West Virginia — school discipline
- 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 22, 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: who may exclude or suspend a student and how, the notice and hearing the statute requires, what continues during a removal, where the appeal routes run, and, because the statute assigns much of the detail to each county board, a map of the questions answered only in a county's own discipline policy. The fullest single statement runs across two sections: § 18A-5-1 (the general teacher-exclusion authority, the corporal-punishment ban, and the county board's own policy duty) and § 18A-5-1a (the suspension-and-expulsion procedure for weapons, felony conduct, controlled substances, and other listed conduct, including the dangerous-student determination). West Virginia's own vocabulary appears throughout: the informal hearing, the dangerous student determination, the West Virginia Education Information System, and the behavioral intervention program. County board discipline policies add procedural detail this page does not carry; the delegation map below points at exactly those questions. 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.
The framework, as the state writes it
Classroom and school-bus exclusion by a teacher (§ 18A-5-1(c)). "The teacher may exclude from his or her classroom or school bus any student who is guilty of disorderly conduct; who in any manner interferes with an orderly educational process; who behaves in a manner that obstructs the teaching or learning process of others in the classroom; who threatens, abuses, or otherwise intimidates or attempts to intimidate a school employee or a student; who willfully disobeys a school employee; or who uses abusive or profane language directed at a school employee." "Any student excluded shall be placed under the control of the principal of the school or a designee." Readmission runs through a behavioral plan: "The excluded student may be admitted to the classroom or school bus only after a school counselor, school social worker, school psychologist, or behavior interventionist develops a behavioral plan for re-entry to the classroom for the student and when the principal, or a designee, provides written certification to the teacher that the student may be readmitted and specifies the specific type of disciplinary action, if any, that was taken."
Grades K-6 violent, threatening, or intimidating behavior (§ 18A-5-1(j)-(l)). Where a kindergarten-through-six or publicly funded pre-K teacher determines a student's behavior is violent, threatening, or intimidating toward staff or peers, or unsafe, "the student shall be referred to the school counselor, school social worker, school psychologist, or behavior interventionist who shall conduct a functional behavioral assessment to assess underlying causes of the student's behavior." "The behavioral plan shall be followed for a period of two weeks." "After that, a re-evaluation of the student's behavior shall be conducted and if adequate progress is being made, the behavioral plan shall continue." "If the plan is amended and, after another period of two weeks, the student still has not shown adequate progress then the student shall be placed in a behavioral intervention program or with a licensed behavioral health agency the county has established, has partnered with another county board to establish, or has gained access to for its students through an agreement with another county board for the purpose of addressing such behaviors." Where the county has no such program, subsection (l) states its own sequence instead: "If the county board has not established, partnered with another county board to establish, or gained access through an agreement with another county board to a behavioral intervention program:" the student is removed for the remainder of the day, the parents are notified to pick the student up, and the sequence quoted in the timelines below follows.
Grades 6-12 disorderly or obstructive conduct (§ 18A-5-1(m)-(n)). "When a grade six through 12 teacher, excluding an elementary school teacher, determines that the behavior of the student is disorderly conduct, is interfering with an orderly educational process, or obstructs the teaching or learning process of others in the classroom:" "The student may be excluded from that teacher's classroom and, if excluded, may not re-enter that teacher's classroom for at least the remainder of the instructional day". A third removal in a month for this conduct triggers a stated consequence, quoted below.
Suspension and expulsion for weapons, felony conduct, controlled substances, or narcotics sale (§ 18A-5-1a(a)-(b)). "A principal shall suspend a student from school or from transportation to or from the school on any school bus if the student, in the determination of the principal after an informal hearing pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, has: (i) Violated the provisions of subsection (b), section fifteen, article two, chapter sixty-one of this code; (ii) violated the provisions of subsection (b), section eleven-a, article seven of said chapter; or (iii) sold a narcotic drug, as defined in section one hundred one, article one, chapter sixty-a of this code, on the premises of an educational facility, at a school-sponsored function or on a school bus." That category carries the mandatory twelve-month expulsion floor quoted in the docket. A second, related category runs the same suspension-to-expulsion path without the mandatory floor: "A principal shall suspend a student from school, or from transportation to or from the school on any school bus, if the student, in the determination of the principal after an informal hearing pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, has: (i) Committed an act or engaged in conduct that would constitute a felony under the laws of this state if committed by an adult; or (ii) unlawfully possessed on the premises of an educational facility or at a school-sponsored function a controlled substance governed by the Uniform Controlled Substances Act as described in chapter sixty-a of this code."
Suspension and expulsion for other listed conduct (§ 18A-5-1a(c)). A discretionary route covers a broader list: "A principal may suspend a student from school, or transportation to or from the school on any school bus, if the student, in the determination of the principal after an informal hearing pursuant to subsection (d) of this section: (i) Threatened to injure, or in any manner injured, a student, teacher, administrator or other school personnel; (ii) willfully disobeyed a teacher; (iii) possessed alcohol in an educational facility, on school grounds, a school bus or at any school-sponsored function; (iv) used profane language directed at a school employee or student; (v) intentionally defaced any school property; (vi) participated in any physical altercation with another person while under the authority of school personnel; or (vii) habitually violated school rules or policies." For this category, whether the principal seeks expulsion at all, and whether the county board holds a hearing or expels, are each stated as discretionary ("may").
Dangerous student determination (§ 18A-5-1a(g)). At an expulsion hearing, the county board "also may determine whether the student is a dangerous student pursuant to subsection (g) of this section." A board that did not raise the question before the hearing but finds cause during it must hold a second hearing, quoted in the timelines below. A dangerous-student finding affects the alternative-education question, quoted under services during exclusion.
Statewide disciplinary policy (§ 18A-5-1(o)). Apart from what each county board sets, the state board itself has a rulemaking duty: "The State Board of Education shall promulgate a rule pursuant to §29A-3B-1 et seq. which adopts a statewide disciplinary policy". A waiver from that policy is available to a school with a behavioral interventionist "upon a showing of continued positive educational progress from the existing county or school disciplinary policy currently in effect." That rule itself has not been located in this review; see the source map.
The published process
- Notice and hearing before exclusion
- Before any suspension under § 18A-5-1a, an informal hearing is required: "The actions of any student which may be grounds for his or her suspension or expulsion under the provisions of this section shall be reported immediately to the principal of the school in which the student is enrolled." "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." "The student and his or her parent(s), guardian(s) or custodian(s), as the case may be, shall be given telephonic notice, if possible, of this informal hearing, which notice shall briefly state the grounds for suspension." "At the commencement of the informal hearing, the principal shall inquire of the student as to whether he or she admits or denies the charges. If the student does not admit the charges, he or she shall be given an explanation of the evidence possessed by the principal and an opportunity to present his or her version of the occurrence." Before the county board's own hearing: "Prior to a hearing before the county board, 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), as the case may be." "The 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." "The notice also shall include any evidence upon which the board will rely in asserting its claim that the student is a dangerous student." At the hearing itself, the representation, witness, and recording rights quoted in the docket apply, and "The county board shall hold the scheduled hearing to determine if the student should be reinstated or should, under the provisions of this section, must be expelled from school."
- Services during exclusion
- For the K-6 protocol, once removed to alternative accommodations: "The student shall receive his or her education through the alternative learning accommodations and may not return to school until a risk assessment is done;" For a dangerous-student expulsion, alternative education may be withheld: "A county board that expels a student, and finds that the student is a dangerous student, may refuse to provide alternative education." A refusal is not final: "a hearing shall be conducted within three months after the refusal by the board to provide alternative education to reexamine whether or not the student remains a dangerous student and whether the student shall be provided alternative education. Thereafter, a hearing for the purpose of reexamining whether or not the student remains a dangerous student and whether the student shall be provided alternative education shall be conducted every three months for so long as the student remains a dangerous student and is denied alternative education." "If it is determined during any of the hearings that the student is no longer a dangerous student or should be provided alternative education, the student shall be provided alternative education during the remainder of the expulsion period." For an ordinary (non-dangerous-student) suspension or expulsion under § 18A-5-1a, and for the general teacher-exclusion route under § 18A-5-1(c), continuation of instruction during the removal is not stated in the sources reviewed.
- The record made, and the appeal route
- "In all hearings under this section, facts shall be found by a preponderance of the evidence." (§ 18A-5-1a(j)) Every suspension and expulsion becomes a record: "Each suspension or expulsion imposed upon a student under the authority of this section shall be recorded in the uniform integrated regional computer information system (commonly known as the West Virginia Education Information System) described in subsection (f), section twenty-six, article two, chapter eighteen of this code." "The principal of the school at which the student is enrolled shall create an electronic record within twenty-four hours of the imposition of the suspension or expulsion." "Each record of a suspension or expulsion shall include the student's name and identification number, the reason for the suspension or expulsion and the beginning and ending dates of the suspension or expulsion." At the conclusion of a county board hearing, the board "shall either: (1) Order the student reinstated immediately at the end of his or her initial suspension; (2) suspend the student for a further designated number of days; or (3) expel the student from the public schools of the county." No forum beyond the county board hearing, and no further appeal route (to the state board, an agency, or a court), appears in the sources reviewed for the § 18A-5-1a suspension-and-expulsion procedure; that absence is the finding, distinct from the subpoena route to a circuit judge or magistrate quoted in the docket, which is a discovery mechanism for the county board hearing itself rather than a further appeal from its outcome.
- If the student has an IEP or Section 504 plan
- The disability layer (evaluations, the IEP team, manifestation determination, services during removal, and the dispute routes) lives on this site's West Virginia special education page. The general statute preserves that 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)) The suspension-and-expulsion statute preserves it in the same terms: "For purposes of this section, nothing herein may be construed to be in conflict with the federal provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U. S. C. §1400, et seq." (§ 18A-5-1a(k))
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 W. Va. Code §§ 18A-5-1 and 18A-5-1a as retrieved Sep 22, 2026.
On the K-6 behavioral-plan review: "The behavioral plan shall be followed for a period of two weeks." Then, if unamended progress persists, "after another period of two weeks, the student still has not shown adequate progress" triggers placement in a behavioral intervention program. (§ 18A-5-1(j))
On the K-6 sequence without a behavioral intervention program: "The student shall continue to be suspended for the next one to three school days while alternative learning accommodations are made;" then, "After the risk assessment, the student's return to school shall be on a provisional basis for a period of five to 10 days." A repeat incident in that window, or afterward, moves the student toward expulsion, "Provided, That the expulsion shall not continue through two continuous semesters". (§ 18A-5-1(l))
On the grades 6-12 protocol: "The principal shall communicate with the teacher within 24 hours of the student being excluded from the teacher's classroom about the exclusion;" "The teacher has 24 hours to create an electronic record and place the report of this action into the West Virginia Education Information System without any repercussion to the teacher;" and "If the student is removed from a classroom a total of three times in one month for one or more of the behaviors set forth in this subsection, the student shall receive, as determined by the principal, an in-school suspension, an out-of-school suspension, or may be considered for placement in an alternative learning center or with a licensed behavioral health agency if one is available within the school district." (§ 18A-5-1(m))
On the informal-hearing suspension: capped at "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)) The principal must report the same day: "The principal shall report any suspension the same day it has been decided upon, in writing, to the parent(s), guardian(s) or custodian(s) of the student by regular United States mail." (§ 18A-5-1a(d))
On the request to expel: for the mandatory category, "the principal shall, within twenty-four hours, request that the county superintendent recommend to the county board that the student be expelled." (§ 18A-5-1a(a))
On the county board hearing date: "The notice shall set forth a date and time at which the hearing shall be held, which date shall be within the ten-day period of suspension imposed by the principal." (§ 18A-5-1a(e))
On a later-raised dangerous-student claim: the board "shall schedule a second hearing within ten days to decide the issue." (§ 18A-5-1a(g))
On alternative-education reexamination after a dangerous-student denial: "a hearing shall be conducted within three months after the refusal by the board to provide alternative education", then "every three months for so long as the student remains a dangerous student and is denied alternative education." (§ 18A-5-1a(g))
On the length of expulsion: "not to exceed one school year," or "not less than twelve consecutive months" for the mandatory category, quoted in full in the docket. (§ 18A-5-1a(i))
On the WVEIS record: "The principal of the school at which the student is enrolled shall create an electronic record within twenty-four hours of the imposition of the suspension or expulsion." (§ 18A-5-1a(l))
What any of this means for a particular situation is for the county board, the agencies, and their processes to determine.
Assigned to district policy by the quoted provision
The statute writes the frame and expressly hands the detail to each county board. Each entry below is a question a county board's own policy answers, with the delegating text quoted. No county board's own policy is captured or quoted here.
The general discipline-policy duty. "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)) The suspension-and-expulsion statute restates the same duty: "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-5-1a(n))
The tier-system policy. "To promote a teaching and learning environment free from substantial classroom disturbances, each county board shall ensure that each school implements a tier system policy, with teacher input, to provide a framework for student behaviors and punishments. The policy shall be clear and concise with specific guidelines and examples." (§ 18A-5-1(g))
A teacher's own appeal procedure. "The county board policies shall also include an appeal procedure whereby a teacher may appeal to the county superintendent if a school principal refuses to allow the exclusion of a student from the classroom or if a teacher believes the school principal has prematurely ended the exclusion of a student from the classroom." (§ 18A-5-1(g)) This delegated appeal runs to a teacher, not to a student's parent or guardian; no parent-facing appeal beyond the county board hearing is stated, as recorded above.
Whether and how a preventive discipline program is adapted locally. The state board devises the program, but "Each county board may modify those programs to meet the particular needs of the county." (§ 18A-5-1(g))
Whether a behavioral intervention program exists at all for the K-6 protocol. The statute states two branches turning on a county's own choice: "If the county board has not established, partnered with another county board to establish, or gained access through an agreement with another county board to a behavioral intervention program:" a different, statute-stated sequence applies. (§ 18A-5-1(l)) Whether the county has established, partnered for, or gained access to such a program is the county's own decision.
Records access, as stated in the sources
The only records-access content in the sections reviewed is the WVEIS record itself: "Each suspension or expulsion imposed upon a student under the authority of this section shall be recorded in the uniform integrated regional computer information system (commonly known as the West Virginia Education Information System)" and described further, created by the principal "within twenty-four hours of the imposition of the suspension or expulsion", and stating "the student's name and identification number, the reason for the suspension or expulsion and the beginning and ending dates of the suspension or expulsion." (§ 18A-5-1a(l)) That record's stated purpose runs toward other principals checking a student's disciplinary history at enrollment, not toward a parent's own inspection right. A parent's right to inspect, correct, or seek expungement of a discipline record is not stated in the sections reviewed (§§ 18A-5-1 and 18A-5-1a were searched); county board policy may address it. Federal records rights under FERPA are not restated here.
Source map
| Document | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| W. Va. Code § 18A-5-1 (general classroom exclusion authority and county board discipline policy) | code.wvlegislature.gov | session-law notation at the end of the section; retrieved Sep 22, 2026 |
| W. Va. Code § 18A-5-1a (suspension, expulsion, and dangerous-student procedure) | code.wvlegislature.gov | session-law notation at the end of the section; retrieved Sep 22, 2026 |
| W. Va. Code § 61-2-15(b) and § 61-7-11a(b) (the assault and weapons provisions § 18A-5-1a(a) cites) and § 60A-1-101 (the controlled-substances definition it cites) | cited in the sections above | capture pending |
| W. Va. Code § 29A-5-1 (the subpoena procedure § 18A-5-1a(h) cites) | cited in the sections above | capture pending |
| W. Va. Code § 18-2-26(f) (the WVEIS statute § 18A-5-1a(l) cites) | cited in the section above | capture pending |
| § 29A-3B-1 et seq. and the State Board's statewide disciplinary policy rule (§ 18A-5-1(o)) | cited in the section above | not located in this review; capture pending |
| County board discipline policies adopted under § 18A-5-1(g) and § 18A-5-1a(n) | each county | never captured; see the delegation map |
Change log
Sep 22, 2026 · Deepened to full depth (discipline-layer deepening pass). Recaptured first-party under the standing recipe tools/recipes/west-virginia-discipline.json (digest e157f00c582b): W. Va. Code §§ 18A-5-1 and 18A-5-1a from code.wvlegislature.gov, by curl, scoped to each page's own `.sectiontext` element — the same transport and scope as the baseline. The recapture reproduced the Sep 1, 2026 baseline's quoted text unchanged and supplied substantially more of each section than the baseline docket had quoted (subsections (j) through (p) of § 18A-5-1, and (d) through (o) of § 18A-5-1a), which this pass built out into sections 01–02, the timelines block, the district delegation map, and records access; no new source was fetched. Findings recorded rather than smoothed: (1) West Virginia states three separate exclusion protocols by grade band and conduct type — a general teacher-exclusion authority for any grade, a distinct multi-step process for grades K-6 violent, threatening, or intimidating behavior, and a distinct three-strikes process for grades 6-12 disorderly or obstructive conduct — none of which is a "suspension" in the § 18A-5-1a sense; (2) services during exclusion are stated for the K-6 protocol (alternative learning accommodations) and for a dangerous-student denial of alternative education (the three-month reexamination cycle), but are not stated anywhere in the sections reviewed for an ordinary § 18A-5-1a suspension or expulsion, or for the general § 18A-5-1(c) teacher-exclusion route; that absence is recorded rather than inferred from the K-6 or dangerous-student provisions; (3) no forum beyond the county board's own hearing, and no further appeal route to a state office, agency, or court, appears anywhere in §§ 18A-5-1 or 18A-5-1a for the suspension-and-expulsion procedure — a genuine absence distinct from the subpoena-to-a-circuit-judge-or-magistrate discovery route quoted in the docket, which supports the county board's own hearing rather than reviewing its outcome; (4) the delegation map's clearest entry is the tier-system policy duty at § 18A-5-1(g), newly captured this pass, alongside a second, teacher-facing (not parent-facing) appeal-procedure delegation in the same subsection; (5) records access is limited to what the WVEIS record itself states — name, ID, reason, and dates, created within 24 hours, used for cross-school enrollment checks — with a parent's own inspection, correction, or expungement right not stated in the sections reviewed; (6) the cross-referenced criminal, controlled-substances, subpoena-procedure, and WVEIS-authorizing statutes, and the State Board's own statewide disciplinary policy rule under § 18A-5-1(o), remain cited but uncaptured. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter. 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/west-virginia-discipline.json: W. Va. Code §§ 18A-5-1 and 18A-5-1a from code.wvlegislature.gov, by curl, scoped to the page's own `.sectiontext` element. Findings recorded: (1) the general expulsion cap is one school year, with a mandatory twelve-consecutive-month floor for the weapons, felony-conduct, and narcotics-sale category in subsection (a), a floor the county superintendent may lessen on a case-by-case showing; (2) an informal principal-level suspension is capped at ten school days including any pre-hearing exclusion; (3) the statute forecloses suspension for non-attendance alone and prohibits corporal punishment outright; (4) the county board is both the discipline-policy author and the expulsion hearing body, with the pathway to it running through a county-superintendent recommendation, and a stated subpoena route through a circuit judge or magistrate; (5) no state office or contact for parents appears anywhere in the sources; (6) the cross-referenced criminal, controlled-substances, and subpoena-procedure statutes are cited but not yet captured. 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: code.wvlegislature.gov → https://web.archive.org/web/20261016051716/https://code.wvlegislature.gov/18A-5-1/; W. Va. Code § 18A-5-1a → https://web.archive.org/web/20261016051816/https://code.wvlegislature.gov/18A-5-1a/. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.