Montana — school discipline

The published process

Notice of charges and the hearing right before long-term exclusion

For a firearm expulsion, the trustees must, "in a clear and timely manner", tell the student (or the parent or guardian of a minor student) that the student "may: (a) waive the student's privacy interest by requesting that the hearing be held in public; and (b) invite other individuals to attend the hearing." (subsection (5)) The hearing itself "shall hold a due process hearing that includes presentation of a summary of the information leading to the allegations and an opportunity for the student to respond to the allegations." "The student may not be expelled unless the trustees find that the student knowingly, as defined in 1-1-204, brought a firearm to school or possessed a firearm at school." (subsection (6)) A teacher, superintendent, or principal may immediately suspend the student before that hearing on cause to believe a firearm violation occurred (subsection (3), quoted in the framework above). For expulsion on any other ground, the statute states only that the trustees shall adopt a policy defining "the circumstances and procedures by which the trustees may expel a pupil" (subsection (1)); the general expulsion process, including whatever notice and hearing content it carries, is assigned to district policy by that provision and is not separately stated in the sources reviewed. For the second ten-school-day suspension period, "the pupil is granted an informal hearing with the school administrator prior to the additional suspension" (subsection (1), quoted in full in the docket); no comparable hearing requirement is stated for the initial ten-day suspension.

Services during exclusion

Not stated as a requirement in the sources reviewed (MCA 20-5-201 and 20-5-202 were searched). The statute states only that nothing in the expulsion section prevents a district from "providing educational services in an alternative setting to a student who has been expelled from the student's regular school setting" (subsection (4)(b)) — a permission, not a duty; whether a given district does so is discretionary on this text.

The record made, and the appeal route, forum by forum

No appeal forum beyond the trustees, and no state office, appears in the sources (docket). Where a firearm allegation is not sustained at the hearing, "the student's school record must be expunged of the incident." (subsection (7)) The statute does not state a further record-retention or record-disclosure rule, or an appeal route beyond the trustees, for either a suspension or a non-firearm expulsion in the sources reviewed.

If the student has an IEP or Section 504 plan

The disability layer lives on this site's Montana special education page. The statute conditions the second suspension period on not violating the IDEA (quoted in the docket) and states that "A decision to change the placement of a student with a disability who has been expelled pursuant to this section must be made in accordance with the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act." (subsection (2)(b))

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 MCA 20-5-201 and 20-5-202 as retrieved Sep 29, 2026.

On the initial suspension: "not to exceed 10 school days". (20-5-202(1))

On the additional suspension period: "not to exceed 10 school days", available only after "an informal hearing with the school administrator prior to the additional suspension". (20-5-202(1))

On what counts as expulsion: "any removal of a pupil for more than 20 school days without the provision of educational services". (20-5-202(1))

On the firearm expulsion floor: "not less than 1 year", modifiable in writing "up to and including eliminating the requirement for expulsion, on a case-by-case basis". (20-5-202(2)(a))

On the weapons-policy review: "annually". (20-5-202(2)(a))

On the OPI's federal reporting: "provided annually to the federal government under the reporting requirements of 20 U.S.C. 7151". (20-5-202(8))

What any of this means for a particular situation is for the trustees and their processes to determine.

Assigned to district policy by the quoted provision

The statute writes the frame and expressly hands most of the operating detail to each district's board of trustees. Each entry below is a question a district's own policy answers, with the delegating text quoted. No district's policy is captured or quoted here.

Suspension authority and procedure. The trustees "shall adopt a policy defining the authority and procedure to be used by a teacher, superintendent, or principal in the suspension of a pupil". (20-5-202(1))

Circumstances and procedures for expulsion, general. The same sentence assigns "the circumstances and procedures by which the trustees may expel a pupil" to trustees' policy. (20-5-202(1))

Firearm expulsion policy and law-enforcement referral. "The trustees of a district shall adopt a policy for the expulsion of a student who is determined to have brought a firearm to school or to have possessed a firearm at school and for referring the matter to the appropriate local law enforcement agency." (20-5-202(2)(a))

Annual review of the weapons policy. "The trustees shall annually review the district's weapons policy and any policy adopted under this subsection (2)(a) and update the policies as determined necessary by the trustees based on changing circumstances pertaining to school safety." (20-5-202(2)(a))

The pupil conduct rules themselves. A pupil "shall comply with the policies of the trustees and the rules of the school that the pupil attends". (20-5-201(1)(a))

Appeal of a decision to withhold grades, diploma, or transcripts. A district that withholds these for an unpaid obligation shall "adopt a policy regarding a process for a pupil or the pupil's parent or guardian to appeal the school district's decision to request that another school district withhold a pupil's grades, diploma, or transcripts." (20-5-201(4)(b)(v))

Records access, as stated in the sources

Where a firearm allegation is not sustained at the hearing, expungement is stated outright: "the student's school record must be expunged of the incident." (20-5-202(7)) Beyond that one case, a general parental right to inspect, correct, or expunge a discipline record is not stated in the sources reviewed (MCA 20-5-201 and 20-5-202 were searched); district policy may address it, and none is captured here. The statute does address privacy in the state's own firearm-incident reporting: the office of public instruction must make its federally reported data available "provided that any personally identifiable information is redacted." (20-5-202(8)) That is a rule about state-level publication, not about a parent's own access to a child's record. Federal records rights under FERPA are not restated here.

Change log

Sep 29, 2026 · Full-depth build (discipline-layer deepening pass). Re-captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/montana-discipline.json (same two sources as the baseline pass): MCA 20-5-202 and 20-5-201. Findings recorded: (1) this capture reproduces the 2026-08-30 baseline's text byte-for-byte; no drift; (2) the framework, hoisted process rows, timelines, district delegation map, and records access section have been built out from the same two statutory sources; the delegation map carries six districted questions, two carried over from the baseline pass (suspension authority/procedure and general expulsion circumstances/procedures) and four newly identified this pass (the firearm expulsion policy and law-enforcement referral, the annual weapons-policy review, the pupil-conduct-rules clause, and the grade/diploma/transcript-withholding appeal policy); (3) the statute's one stated emergency removal — immediate suspension pending a firearm hearing, on cause to believe a violation occurred (20-5-202(3)) — was newly identified and added to the framework and the notice-and-hearing row; (4) for expulsion on any ground other than a firearm, the statute states no notice or hearing content of its own: the same sentence that assigns the suspension procedure to trustees' policy also assigns "the circumstances and procedures by which the trustees may expel a pupil," so the general expulsion process is a delegation finding, not an absence; (5) services during exclusion are permitted, not required: the statute states only that nothing in it prevents a district from providing educational services in an alternative setting to an expelled student; (6) no appeal route beyond the trustees, and no further record-retention or disclosure rule, is stated for a suspension or a non-firearm expulsion; expungement is stated outright, but only where a firearm allegation is not sustained. Capture pending, as at baseline: MCA 20-4-302, 20-4-402, and 20-4-403 (the suspension authorities cited by 20-5-202(1) and (3)), MCA 1-1-204 (the "knowingly" definition), MCA 20-5-209 (the self-defense carve-out newly cross-referenced this pass), and Office of Public Instruction discipline guidance and firearm-incident data. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-09-29. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.

Aug 30, 2026 · Baseline page created (discipline-layer breadth sprint). Captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/montana-discipline.json: MCA 20-5-202 and 20-5-201 from the Legislature. Findings recorded: (1) Montana defines expulsion partly by the withholding of schooling — removal beyond 20 school days "without the provision of educational services" — so a long removal paired with alternative instruction is not expulsion under the section, and the section says expressly that nothing in it prevents a district from providing those services; (2) suspension is capped at an initial 10 school days and one further period of up to 10, the second available only on a stated administrator finding and only after an informal hearing, and only if it would not violate the IDEA; (3) expulsion is reserved to the trustees alone; (4) before a firearm expulsion the trustees must hold a due process hearing with a summary of the information and an opportunity to respond, and may not expel unless they find the student acted knowingly as the Code defines that term; (5) the trustees must tell the family, clearly and timely, that the student may waive the privacy interest and ask for a public hearing and may invite others to attend — a notice about the shape of the hearing itself that few states state; (6) where the allegation is not sustained, the school record must be expunged of the incident; (7) the firearm expulsion floor of one year is expressly modifiable in writing, up to and including eliminating the requirement, case by case; (8) the suspension authority and procedure, and the circumstances and procedures for expulsion, are assigned to the trustees by policy — delegations, not absences, and the entries that will anchor the full page's delegation map; (9) no appeal forum beyond the trustees and no state office or parent contact appear 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.