Missouri — school discipline
- The lines the state draws
- Missouri sets two lengths and attaches each to an officer. A school board "by general rule and for the causes provided in section 167.161, may authorize the summary suspension of pupils by principals of schools for a period not to exceed ten school days and by the superintendent of schools for a period not to exceed one hundred and eighty school days." (167.171(1)) The ten-day mark is also where the appeal opens: "In case of a suspension by the superintendent for more than ten school days, the pupil, the pupil's parents or others having such pupil's custodial care may appeal the decision of the superintendent to the board or to a committee of board members appointed by the president of the board which shall have full authority to act in lieu of the board." Expulsion is the board's own, "after notice to parents or others having custodial care and a hearing upon charges preferred", for conduct "which is prejudicial to good order and discipline in the schools or which tends to impair the morale or good conduct of the pupils." (167.161(1)) The statute also bars one shortcut: "Prior disciplinary actions shall not be used as the sole basis for removal, suspension or expulsion of a pupil."
- Offices and appeal bodies in these sources
- A principal suspends up to ten days and must report it upward — "Any suspension by a principal shall be immediately reported to the superintendent who may revoke the suspension at any time." The superintendent may suspend up to a hundred and eighty school days, subject to the board appeal above. On appeal, "the superintendent shall promptly transmit to it a full report in writing of the facts relating to the suspension, the action taken by the superintendent and the reasons therefor and the board, upon request, shall grant a hearing to the appealing party to be conducted as provided in section 167.161." (167.171(1)) Missouri states the character of that hearing directly, and names what lies beyond it: student discipline hearings "shall not be required to comply with the requirements applicable to contested case hearings as provided in chapter 536, provided that appropriate due process procedures shall be observed which shall include the right for a trial de novo by the circuit court." (167.161(3))
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 Missouri 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. The process owed before any suspension is stated as four conditions: "No pupil shall be suspended unless:" "The pupil shall be given oral or written notice of the charges against such pupil;" "If the pupil denies the charges, such pupil shall be given an oral or written explanation of the facts which form the basis of the proposed suspension;" "The pupil shall be given an opportunity to present such pupil's version of the incident; and" — and then a fourth that is unusual among the states captured so far, because it suspends the penalty rather than the process: "In the event of a suspension for more than ten school days, where the pupil gives notice that such pupil wishes to appeal the suspension to the board, the suspension shall be stayed until the board renders its decision, unless in the judgment of the superintendent of schools, or of the district superintendent, the pupil's presence poses a continuing danger to persons or property or an ongoing threat of disrupting the academic process, in which case the pupil may be immediately removed from school, and the notice and hearing shall follow as soon as practicable." (167.171(2)) At the hearing itself, "the board shall consider the evidence and statements that the parties present and may consider records of past disciplinary actions, criminal court records or juvenile court records consistent with other provisions of the law, or the actions of the pupil which would constitute a criminal offense." The board "may provide by general rule not inconsistent with this section for the procedure and conduct of such hearings", and the hearing may be given up: "After meeting with the superintendent or his designee to discuss the expulsion, the parent, custodian or the student, if at least eighteen years of age, may, in writing, waive any right to a hearing before the board of education." The district must try to get the family there: "The school board shall make a good-faith effort to have the parents or others having custodial care present at any such hearing." (167.161(1), (3)) Schooling is not extinguished by the removal: "Any suspension issued pursuant to section 167.161, or this section, or expulsion pursuant to section 167.161, shall not relieve the state or the suspended student's parents or guardians of their responsibilities to educate the student. School districts are encouraged to provide an in-school suspension system and to search for other acceptable discipline alternatives prior to using suspensions of more than ten days or expelling a student from the school." (167.164(1)) The conduct rules and the hearing procedure alike are the board's to write by general rule, which is the delegation that 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 Missouri special education page; the statute states directly that "Removal of any pupil who is a student with a disability is subject to state and federal procedural rights." (167.161(1)) Confirm applicability with the district 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mo. Rev. Stat. 167.161 (suspension or expulsion; notice; hearing) | revisor.mo.gov | session-law history on the section page; no separate revision date; retrieved Aug 30, 2026 |
| Mo. Rev. Stat. 167.171 (summary suspension; appeal; procedure; conference) | revisor.mo.gov | session-law history on the section page; no separate revision date; retrieved Aug 30, 2026 |
| Mo. Rev. Stat. 167.164 (duty to educate; alternative education costs) | revisor.mo.gov | session-law history on the section page; no separate revision date; retrieved Aug 30, 2026 |
| Mo. Rev. Stat. 160.261 (discipline policy; acts of school violence) and chapter 536 (contested cases) | cited in the captured sections | capture pending |
| Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education guidance on student discipline | — | not located in this review; capture pending |
| District general rules on discipline and on the conduct of hearings | each board, per 167.161(1) and 167.171(1) | 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/missouri-discipline.json: Mo. Rev. Stat. 167.161, 167.171, and 167.164, each from its own address at the Revisor of Statutes. Findings recorded: (1) Missouri splits its suspension power by officer — ten school days for a principal, a hundred and eighty for the superintendent — with a principal's suspension immediately reportable to the superintendent, who may revoke it at any time; (2) the ten-day mark opens an appeal to the board or to a committee of board members with full authority to act in its place; (3) where a suspension of more than ten days is appealed, the statute stays the suspension until the board decides, unless the superintendent judges the pupil a continuing danger — a stay that no other state captured so far grants by default, and one a family would need to know exists; (4) the four conditions owed before any suspension are stated in the section rather than left to policy; (5) the statute states expressly that student discipline hearings need not meet the state's contested-case requirements, while requiring appropriate due process and naming a right to a trial de novo by the circuit court — the narrowest characterization of a school hearing captured so far, paired with the broadest court route; (6) prior disciplinary actions may not be the sole basis for a removal, and the district must make a good-faith effort to have the family present at the hearing; (7) suspension and expulsion do not relieve the duty to educate, and districts are encouraged to use in-school suspension and other alternatives before removals beyond ten days; (8) no state office or parent contact appears in the sources. 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.