education, Hawaii Administrative Rules, shall apply to any child who, while attending school, is alleged to be in possession of a firearm." (§302A-1134(b)) The statute carries its own session-law history, ending "am L 2022, c 224, §3". The Board of Education's rules index lists that chapter as "Student Misconduct, Discipline, School Searches and Seizures, Reporting Offenses, Police Interviews and Arrests, Restitution for Vandalism, and Complaint Procedure and Investigation of Discrimination, Harassment (including Sexual Harassment), Bullying and/or Retaliation". The chapter itself is published only as a scanned document with no text layer, so it is named and dated here but not quoted; that is the finding, and it is recorded rather than worked around. — HRS §302A-1134, retrieved Aug 30, 2026

The lines the state draws

The statute states one length and one standard. On firearms: "Any child who, while attending school, is found to be in possession of a firearm, shall be excluded from attending school for not less than one year." That mandate is expressly modifiable: "The superintendent, on a case-by-case basis, may modify the exclusion of a child found to be in possession of a firearm while attending school." (§302A-1134(b)) Otherwise the ground is stated broadly and without a day count: "If for any reason a child becomes a detriment to the morals or discipline of any school, the child may be precluded from attending school by the principal, with the approval of the complex area superintendent". (§302A-1134(a)) No short-term or long-term suspension threshold and no emergency-removal provision appear in the statutory sources reviewed; the day counts a parent is looking for live in Chapter 19, which the state publishes only as a scan.

Offices and appeal bodies in these sources

Two officers appear by name, and so does an appeal. A principal acts "with the approval of the complex area superintendent", and "An appeal may be taken on behalf of the child to the superintendent of education within ten days from the date of such action." (§302A-1134(a)) The statute also states what must continue: "If a child is excluded from attending school, the superintendent shall ensure that substitute educational activities or other appropriate assistance shall be provided." (§302A-1134(b))
No office address, phone number, or email for parents appears in the sources; that absence is the finding.

Sources last checked

Aug 30, 2026

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

This page assembles what Hawaii publishes in statute about K-12 school discipline. This is a baseline docket page: the governing section, the lines the state draws, and the decision-makers and appeal route, 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. Hawaii is unusual in two ways worth stating plainly at the outset. It runs a single statewide school district, so the delegation this module maps in other states — from legislature to local board — mostly does not arise here; the procedures sit in the Department's own rules rather than in any district's code of conduct. And those rules, Chapter 19, are the document a parent actually needs, but the Board publishes them as a scanned PDF carrying no text layer, which means the chapter cannot be quoted, verified, or monitored for change by the same mechanical means this project applies to every other source. That is recorded here as a finding about the publication, not as a judgment about the rules. The statute itself makes the chapter's role explicit, naming its "due process procedures" as what applies in the firearm case, and states the appeal that follows an exclusion: to the superintendent of education, "within ten days from the date of such action." (§302A-1134(a)) For a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan, the disability layer lives on this site's Hawaii special education page; the statute's eligibility subsection opens "Unless otherwise required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 1400, et seq.". (§302A-1134(c)) Confirm applicability with the school, the complex area, and the Department. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.