Virginia — school discipline

Governing authority stated in the sources

The Code of Virginia, Title 22.1, Chapter 14, Article 3 (Pupil Conduct; Suspensions and Expulsions), §§ 22.1-276 through 22.1-280, published by the Commonwealth as a single article document. The article carries the definitions, removal from class, suspensions and expulsions generally, short-term suspension, long-term suspension, expulsion and its exceptions, the alternative school discipline process, corporal punishment, seclusion and restraint, and parental responsibility. Sections carry their own enactment notations; the short-term suspension section ends "1998, c. 806, § 22.1-277.03; 2001, cc. 688, 820; 2020, c. 337." and the long-term section "1998, c. 806, § 22.1-277.03; 2001, cc. 688, 820; 2018, c. 491; 2020, c. 337." — Article 3, retrieved Aug 29, 2026

The lines the state draws

By definition, and with a ceiling at each step. Short-term is "any disciplinary action whereby a student is not permitted to attend school for a period not to exceed 10 school days." Long-term is "any disciplinary action whereby a student is not permitted to attend school for 11 to 45 school days." (§ 22.1-276.01) The 45-day ceiling is not absolute: "a long-term suspension may extend beyond a 45-school-day period but shall not exceed 364 calendar days if (i) the offense is one described in § 22.1-277.07 or 22.1-277.08 or involves serious bodily injury or (ii) the school board or division superintendent or his designee finds that aggravating circumstances exist, as defined by the Department." (§ 22.1-277.05(C)) For the youngest students the limit is tighter than anywhere else in this layer so far: "no student in preschool through grade three shall be suspended for more than three school days or expelled from attendance at school, unless (i) the offense involves physical harm or credible threat of physical harm to others or (ii) the local school board or the division superintendent or his designee finds that aggravating circumstances exist, as defined by the Department." (§ 22.1-277(B))

Offices and appeal bodies in these sources

Who may act is stated unusually broadly at the short end: "A pupil may be suspended for not more than ten school days by either the school principal, any assistant principal, or, in their absence, any teacher." (§ 22.1-277.04) Review of a short-term suspension runs to the superintendent, who "shall review forthwith the action taken by the principal, assistant principal, or teacher upon a petition for such review by any party in interest and confirm or disapprove such action based on an examination of the record of the pupil's behavior." Whether it goes further is left to the division: "The decision of the division superintendent or his designee may be appealed to the school board or a committee thereof in accordance with regulations of the school board; however, the decision of the division superintendent or his designee shall be final if so prescribed by school board regulations." (§ 22.1-277.04) At the long end the hearing right is stated with the notice: written notice "of the right to a hearing before the school board, or a committee thereof, or the superintendent or his designee, in accordance with regulations of the school board", and where a committee hears it, "Any such committee of the school board shall be composed of at least three members. If the committee's decision is not unanimous, the pupil or his parent may appeal the committee's decision to the full school board. Such appeal shall be decided by the school board within 30 days." (§ 22.1-277.05(A))
No state office, phone number, or email for parents appears in the sources reviewed. That absence is the finding.

Sources last checked

Aug 29, 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 Virginia publishes in statute about K-12 school discipline. This is a baseline docket page: the governing article, 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 short-term procedure is stated compactly and completely. The person suspending "may suspend the pupil after giving the pupil oral or written notice of the charges against him and, if he denies them, an explanation of the facts as known to school personnel and an opportunity to present his version of what occurred", and where the pupil's presence is a continuing danger or an ongoing threat of disruption, "the pupil may be removed from school immediately and the notice, explanation of facts, and opportunity to present his version shall be given as soon as practicable thereafter." (§ 22.1-277.04) Two provisions concern what happens to the schooling. The notice must carry options: the board "shall require that any oral or written notice to the parent of a student who is suspended from school attendance for not more than ten days include notification of the length of the suspension, information regarding the availability of community-based educational programs, alternative education programs or other educational options, and of the student's right to return to regular school attendance upon the expiration of the suspension." But the state also states who pays: "The costs of any community-based educational program, or alternative education program or educational option, which is not a part of the educational program offered by the school division, shall be borne by the parent of the student." (§ 22.1-277.04) The same allocation is repeated for long-term suspensions and for expulsions. (§§ 22.1-277.05(B), 22.1-277.06(B)) What the division must provide either way is access to the work: "School boards shall adopt policies and procedures to ensure that suspended students are able to access and complete graded work during and after the suspension." (§§ 22.1-277.04, 22.1-277.05(B)) On expulsion, the statute states a route back and a clock on it: where the board determines the student may not return or attend an alternative or adult education program, the written notice "shall also advise the parent of such student that the student may petition the school board for readmission to be effective one calendar year from the date of his expulsion, and of the conditions, if any, under which readmission may be granted." (§ 22.1-277.06(B)) Two of the article's own definitions are handed to the state agency rather than fixed in the text: the aggravating circumstances that lift the 45-day ceiling and that permit a longer exclusion in preschool through grade three are both "as defined by the Department", and the statute states only that the definition "shall include a consideration of a student's disciplinary history." (§§ 22.1-277.05(C), 22.1-277(B)) That, together with the school board regulations that decide whether a superintendent's short-term decision is final, 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 Virginia special education page. Confirm applicability with the division and the agencies. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.