Kentucky — school discipline
- The lines the state draws
- Suspension of a student with a disability "shall be considered a change of educational placement if: 1. The child is removed for more than ten (10) consecutive days during a school year; or 2. The child is subjected to a series of removals that constitute a pattern because the removals accumulate to more than ten (10) school days during a school year and because of other factors, such as the length of each removal, the total amount of time the child is removed, and the proximity of removals to one another." (§158.150(8)(a)) A mandatory floor applies to certain offenses: "Each local board of education shall adopt a policy requiring the expulsion from school for a period of at least twelve (12) months for a student who" is found to have made specified threats, brought a weapon to school, or, in grades six through twelve, recklessly or intentionally caused physical injury to a district employee with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument. (§158.150(2)(a)) "The board may modify the expulsion requirement and length for students on a case-by-case basis, except the length of expulsion shall be at least twelve (12) months for a violation set forth in subsection (2)(a) of this section." (§158.150(3)(a)) On the youngest students: "Suspension of primary school students shall be considered only in exceptional cases where there are safety issues for the child or others." (§158.150(9))
- Offices and appeal bodies in these sources
- "The board of education of any school district may expel or extend the expulsion of any student for misconduct as described in subsection (1) of this section, but the action shall not be taken until the parent, guardian, or other person having legal custody or control of the student has had an opportunity to have a hearing before the board. The decision of the board shall be final." (§158.150(7)(b)1) For placement into an alternative program in lieu of expulsion, the parent is entitled to "a hearing before the board or an appeals committee" the board may establish and delegate that authority to. (§158.150(3)(d)1-2)
No state office, phone number, or email for parents appears in the sources; that absence is the finding. - Sources last checked
- Oct 27, 2026
Reproduced from the state's own statutes quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.
This page assembles what Kentucky publishes in statute about K-12 school discipline: who may remove a student and how, the notice and hearing the statute requires, what continues during a removal, where the appeal routes run, and, because the statute assigns much of the detail to each local board of education, a map of the questions answered only in a district's own code of behavior and discipline. The fullest single statement is KRS 158.150, read with KRS 158.155 on reporting and school-record notations for specified conduct. Kentucky's own vocabulary appears throughout: the local board of education, the appropriate alternative program or setting, the admissions and release committee, and the adjudicating body that reviews a request to end an expulsion. District codes of behavior and discipline add procedural detail this page does not carry; the delegation map below points at exactly those questions. For a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan, the disability layer lives on this site's Kentucky special education page. Confirm applicability with the district and the agency. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.
The framework, as the state writes it
Grounds for suspension or expulsion (§158.150(1)). "Willful disobedience or defiance of the authority of the teachers or administrators, use of profanity or vulgarity, assault or battery or abuse of other students, the threat of force or violence, the use or possession of alcohol or drugs, stealing or destruction or defacing of school property or personal property of students, the carrying or use of weapons or dangerous instruments, or other incorrigible bad conduct on school property, as well as off school property at school-sponsored activities, constitutes cause for suspension or expulsion from school".
Mandatory 12-month expulsion for specified offenses (§158.150(2)(a)). Quoted in the docket. A related, board-adopted mandatory disciplinary-action policy applies to a wider set of offenses "up to and including expulsion from school" for possessing drugs for sale or distribution, or physically assaulting, battering, or abusing another student or school personnel in specified circumstances. (§158.150(2)(b))
Removal from the classroom (§158.150(5)). "School administrators, teachers, or other school personnel may immediately remove or cause to be removed threatening or violent students from a classroom setting or from the district transportation system pending any further disciplinary action that may occur." Separately, "A student who is removed from the same classroom three (3) times within a thirty (30) day period shall be considered chronically disruptive and may be suspended from school in accordance with this section, and no other basis for suspension shall be deemed necessary". (§158.150(5)(b)2)
Suspension and expulsion authority (§158.150(7)). "The superintendent, principal, assistant principal, or head teacher of any school may suspend a student but shall report the action in writing immediately to the superintendent and to the parent, guardian, or other person having legal custody or control of the student." The board's expulsion authority and the hearing it requires are quoted in the docket.
Alternative placement in lieu of expulsion (§158.150(3)(d)). "In lieu of expelling a student, or upon the expiration of a student's expulsion, a superintendent may place a student into an alternative program or setting if the superintendent determines placement of the student in his or her regular school setting is likely to substantially disrupt the education process or constitutes a threat to the safety of other students or school staff."
Students with disabilities (§158.150(8)-(10)). Beyond the ten-day threshold quoted in the docket, "The admissions and release committee shall meet to review the placement and make a recommendation for continued placement or a change in placement and determine whether regular suspension or expulsion procedures apply." (§158.150(8)(b)) "Any action under this section related to students with disabilities shall be in compliance with applicable federal law." (§158.150(10)) The fuller disability-discipline process — manifestation determination, services during removal, and the dispute routes — lives on this site's Kentucky special education page; it is not restated here.
Return to the school district after expulsion (§158.150(12)). "Notwithstanding the term of an expulsion established under this section or by the board, an expelled student shall be allowed to return to the school district subject to" conditions: at least twenty-six weeks having passed, the expulsion having been for the grade six-through-twelve deadly-weapon-injury ground with no prior expulsion, a letter to any person injured and to the reviewing body, completed community service hours, a minimum grade point average on coursework completed since the expulsion, and any other board-set requirements, reviewed by an adjudicating body that will "Only authorize the end of the student's expulsion upon unanimous agreement of the members of the adjudicating body." (§158.150(12)(a)-(d))
No agency guidance document on student discipline published by the Kentucky Department of Education was located in this review; that absence is the finding.
The published process
- Notice and hearing before exclusion
- "A student shall not be suspended from the common schools until after at least the following due process procedures have been provided: (a) The student has been given oral or written notice of the charge or charges against him or her which constitute cause for suspension; (b) The student has been given an explanation of the evidence of the charge or charges if the student denies them; and (c) The student has been given an opportunity to present his or her own version of the facts relating to the charge or charges." "These due process procedures shall precede any suspension from the common schools unless immediate suspension is essential to protect persons or property or to avoid disruption of the ongoing academic process. In such cases, the due process procedures outlined above shall follow the suspension as soon as practicable, but no later than three (3) school days after the suspension." (§158.150(6)) For expulsion, "the action shall not be taken until the parent, guardian, or other person having legal custody or control of the student has had an opportunity to have a hearing before the board." (§158.150(7)(b)1)
- Services during exclusion
- "A board that has expelled a student from the student's regular school setting shall provide or ensure that educational services are provided to the student in an appropriate alternative program or setting, unless the board has made a determination, on the record, supported by clear and convincing evidence, that the expelled student posed a threat to the safety of other students or school staff and could not be placed into anappropriate alternative program or setting." (§158.150(3)(c)1) That alternative program or setting "includes but is not limited to a virtual program as defined in KRS 157.320 and a state-funded agency program." (§158.150(3)(c)2) The statute also states two limits: "Educational services provided to an expelled student under this paragraph shall not include transportation from the student's residence to, or returning from, an appropriate alternative program or setting." (§158.150(3)(c)3) And: "An expelled student shall not participate in any school-sponsored extracurricular or interscholastic activity of the district while the student is expelled." (§158.150(3)(c)4) For a student with a disability whose behavior is found unrelated to the disability, "educational services shall not be terminated during a period of expulsion and during a suspension after a student is suspended for more than a total of ten (10) days during a school year." (§158.150(8)(c))
- The record made, and the appeal route
- On suspension, the superintendent, principal, assistant principal, or head teacher "shall report the action in writing immediately to the superintendent and to the parent, guardian, or other person having legal custody or control of the student." (§158.150(7)(a)) On expulsion, "The decision of the board shall be final." (§158.150(7)(b)1) The board must periodically revisit an expulsion: "Within thirty (30) days prior to the end of a student's expulsion, the board shall review the details of the expulsion and current factors and circumstances, including if ending the expulsion will substantially disrupt the education process or constitute a threat to the safety of students or school staff, to determine if the expulsion shall be extended for a period not to exceed twelve (12) months." (§158.150(7)(b)2) On a permanent classroom removal, "Any permanent action by a principal under this paragraph shall be subject to an appeal process in accordance with a policy adopted by the board". (§158.150(5)(b)6) On records made for certain serious offenses, KRS 158.155 requires that if an expelled student's records are transferred, "those records shall reflect the charges and final disposition of the expulsion proceedings." (§158.155(5))
- If the student has an IEP or Section 504 plan
- The disability layer — evaluations, the admissions and release committee, manifestation determination, services during removal, and the dispute routes — lives on this site's Kentucky special education page. The discipline statute itself states: "Any action under this section related to students with disabilities shall be in compliance with applicable federal law." (§158.150(10))
The four rows above answer the questions an experienced adviser raises first, from the state's own statutes, or record that a question is not answered in them.
Timelines, as stated in the sources
All quoted; none calculated. From KRS 158.150 and 158.155 as retrieved Sep 4, 2026.
On due process following an immediate suspension: "the due process procedures outlined above shall follow the suspension as soon as practicable, but no later than three (3) school days after the suspension." (§158.150(6))
On chronic classroom removal: a student "removed from the same classroom three (3) times within a thirty (30) day period shall be considered chronically disruptive". (§158.150(5)(b)2)
On the expulsion review: "Within thirty (30) days prior to the end of a student's expulsion, the board shall review the details of the expulsion". (§158.150(7)(b)2)
On the exceptional-child removal threshold: a change of placement is triggered where "The child is removed for more than ten (10) consecutive days during a school year" or by a pattern of removals that "accumulate to more than ten (10) school days during a school year". (§158.150(8)(a))
On returning to the district after certain expulsions: "At least twenty-six (26) weeks shall have passed since the student was expelled" and the student must have "Completed a total number of community service hours that is at least equal to fifteen (15) hours for each week since the student was expelled". (§158.150(12)(a), (c)2)
On transferring records after an adjudication or expulsion for specified offenses: the sworn statement or affirmation "shall be sent to the receiving school within five (5) working days of the time when the student requests enrollment in the new school." (§158.155(4))
What any of this means for a particular situation is for the district, the agency, and their processes to determine.
Assigned to district policy by the quoted provision
The statute writes the frame and expressly hands the detail to each local board of education. Each entry below is a question a district's own documents answer, with the delegating text quoted. No district's code of behavior and discipline is captured or quoted here.
The mandatory 12-month expulsion policy. "Each local board of education shall adopt a policy requiring the expulsion from school for a period of at least twelve (12) months for a student who" meets the specified conditions. (§158.150(2)(a))
The mandatory disciplinary-action policy for the wider offense set. "The board shall also adopt a policy requiring disciplinary actions, up to and including expulsion from school, for a student who is determined by the board to have" committed the offenses the statute lists. (§158.150(2)(b))
Implementing the immediate-removal and safety provisions. "Each board of education shall adopt a policy to assure the implementation of this section and to assure the safety of the students and staff." (§158.150(5)(a))
An appeals committee for alternative-placement hearings. "The board may adopt a policy to establish an appeals committee and delegate the authority to hear appeals made under this paragraph to that committee." (§158.150(3)(d)2)
The code of behavior and discipline itself. "Policies compliant with this paragraph shall be included in the code of behavior and discipline adopted by the board of education under KRS 158.148 and the policies adopted by the school council under KRS 160.345." (§158.150(5)(b)7)
The appeal process for a permanent classroom removal. "Any permanent action by a principal under this paragraph shall be subject to an appeal process in accordance with a policy adopted by the board". (§158.150(5)(b)6)
Implementing the expulsion review process. "Each board of education shall adopt a policy for implementation of the process described in this paragraph." (§158.150(7)(b)4)
Records access, as stated in the sources
For specified serious offenses (homicide, assault, or a weapons, alcohol, or drug violation), before a previously adjudicated or expelled student is admitted elsewhere, "the parent, guardian, principal, or other person or agency responsible for a student shall provide to the school a sworn statement or affirmation indicating on a form provided by the Kentucky Board of Education that the student has been adjudicated guilty or expelled from school attendance at a public or private school in this state or another state" for those offenses. (§158.155(4)) Where such a student's records are transferred after expulsion, "those records shall reflect the charges and final disposition of the expulsion proceedings." (§158.155(5)) Where an expulsion proceeding for those offenses is still pending, "the records shall not be transferred until that proceeding has been terminated and shall reflect the charges and any final disposition of the expulsion proceedings." (§158.155(6)) Expungement of discipline records is not stated in the sources reviewed (KRS 158.150 and 158.155 were searched). Federal records rights under FERPA are not restated here.
Source map
| Document | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| KRS 158.150 (suspension, expulsion, alternative programs) | apps.legislature.ky.gov | "Effective: July 15, 2026"; retrieved Sep 4, 2026 |
| KRS 158.155 (reporting; school-record notation) | apps.legislature.ky.gov | "Effective: July 15, 2026"; retrieved Sep 4, 2026 |
| KRS 158.148 (code of behavior and discipline, cited by §158.150(5)(b)7) | cited in §158.150(5)(b)7 | capture pending |
| KRS 160.345 (school council policies, cited by §158.150(5)(b)7) | cited in §158.150(5)(b)7 | capture pending |
| Kentucky Department of Education guidance on student discipline | — | not located in this review; capture pending |
| District codes of behavior and discipline | each local board of education, per §158.150(5)(b)7 and elsewhere | never captured; see the delegation map |
Change log
Aug 30, 2026 · Baseline page created (discipline-layer breadth sprint). Captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/kentucky-discipline.json: KRS 158.150 and 158.155 from the Legislative Research Commission's site. Findings recorded: (1) both statutes print "Effective: July 15, 2026" as their own currency statement; (2) the Commission addresses each statute by an opaque, version-specific numeric id — a later amendment mints a new id, which the review pass should treat as a finding rather than a fetch failure; (3) no state office or contact for parents appears in the sources. Capture note: both addresses end .aspx but serve PDF, so the PDF extractor was used. Not yet built, pending the deepening pass: sections 01–02 (framework, hoisted rows, timelines), the district delegation map, and records access.
Sep 4, 2026 · Deepened to full depth (discipline-layer deepening pass). Re-verified both sources through the same recipe by curl; both confirmed byte-identical to the Aug 30, 2026 capture. Built section 01 (the framework route by route: general grounds for suspension or expulsion, the mandatory 12-month expulsion category, classroom removal and the chronically-disruptive rule, suspension and expulsion authority, alternative placement in lieu of expulsion, the exceptional-children provisions found directly in this general discipline statute, and the distinctive return-to-district process after certain expulsions), section 02's four hoisted rows, a timelines block, a district delegation map with seven entries, and a records-access section built from KRS 158.155. Findings recorded rather than smoothed: (1) KRS 158.150(8) states its own exceptional-children procedure — an admissions and release committee review, tied to a ten-consecutive- or ten-cumulative-day threshold — inside the general discipline statute itself, distinct from and in addition to the IDEA procedural safeguards on this site's special education page, which this page links to rather than restates; (2) KRS 158.155's records provisions apply only to a specified list of serious offenses (homicide, assault, weapons, alcohol, or drugs), not to discipline records generally, and that scope limit is stated rather than generalized; (3) two statutes the discipline scheme cross-references — KRS 158.148 (the code of behavior and discipline) and KRS 160.345 (school council policies) — are named but not separately captured, and are listed in the source map as capture pending; (4) no agency guidance document on student discipline published by the Kentucky Department of Education was located in this review; (5) expungement of discipline records is not stated in either source. No case law quoted anywhere on this page. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.
Oct 6, 2026 · Internet Archive captures recorded. Captures requested on 2026-09-06 by an automated capture pass and recorded this date; no human review is claimed for this entry. No quotation, date, finding or link above was changed by it. Each capture below was requested through Save Page Now and then confirmed to play back. Captures added: KRS 158.150 → https://web.archive.org/web/20260906132733/https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57377; apps.legislature.ky.gov → https://web.archive.org/web/20260906133031/https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57378. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.