South Dakota — school discipline
- The lines the state draws
- The statute sets two administrator ceilings and leaves the board's own ceiling unstated: "The school board in any district may authorize the summary suspension of pupils by principals of schools for not more than ten school days and by the superintendent of schools for not more than ninety school days." (13-32-4.2) Expulsion has no stated numerical cap in the ordinary case — "The period of expulsion may extend beyond the semester in which the violation, insubordination, or misconduct occurred" — but two categories carry their own limits: "Any expulsion for consumption or possession of beer or alcoholic beverages may not extend beyond ninety school days." and "If a student has intentionally brought a firearm onto school premises, the expulsion may not be for less than twelve months." The firearm floor is a floor a district officer can adjust: "the superintendent or chief administering officer of each local school district or system may increase or decrease the length of a firearm-related expulsion on a case-by-case basis." (13-32-4) The rule confines an immediate exclusion to notice-first process: "the principal or superintendent shall give oral or written notice to the pupil as soon as possible after discovery of the alleged violation," and a minor "may not be removed from the school premises before the end of the school day without contacting a parent unless the pupil's presence poses a continuing threat or danger, in which case the pupil may be immediately removed from the school and transferred into the custody of a parent or law enforcement." (ARSD 24:07:02:01)
- Offices and appeal bodies in these sources
- The board is the decision-maker for anything beyond a short suspension, and appeal runs to it directly, then to the courts. On suspension: "In case of a suspension by the superintendent for more than ten school days, the pupil or his parents or others having his custodial care may appeal the decision of the superintendent to the board of education." And on that appeal: "the board, upon request, shall grant a hearing to the appealing party." (13-32-4.2) On expulsion, the rule assigns the school board as the hearing body itself: "The school board is the hearing board and shall conduct the hearing in the following manner:" appointing "a school board member or a person who is not an employee of the school district as the hearing officer;" (ARSD 24:07:04:04) From there: "The student may appeal an adverse decision by the school board to the circuit court." (ARSD 24:07:04:05)
No state office, phone number, or email for parents appears in the sources; that absence is the finding. - Sources last checked
- Sep 29, 2026
Reproduced from the state's own statutes and rules quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.
This page assembles what South Dakota publishes in statute and administrative rule about K-12 school discipline: who may suspend or expel a student and how, the notice and hearing the rules require at each stage, what a district may do while a student is out, the record made and where the appeal runs, and, because the statute leaves real substance to each district's own rules and policies, a map of those questions. The fullest single statement is SDCL Chapter 13-32 together with Administrative Rules of South Dakota 24:07:04 (expulsion procedure) and 24:07:02 (short-term suspension procedure), both adopted under 13-32-4 and 13-1-12.1. South Dakota's own vocabulary appears throughout: summary suspension, the hearing officer the board itself appoints, and early reinstatement. District rules, policies, attendance policies, bullying policies, and restraint-and-seclusion policies add procedural detail this page does not carry; the delegation map below points at exactly those questions. 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.
The framework, as the state writes it
Suspension (13-32-4.2, ARSD 24:07:02:01). The principal's ten-school-day and superintendent's ninety-school-day ceilings, the appeal to the board, and the stay-pending-appeal rule are quoted in the docket. No pupil may be suspended unless "The pupil is given oral or written notice of the charges against him;" "The pupil is given an oral or written explanation of the facts that form the basis of the proposed suspension; and" "The pupil is given an opportunity to present his version of the incident." (13-32-4.2(1)–(3)) "Any suspension by a principal shall be immediately reported to the superintendent who may revoke the suspension at any time." The short-term suspension rule adds that the principal or superintendent "shall give the parent oral notice, if possible, and shall send the parent or a pupil who is 18 years of age or older or an emancipated minor a written notice which provides information regarding the pupil's due process rights." (ARSD 24:07:02:01)
Expulsion (13-32-4). "The board may suspend or expel from school any student for violation of rules or policies or for insubordination or misconduct, and the superintendent or principal in charge of the school may temporarily suspend any student in accordance with § 13-32-4.2." The rules or policies the board may adopt "may include prohibiting" alcohol, unprescribed controlled substances, and firearm possession as defined in § 13-32-7. "In addition to administrative and school board disciplinary action, any violation of § 13-32-7 shall be reported to local law enforcement authorities." The length rules (semester-plus, the alcohol cap, the firearm floor) are quoted in the docket. "The South Dakota Board of Education Standards shall promulgate rules pursuant to chapter 1-26 to establish administrative due process procedures for the protection of a student's rights." "The administrative due process procedures shall include a requirement that the school give notice of a student's due process rights to the parent or guardian of the student at the time of suspension or expulsion." "Each school district board shall provide a procedural due process hearing, if requested, for a student in accordance with such rules if the suspension or expulsion of the student extends into the eleventh school day." "This section does not prohibit a local school district from providing educational services to an expelled student in an alternative setting."
Effect on enrollment, and the records notice this creates (13-32-4.3). "If any student is under suspension or expulsion in a school district, the student may not enroll in any school district until the suspension or expulsion has expired." A superintendent may similarly bar enrollment for a student under suspension or expulsion elsewhere, including a nonpublic school. "Upon receiving a request for a student's permanent school records from the receiving district, the sending school shall provide the receiving district with written notice of any suspension or expulsion."
Early reinstatement (13-32-4.4–13-32-4.7). "If a student is expelled from school as provided in § 13-32-4, the school board may grant the student an early reinstatement allowing the student to return to school before the end of the period of expulsion." Any conditions the board sets "shall pertain to the reasons why the student was expelled," with notice of those conditions given "at the time the student is expelled." Where a student violates a condition, the superintendent may revoke early reinstatement, and "Within five days after revoking an early reinstatement, the superintendent shall provide written notice of the revocation including any early reinstatement condition that was violated by the student to the student's parent or guardian or to the student, if the student is at least eighteen years of age or an emancipated minor." "The administrative due process procedures established in ARSD 24:07:04 for the protection of students' rights in an expulsion procedure apply to the early reinstatement process established in §§ 13-32-4.4 to 13-32-4.6, inclusive, and the South Dakota Board of Education Standards may promulgate rules pursuant to chapter 1-26 to establish additional procedures for the early reinstatement process, including the development of early reinstatement conditions by school boards."
Property damage (13-32-5). "Any student, who cuts, defaces, or otherwise injures any schoolhouse, equipment, or outbuilding thereof, is liable to suspension or expulsion."
Firearms and dangerous weapons (13-32-7). "Any person who intentionally carries, possesses, stores, keeps, leaves, places, or puts into the possession of another person, any dangerous weapon, firearm, or air gun, whether or not the firearm or air gun is designed, adapted, used, or intended to be used primarily for imitative or noisemaking purposes, on or in any public elementary or secondary school premises, vehicle, or building, or on or in any premises, vehicle, or building used or leased for public elementary or secondary school functions, whether or not any person is endangered by any action under this section, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor." Ten stated exceptions apply: a law enforcement officer; a completed school-sentinel training course; an individual 21 or older with an enhanced concealed-carry permit and the principal's written permission; a concealed-carry permit holder inside or securing a firearm in a vehicle; a starting gun at an athletic event; a firing range, gun show, or supervised training session; a ceremonial unloaded weapon at a color guard ceremony; and a nonpublic school or place of worship.
Extracurricular suspension for controlled-substance offenses (13-32-9, 13-32-9.1, 13-32-9.2). This is a separate, court-triggered regime, not a school-initiated one: a person "adjudicated, convicted, the subject of an informal adjustment or court-approved diversion program, or the subject of a suspended imposition of sentence or suspended adjudication of delinquency" for a controlled-substance or marijuana offense "is ineligible to participate in any extracurricular activity at any secondary school accredited by the Department of Education for one calendar year from the date of adjudication, conviction, diversion, or suspended imposition of sentence." That ineligibility "may be reduced to thirty calendar days if the person participates in an assessment with a certified or licensed addiction counselor." A second such adjudication carries the same one-year ineligibility, reducible to sixty calendar days through an accredited intensive prevention or treatment program; a third or subsequent adjudication carries ineligibility with no stated reduction. The Unified Judicial System and the school's chief administrator carry stated notice duties to each other and to the South Dakota High School Activities Association. "No local school board may impose a lesser consequence than those established in § 13-32-9, but a local school district may adopt a policy, by local school board action, with more strict consequences to meet the needs of the district." (13-32-9.1)
Bullying policy (13-32-14 through 13-32-19). "If a school district does not have a bullying policy, the school district shall follow the model bullying policy in § 13-32-19 until such time as the school district adopts its own bullying policy." Bullying is defined as "a pattern of repeated conduct that causes physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students" that may include threats, intimidation, stalking, physical violence, theft, destruction of property, or threatening electronic conduct, directed against a student in a way that "Places a student in reasonable fear of harm to his or her person or damage to his or her property" and either substantially interferes with educational performance or substantially disrupts school operation; retaliation for reporting bullying is itself included. (13-32-15) Every district policy "shall contain": a prohibition and definition of bullying; a description of expected behavior and consequences; "A procedure for reporting an act of bullying, including provisions that permit a person to anonymously report such an act, although formal disciplinary action may not be based solely on an anonymous report;" and "A procedure for the prompt investigation and response to any report of bullying, including a requirement that an investigation be conducted on any alleged incident of bullying committed against a child while the child is aboard a school bus, at a school bus stop, or at a school-sponsored event." (13-32-16) A person who reports in good faith and in compliance with the district's policy "is immune from any cause of action for damages arising from failure to remedy the reported incident." (13-32-17) The physical location or time of day of an electronic-device incident "is a defense to" no disciplinary action for conduct that otherwise meets the bullying definition. (13-32-18)
Restraint and seclusion policy (13-32-20). Each school board "shall adopt or revise a school district policy for school district employees on the use of restraint and seclusion." The policy must contain a parent-or-guardian notification procedure for an incident requiring restraint or seclusion; "A prohibition on the use of prone restraint, defined as physical pressure applied to any part of the student's body to keep the student in a face down position on the floor or other surface, except when the use is necessary and reasonable in manner and moderate in degree; and" "A prohibition on the use of involuntary confinement of a student locked alone in a room, unless there is a clear and present danger."
No South Dakota Department of Education guidance document on student discipline, and no text of ARSD 24:07:03 (the alternative due-process chapter ARSD 24:07:04:06 names alongside this chapter) or ARSD 24:06:26.01:08 (the special-education placement-committee referral procedure), was located as its own document in this review; each is cited by the captured sources and recorded in the source map as capture pending.
The published process
- Notice of charges and the hearing right before long-term exclusion
- Before a short-term suspension, "the principal or superintendent shall give oral or written notice to the pupil as soon as possible after discovery of the alleged violation, stating the facts that form the basis for the suspension. The pupil must be given the opportunity to answer the charges." (ARSD 24:07:02:01) Before expulsion, "the superintendent must file a sealed written report with the school board no later than the end of the fifth school day following the first day of the student's removal from one or more classes or from school and schedule a hearing before the school board." The report "must include the facts of the situation, the action, the reasons for the action and the superintendent's recommendation." It stays "sealed and unavailable for review by individual school board members, until the time set for a hearing." (ARSD 24:07:04:01) The superintendent "shall give a written notice to one or both of the student's parents or to a student who is 18 years of age or older or an emancipated minor." The notice must contain at a minimum the rule or policy allegedly violated; the reason for the proceedings; notice of the right to request a hearing; a description of the hearing procedure; a statement that the student's records are available for examination; a statement that the student may present witnesses; and a statement that the student may be represented by an attorney. (ARSD 24:07:04:02) Notice of the hearing itself goes to each board member by first-class mail and to the family "by certified mail, return receipt requested." A hearing may be waived in writing; where it is not, the school board conducts it, appoints its own hearing officer, hears opening statements, evidence, witnesses and cross-examination, and closing statements, and decides in executive session, where its decision "must be based solely on the evidence presented at the hearing and must be formalized by a motion made in open meeting." (ARSD 24:07:04:03, 24:07:04:04)
- Services during exclusion
- Not stated as a requirement in the sources reviewed (SDCL 13-32 and ARSD 24:07:02 and 24:07:04 were searched). The statute states only that "This section does not prohibit a local school district from providing educational services to an expelled student in an alternative setting" (13-32-4) — a permission, not a duty.
- The record made, and the appeal route, forum by forum
- On suspension, appeal runs from the superintendent's decision to the board, which "upon request, shall grant a hearing to the appealing party." The suspension is stayed pending that appeal unless the pupil poses a continuing danger. (13-32-4.2) On expulsion, "The school board shall notify the student's parent or parents or a student who is 18 years of age or older or who is an emancipated minor in writing of the decision. The notice shall state the length of the expulsion." The board's own motion deciding the matter "shall omit the name of the student and shall state the reason for the board's action." (ARSD 24:07:04:04(13)) The hearing itself is closed to the public, and its verbatim record "and any exhibits must be sealed and must remain with the hearing officer until the appeal process has been completed". (ARSD 24:07:04:04(6)) Past the board, "The student may appeal an adverse decision by the school board to the circuit court." (ARSD 24:07:04:05)
- If the student has an IEP or Section 504 plan
- The disability layer lives on this site's South Dakota special education page. The expulsion rule names where that layer intervenes directly: "If a student identified as in need of special education or special education and related services pursuant to SDCL 13-37-1 is the subject of proposed expulsion, the procedure in § 24:06:26.01:08 applies." (ARSD 24:07:04:07, not itself captured in this review)
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 SDCL Chapter 13-32 and ARSD 24:07:02 and 24:07:04 as retrieved Sep 29, 2026.
On principal-authorized suspension: "not more than ten school days" (13-32-4.2)
On superintendent-authorized suspension: "not more than ninety school days." (13-32-4.2)
On the procedural due process hearing threshold: owed "if the suspension or expulsion of the student extends into the eleventh school day." (13-32-4)
On the alcohol-related expulsion cap: "may not extend beyond ninety school days." (13-32-4)
On the firearm-related expulsion floor: "may not be for less than twelve months." (13-32-4)
On short-term suspension notice: "as soon as possible after discovery of the alleged violation" (ARSD 24:07:02:01)
On the sealed expulsion report: "no later than the end of the fifth school day following the first day of the student's removal from one or more classes or from school" (ARSD 24:07:04:01)
On the early-reinstatement revocation notice: "Within five days after revoking an early reinstatement" (13-32-4.6)
On the controlled-substance extracurricular ineligibility: "one calendar year" on a first offense, reducible to "thirty calendar days" with an addiction-counselor assessment; the same "one year" on a second offense, reducible to "sixty calendar days" through an accredited intensive prevention or treatment program; no reduction stated for a third or subsequent offense. (13-32-9)
What any of this means for a particular situation is for the district, the board, and their processes to determine.
Assigned to district policy by the quoted provision
The statute writes the state's floor and expressly hands the rest to each district's own board. Each entry below is a question a district's own rules or policy answers, with the delegating text quoted. No district's own rules or policies are captured or quoted here.
The substantive rules or policies a student can violate. "The rules or policies may include prohibiting" the alcohol, controlled-substance, and firearm conduct the statute lists. (13-32-4)
Attendance policy. "The school board of every school district may adopt an attendance policy in accordance with procedural due process rules established by the South Dakota Board of Education Standards pursuant to § 13-32-4." (13-32-4.1) That policy may not exclude a student "for more than ten consecutive school days without providing the due process procedures" of ARSD 24:07:04 or chapter 24:07:03. (ARSD 24:07:04:06)
Stricter (never lesser) extracurricular consequences. "No local school board may impose a lesser consequence than those established in § 13-32-9, but a local school district may adopt a policy, by local school board action, with more strict consequences to meet the needs of the district." (13-32-9.1)
The bullying policy. Absent one, a district follows the model policy; otherwise "Each school district policy developed pursuant to §§ 13-32-14 to 13-32-19, inclusive, shall contain" the statute's listed required provisions. (13-32-16)
The restraint-and-seclusion policy. Each board "shall adopt or revise a school district policy for school district employees on the use of restraint and seclusion." That policy must contain the statute's three listed required provisions. (13-32-20)
Records access, as stated in the sources
A student's records are addressed at two points. Before an expulsion hearing, the required notice must include "A statement that the student's records are available at the school for examination by the student's parent or parents or another authorized representative;" (ARSD 24:07:04:02(5)) On a transfer between districts, "Upon receiving a request for a student's permanent school records from the receiving district, the sending school shall provide the receiving district with written notice of any suspension or expulsion." (13-32-4.3) The proceeding itself is kept confidential in two ways: the superintendent's written expulsion report stays "sealed and unavailable for review by individual school board members, until the time set for a hearing" (ARSD 24:07:04:01), and the hearing's verbatim record and exhibits "must be sealed and must remain with the hearing officer until the appeal process has been completed" (ARSD 24:07:04:04(6)); the board's own decisional motion "shall omit the name of the student and shall state the reason for the board's action." (ARSD 24:07:04:04(13)) A general parental right to inspect, correct, or expunge a discipline record beyond examining it before the hearing is not stated in the sources reviewed (SDCL 13-32 and ARSD 24:07:02 and 24:07:04 were searched). Federal records rights under FERPA are not restated here.
Source map
| Document | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| SDCL Chapter 13-32 (supervision of students and conduct of school), principally 13-32-1 to 13-32-9.2 | sdlegislature.gov | history notation after each section; most recent cited amendment SL 2026, ch 82; retrieved Sep 29, 2026 |
| ARSD 24:07:04 (expulsion procedure) | sdlegislature.gov | 23 SDR 179, effective April 29, 1997; no online archived history published for this rule; retrieved Sep 29, 2026 |
| ARSD 24:07:02 (short-term suspension procedure) | sdlegislature.gov | most recent amendment 23 SDR 63, effective November 4, 1996; retrieved Sep 29, 2026 |
| ARSD 24:07:03 (the alternative due-process chapter ARSD 24:07:04:06 names alongside this chapter) and ARSD 24:06:26.01:08 (the special-education placement-committee referral procedure) | cited in the rules above | capture pending |
| SDCL 13-32-7's cross-referenced provisions (chapter 13-64 school-sentinel training, chapter 23-7 concealed-carry permits) and 13-37-1 (special education identification, cited by ARSD 24:07:04:07) | cited in the sources above | capture pending |
| South Dakota Department of Education guidance on student discipline | — | not located in this review; capture pending |
| District rules and policies adopted under SDCL 13-32-4, attendance policies under 13-32-4.1, extracurricular-consequence policies under 13-32-9.1, bullying policies under 13-32-14–19, and restraint-and-seclusion policies under 13-32-20 | each district | never captured; the delegation map above points at them |
Change log
Sep 29, 2026 · Full-depth build (discipline-layer deepening pass). Re-captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/south-dakota-discipline.json (same three sources as the baseline pass, curl against the Legislature's JSON API since the 2026-09-22 transport switch recorded in the recipe's own notes): SDCL Chapter 13-32 and ARSD 24:07:04 and 24:07:02. Findings recorded: (1) this capture reproduces the retained 2026-09-01 baseline's text; no drift; (2) the framework, hoisted process rows, timelines, district delegation map, and records access section have been built out from the same three sources, which turned out to carry far more than the baseline docket alone showed — early reinstatement (13-32-4.4–4.7), the enrollment/records-transfer notice on suspension or expulsion (13-32-4.3), the extracurricular controlled-substance ineligibility regime running through the courts rather than the school (13-32-9 through 13-32-9.2), the bullying-policy requirements and model policy (13-32-14–19), and the restraint-and-seclusion policy requirements (13-32-20); (3) the expulsion proceeding is confidential at three separate points — the superintendent's report sealed until the hearing, the hearing's verbatim record sealed until the appeal window closes, and the board's own decisional motion barred from naming the student — newly built into the records-access section; (4) the delegation map now carries five districted questions: the substantive rules or policies students can violate, the attendance policy, extracurricular consequences (which may only be stricter than the statutory floor, never lesser), the bullying policy, and the restraint-and-seclusion policy; (5) SDCL 13-32-21 through 13-32-25 (multi-occupancy changing rooms, sleeping quarters, and restrooms) sit in the same chapter but are outside this module's discipline-procedure scope — a facilities and privacy topic, not a suspension, expulsion, or removal procedure — and were not built into this page. Capture pending, as at baseline: ARSD 24:07:03 and ARSD 24:06:26.01:08, and newly cited this pass, SDCL chapter 13-64 (school-sentinel training), chapter 23-7 (concealed-carry permits), and 13-37-1 (special education identification). Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-09-29. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.
Sep 1, 2026 · Baseline page created (discipline-layer breadth sprint). Captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/south-dakota-discipline.json: SDCL Chapter 13-32 and ARSD 24:07:04 and 24:07:02, all three read in a JavaScript-rendering browser and supplied to capture.py, because the Legislature's Vue application serves every automated fetcher an empty loading shell — curl and the workspace web-fetch tool both confirmed this before the switch. Findings recorded: (1) the statute states a ten-school-day principal ceiling and a ninety-school-day superintendent ceiling on suspension, but no numerical ceiling on the board's own expulsion authority in the general case, only for two named categories — alcohol (ninety school days) and firearms (a twelve-month floor, adjustable case-by-case by the superintendent); (2) the school board itself sits as the expulsion hearing board under ARSD 24:07:04:04, appointing its own hearing officer; (3) the appeal route from suspension runs to the board, and from an adverse board expulsion decision to the circuit court, with no state-level administrative appeal stated; (4) no state office or contact for parents appears anywhere in the sources; (5) ARSD 24:07:03 and ARSD 24:06:26.01:08 are cited by the captured rules but not yet captured. 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. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.
Oct 16, 2026 · Internet Archive captures recorded. Captures requested this date by an automated capture pass; no human review is claimed for this entry. No quotation, date, finding or link above was changed by it. Each capture below was requested through Save Page Now and then confirmed to play back. Captures added: SDCL Chapter 13-32 → https://web.archive.org/web/20261016045915/https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes?Statute=13-32. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.