Louisiana — school discipline
- The lines the state draws
- Louisiana sets the ten-day mark as the point at which schooling must be provided elsewhere: "A student who is expelled or suspended for longer than ten days shall be provided with academic instruction at an alternative setting in accordance with R.S. 17:416.2." (R.S. 17:416(C)(1)) The statute opens by stating a preference against removal at all: "All public schools shall endeavor to address student behavior with a focus on evidence-based interventions and supports. Schools shall endeavor to prioritize classroom- and school-based interventions in lieu of out-of-school disciplinary removals to address student misconduct in order to minimize the loss of academic instructional time." (R.S. 17:416(A)(1)(a)) One expulsion carries a stated floor: a student in grades six through twelve found guilty of possessing a firearm, a knife with a blade of two and one-half inches or more, or a controlled substance "shall be expelled from school for a minimum period of two complete school semesters and shall be referred to the district attorney". (R.S. 17:416(C)(2)(a)(i)) No general maximum suspension length appears in the sources reviewed; that absence is the finding.
- Offices and appeal bodies in these sources
- Louisiana states a four-step route, and each step carries a clock. A principal recommends expulsion; then "a hearing shall be conducted by the superintendent or his designee within fifteen school days to determine the facts of the case and make a finding of whether or not the student is guilty of conduct warranting a recommendation of expulsion." (R.S. 17:416(C)(1)) From there the parent or legal guardian "may, within five days after the decision is rendered, submit a request to the city, parish, or other local public school board to review the findings of the superintendent or his designee at a time set by the school board; otherwise the decision of the superintendent shall be final." On review, "If requested as provided in this Paragraph, and after reviewing the findings of the superintendent or his designee, the school board may affirm, modify, or reverse the action previously taken." The right survives a reduced penalty: "The parent or legal guardian of the student shall have such right of review even if the recommendation for expulsion is reduced to a suspension." (R.S. 17:416(C)(4)) Beyond the board the route is judicial: a parent or legal guardian "may, within ten school days, appeal to the district court for the parish in which the student's school is located, an adverse ruling of the school board in upholding the action of the superintendent or his designee. The court may reverse or revise the ruling of the school board upon a finding that the ruling of the board was based on an absence of any relevant evidence in support thereof." (R.S. 17:416(C)(5)(a)) The statute also requires that the route be published locally: "Each school board's code of conduct shall include information detailing the appeal process provided in this Paragraph and Subparagraph (5)(a) of this Subsection."
No state office, 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 statutes quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.
This page assembles what Louisiana publishes in statute about K-12 school discipline. This is a baseline docket page: the governing sections, 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 district 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. Before a removal the statute states what the student is owed: "the school principal or his designee shall advise the student in question of the particular misconduct of which he is accused as well as the basis for such accusation, and the student shall be given an opportunity at that time to explain his version of the facts to the school principal or his designee." The notice to the family is stated with its permitted methods and a consequence attached to the conference: the principal "shall contact, by telephone at the telephone number shown on the student's registration card or by electronic communication or a certified letter sent to the address shown on the student's registration card, the parent or legal guardian of the student in question giving notice of the out-of-school suspension, assignment to alternative placement, or expulsion, the reasons therefor, and establishing a date and time for a conference with the principal or his designee as a requirement for readmitting the student. In the case of expulsion, the contact with the parent or guardian shall include a certified letter. If the parent or legal guardian fails to attend the required conference within five school days of mailing the certified letter or other contact with the parent, the truancy laws shall become effective." (R.S. 17:416(A)(1)(c)) While an expulsion hearing is pending, schooling is stated to continue: "Until such hearing takes place, the student shall remain suspended from the school with access to classwork and the opportunity to earn academic credit." At the hearing itself, "the student may be represented by any person of his choice." (R.S. 17:416(C)(1)) After a removal, supervision does not end: "Any student suspended or expelled from school pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 17:416, shall remain under the supervision of the governing authority of the city, parish, or other local public school system taking such action using alternative education programs for suspended and expelled students. Alternative education programs of any local public school shall be approved by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education". (R.S. 17:416.2(A)(1)) A classroom removal carries its own stated floor before the student returns: a student in kindergarten through grade five "shall not be permitted to return to the class for at least thirty minutes unless agreed to by the teacher initiating the disciplinary action", one in grades six through twelve "shall not be permitted to return to the class during the same class period unless agreed to by the teacher initiating the disciplinary action", and readmission waits until the principal has implemented at least one listed measure. (R.S. 17:416(A)(1)(b)(iii)) The conduct rules themselves are the board's: each board maintains a code of conduct, and the appeal process must appear in it. That delegation 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 Louisiana special education page. Confirm applicability with the school system and the agencies. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.
Source map
| Document | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| R.S. 17:416 (discipline of students; suspension; expulsion) | legis.la.gov | no revision or effective date printed on the section page; retrieved Aug 30, 2026 |
| R.S. 17:416.2 (supervision of suspended or expelled students; alternative education programs) | legis.la.gov | no revision or effective date printed on the section page; retrieved Aug 30, 2026 |
| R.S. 17:252 (the model master discipline plan the boards' codes of conduct must meet) | cited in R.S. 17:416 | capture pending |
| R.S. 17:416.14 (bullying) and R.S. 17:416.1 (additional disciplinary authority) | cited in R.S. 17:416 | capture pending |
| Louisiana Department of Education and BESE guidance on student discipline | — | not located in this review; capture pending |
| School board codes of conduct | each city, parish, or other local public school board | never captured; the full page's delegation map will point at them |
Change log
Aug 30, 2026 · Baseline page created (discipline-layer breadth sprint). Captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/louisiana-discipline.json: R.S. 17:416 and R.S. 17:416.2 from the Legislature. Findings recorded: (1) Louisiana states the fullest appeal ladder captured so far — a superintendent's hearing within fifteen school days of a principal's expulsion recommendation, a school board review requested within five days after the decision or the superintendent's decision becomes final, and an appeal to the district court for the parish within ten school days, with the court's standard of review stated in the section; (2) the statute requires that this route be published in each board's own code of conduct, which is unusual among the states captured so far and is recorded as found; (3) schooling is protected in two places — the student stays suspended "with access to classwork and the opportunity to earn academic credit" until the expulsion hearing, and any removal longer than ten days moves to academic instruction in an alternative setting under R.S. 17:416.2; (4) the section opens by directing schools to prioritize classroom- and school-based interventions over out-of-school removal, which is a statement of preference rather than a limit, and is recorded as the statute states it; (5) there is no general maximum suspension length in the sources reviewed, recorded as not stated; the one stated floor is a minimum of two complete school semesters for weapons and controlled substances in grades six through twelve, with a district attorney referral; (6) a classroom removal carries stated minimum periods before return and a list of measures the principal must implement first; (7) no state office or parent contact appears in the sources. Capture note: the Legislature addresses each section by an opaque numeric id rather than by section number, so the recipe records the ids its own links carry; unlike Kentucky's, these ids did not present as version-specific on the retrieval date, and any change is a finding for the review pass. Not yet built, pending the deepening pass: sections 01–02 (framework, hoisted rows, timelines), the district delegation map, and records access. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-30. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.