West Virginia — school discipline

Governing authority stated in the sources

West Virginia Code Sections 18A-5-1 (general classroom exclusion authority and county board discipline policy) and 18A-5-1a (suspension, expulsion, and dangerous-student procedure for weapons, controlled substances, and other listed conduct). — W. Va. Code § 18A-5-1a, retrieved Sep 1, 2026

The lines the state draws

The general expulsion cap sits alongside a mandatory floor for one category: "Students may be expelled pursuant to this section for a period not to exceed one school year, except that if a student is determined to have violated the provisions of subsection (a) of this section the student shall be expelled for a period of not less than twelve consecutive months, subject to the following:" and "The county superintendent may lessen the mandatory period of twelve consecutive months for the expulsion of the student if the circumstances of the student's case demonstrably warrant;" (§ 18A-5-1a(i)) Within an informal hearing, a principal may act immediately: "the principal may suspend the student for a maximum of ten school days, including the time prior to the hearing, if any, for which the student has been excluded from school." (§ 18A-5-1a(d)) A separate statute forecloses one specific use of suspension: "a student may not be suspended from school solely for not attending class." (§ 18A-5-1(e)) And corporal punishment is barred outright: "Corporal punishment of any student by a school employee is prohibited." (§ 18A-5-1(f))

Offices and appeal bodies in these sources

The county board is both policymaker and the expulsion hearing body, and the pathway to it runs through the county superintendent. On the informal-to-formal step: "If a student has been suspended pursuant to this subsection, the principal shall, within twenty-four hours, request that the county superintendent recommend to the county board that the student be expelled. Upon such a request by a principal, the county superintendent shall recommend to the county board that the student be expelled." (§ 18A-5-1a(a)) At the hearing itself: "the student may be represented by counsel, may call his or her own witnesses to verify his or her version of the incident and may confront and cross examine witnesses supporting the charge against him or her. The hearing shall be recorded by mechanical means unless recorded by a certified court reporter." (§ 18A-5-1a(f)) The statute also names a subpoena route through the courts: "The superintendent may apply to a circuit judge or magistrate for authority to subpoena witnesses and documents, upon his or her own initiative, in a proceeding related to a recommended student expulsion or dangerous student determination, before a county board conducted pursuant to the provisions of this section." (§ 18A-5-1a(h))
No state office, 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 West Virginia 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. Before a suspension the principal must run the informal hearing: "The hearing shall be held before the student is suspended unless the principal believes that the continued presence of the student in the school poses a continuing danger to persons or property or an ongoing threat of disrupting the academic process, in which case the student shall be suspended immediately and a hearing held as soon as practicable after the suspension." (§ 18A-5-1a(d)) Before the county board's hearing, written notice is required: "the county board shall cause a written notice which states the charges and the recommended disposition to be served upon the student and his or her parent(s), guardian(s) or custodian(s)," and that notice "shall state clearly whether the board will attempt at hearing to establish the student as a dangerous student, as defined by section one, article one of this chapter." (§ 18A-5-1a(e)) The statute assigns the county board its own discipline-policy duty in general terms: "Each county board is solely responsible for the administration of proper discipline in the public schools of the county and shall adopt policies consistent with the provisions of this section to govern disciplinary actions." (§ 18A-5-1(g)) That delegation will anchor the full page's delegation map. The general section also preserves the disability layer expressly: "nothing herein may be construed to conflict with or be applied to conflict with the provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §1400, et seq. or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §794." (§ 18A-5-1(d)) For a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan, that layer lives on this site's West Virginia special education page. District codes of conduct add procedural detail this page does not carry. Confirm applicability with the county board and the agencies. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.