North Dakota — school discipline

Governing authority stated in the sources

North Dakota Century Code Chapter 15.1-19 (Students and Safety), and within it Section 15.1-19-09 (students — suspension and expulsion — rules) and Section 15.1-19-10 (possession of a weapon — policy — expulsion from school). The chapter is short on this subject by design: what it mostly does is require each district to write the rules. "The board of a school district shall adopt rules regarding the suspension and expulsion of a student." (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-19-09(1)) The Legislative Branch's chapter PDF publishes no edition date of its own; sections carry session-law notations, the latest being S.L. 2025. — Chapter 15.1-19, retrieved Sep 1, 2026

The lines the state draws

On suspension: "A school district may suspend a student for up to ten days for insubordination, habitual indolence, disorderly conduct, or for violating a school district weapons policy." A twenty-day line applies to a student "who is enrolled in an alternative education program for which state per student payments are available". (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-19-09(2), (3)) On expulsion: "A school district may expel a student, including one enrolled in an alternative education program, for up to twelve months for insubordination, habitual indolence, or disorderly conduct. The school district shall consider the severity of the infraction, the age of the student, and the disciplinary history of the student to determine the duration of the expulsion." (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-19-09(4)) On firearms the weapons section sets a floor: the district's policy must "Require a student who possesses a firearm in violation of this section to be expelled for at least one year", while authorizing the superintendent or principal "to modify an expulsion for firearms possession under this section on a case-by-case basis in accordance with criteria established by the board." (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-19-10(2)(b), (c)) The statute states no separate emergency-removal route.

Offices and appeal bodies in these sources

The decision-makers named are all local. Expulsion runs through "a school board or its designated hearing officer", and the review route is stated in one sentence: "If a designated hearing officer orders that a student be expelled, the student may seek a review of the decision by the school board, based on the record of the expulsion hearing." (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-19-10(2)(c)) Participation is stated: "A student's parent or representative must be allowed to participate in the expulsion hearing." (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-19-09(1)) No appeal beyond the school board, and no role for the superintendent of public instruction or any other state office, appears in these sections.
No state office address, phone number, or email for parents appears in the sources; that absence is the finding.

Sources last checked

Sep 1, 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 North Dakota 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. North Dakota's statute is unusually thin at this layer and unusually explicit about why: the procedure a family will actually meet is the district's, written under a legislative instruction. "The rules for expulsion must provide for a procedural due process hearing under subsection 2 of section 15.1-19-10 before the determination to expel a student is made." (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-19-09(1)) That subsection supplies the one hearing clock in the chapter: "Before expelling a student, a school board or its designated hearing officer, within ten days of the student's suspension, shall provide the student with a hearing at which time the school board or its designated hearing officer shall take testimony and consider evidence, including the existence of mitigating circumstances." (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-19-10(2)(c)) On schooling during an expulsion the statute permits rather than requires: "If a school district expels a student under this section, the district may authorize the provision of educational services to the student in an alternative setting." (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-19-10(3)) The weapons section states its own relation to disability law — actions under it "may not conflict with state special education laws or with the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act". (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-19-10(4)) The conduct rules and the punishments attached to them are the board's to write: "The board of each school district shall adopt a policy governing the possession of weapons and firearms on school property or at a school function and provide for the punishment of any student found to be in violation of the policy." (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-19-10(1)) 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 North Dakota special education page. 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.