New Hampshire — school discipline
- The lines the state draws
- Suspension comes in two stages with two different deciders. A superintendent or chartered public school director, or a written designee, "may suspend pupils from school for a period not to exceed 10 consecutive school days" for stated behavior. Beyond that, the board or its designee "may, following a hearing, extend the suspension of a pupil up to 10 additional consecutive school days" for enumerated acts — and the statute forbids the same person doing both: "The school board's or board of trustee's designee may be the superintendent or any other individual, but may not be the individual who suspended the pupil for the first 10 days under subparagraph (a)." (RSA 193:13, I(a), (b)) The firearm case carries its own floor: a pupil who brings or possesses a firearm in a safe school zone without written authorization "shall be expelled from school by the local school board for a period of not less than 12 months." (RSA 193:13, IV) The policy each board writes must itself use four stated bands: it shall "Set forth standards for short term suspensions up to 5 days, short term suspensions up to 10 days, long term suspensions up to 20 days, and expulsion." (RSA 193:13, XI(b))
- Offices and appeal bodies in these sources
- A suspension beyond ten days imposed by anyone other than the board "is appealable to the school board or board of trustees, provided that the superintendent, school board, or board of trustees received such appeal in writing within 10 days after the issuance of the decision being appealed." The board must hear it, though not necessarily afresh: it "shall hold a hearing on the appeal, but shall have discretion to hear evidence or to rely upon the record of a hearing conducted under subparagraph (b)." The removal continues meanwhile unless the board says otherwise: "The suspension under subparagraph (b) shall be enforced while that appeal is pending, unless the school board or board of trustees stays the suspension while the appeal is pending." (RSA 193:13, I(c)) Expulsion goes further than any other state in this collection: "any parent or guardian has the right to appeal any such expulsion by the local board or board of trustees to the state board of education at any time while the expulsion remains in effect. All appeals of final action by the state board of education shall be in accordance with RSA 541." (RSA 193:13, III-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 New Hampshire 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 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 expelling, the board must weigh six things the statute lists, and the list is the closest thing in these sources to a limit on the decision: "Before expelling a pupil under this section the local school board or chartered public school board of trustees shall consider each of the following factors:" "The pupil's age." "The pupil's disciplinary history." "Whether the pupil is a student with a disability." "The seriousness of the violation or behavior committed by the pupil." "Whether the school district or chartered public school has implemented positive behavioral interventions under paragraph V." and "Whether a lesser intervention would properly address the violation or behavior committed by the pupil." (RSA 193:13, III-a) Schooling continues on two stated thresholds: "School districts and chartered public schools shall make educational assignments available to the suspended pupil during periods of suspension. Except as provided in paragraphs II and IV, a school district or chartered public school shall provide alternative educational services to a suspended pupil whenever the pupil is suspended in excess of 20 cumulative days within any school year. The alternative educational services shall be designed to enable a pupil to advance from grade to grade." (RSA 193:13, V) Even a mandatory expulsion does not foreclose teaching: "Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the local school district or chartered public school that expelled the student from providing educational services to such student in an alternative setting." (RSA 193:13, IV) A suspension or expulsion reaches beyond the district that imposed it — both are stated to be "valid throughout the school districts of the state" — and reinstatement is available at any point: "Nothing in this section shall prevent the superintendent of the pupil's local school district or chartered public school director from reinstating a suspended or expelled pupil." (RSA 193:13, IX) The conduct rules and the graduated responses are the board's to write: boards "shall establish policies on school discipline that contain a system of supports and consequences designed to correct student misconduct and promote behavior within acceptable norms", including "a graduated set of age appropriate responses to misconduct". That policy must reach families — each district shall make it "Available to parents at the beginning of each school year". (RSA 193:13, XI, XII) Those delegations 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 New Hampshire special education page; the statute states that "The provisions of this section shall be construed in a manner consistent with RSA 186-C." (RSA 193:13, X) Confirm applicability with the district or chartered public school 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 |
|---|---|---|
| RSA 193:13 (suspension and expulsion of pupils) | gencourt.state.nh.us | no revision or effective date printed on the section page; retrieved Aug 30, 2026 |
| RSA 193-D (safe school zones), RSA 186-C (special education), and RSA 541 (rehearings and appeals) | cited in RSA 193:13 | capture pending |
| RSA 651:5, XIII and RSA 631:4, II(a) (the acts the expulsion grounds name) | cited in RSA 193:13, II | capture pending |
| New Hampshire Department of Education and State Board guidance on student discipline, and the state board appeal route under RSA 193:13, III-b | — | not located in this review; capture pending |
| District and chartered public school policies on school discipline | each board, per RSA 193:13, XI | 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/new-hampshire-discipline.json: RSA 193:13 from the General Court, which serves each section statically at its own address. Findings recorded: (1) New Hampshire carries its whole suspension-and-expulsion scheme in one section, including the policy each board must adopt; (2) the suspension ladder is ten consecutive school days by the superintendent or director, then up to ten more by the board or a designee after a hearing, with the statute expressly barring the designee from being the person who imposed the first ten days — a separation-of-roles rule stated in the statute rather than left to policy; (3) a suspension beyond ten days is appealable to the board in writing within ten days, the board must hold a hearing but may rely on the earlier record, and the suspension runs during the appeal unless the board stays it; (4) expulsion carries a right of appeal to the state board of education "at any time while the expulsion remains in effect", with further appeal under RSA 541 — the only state captured so far with a standing state-level appeal from a local expulsion and no filing window on it; (5) before expelling, the board must consider six listed factors including whether the pupil is a student with a disability and whether a lesser intervention would do; (6) educational assignments must be available during any suspension, and alternative educational services are required past twenty cumulative days in a school year, designed to let the pupil advance from grade to grade; (7) the twelve-month firearm expulsion is mandatory but does not prevent the district from providing services in an alternative setting, and the board must adopt a policy letting the superintendent modify that requirement case by case; (8) suspensions and expulsions are stated to be valid throughout the school districts of the state; (9) the board's policy must itself set standards for four bands — five days, ten days, twenty days, and expulsion — which is a delegation with the bands prescribed, and the entry that will anchor the full page's delegation map; (10) no 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.