Legal Brief
Student Discipline During Remote Instruction
BY JOY S. BASKIN/School Administrator, March 2021

KIDS WILL BE kids, even while remote learning. Disciplinary rules vary by state and community, but as a longtime school attorney, I would offer the following guidelines.

»Generally, if the behavior was wrong at school, it’s wrong when committed at home. Teachers report a variety of disruptions, such as using profanity or sharing inappropriate content. Teachers are encouraged to teach online etiquette and enforce rules as part of classroom management.

The online environment presents opportunities for more serious cyber misconduct, including cheating, hacking, bullying and personal threats. Such misconduct already was prohibited, so the challenge is how to investigate and impose consequences in the remote setting.

»Investigations may need new tools. If an allegation is serious enough, the district may have to involve IT experts and possibly law enforcement in the forensic aspects of an investigation.

You also may need to involve parents. Misconduct that seems to originate from a particular source may be a computer or phone that is shared by multiple family members. Interviewing parents and siblings who are also students may be necessary to determine responsibility.

»Be sensitive to issues of privacy, protected rights and student intent. The Associated Press reported that a 9-year-old in Louisiana was suspended after his teacher saw what turned out to be a BB gun in the student’s bedroom. Discipline of the student was seen as overreach, and public outcry led to an immediate change to the state’s discipline laws.

Louisiana’s new law gives parents greater appeal rights and requires school discipline policies to define rules of conduct for virtual instruction, including clearly defined consequences, that are narrowly tailored to address compelling government interests and take into consideration the students’ and their families’ rights to privacy and other constitutional rights while at home or in a location that is not school property.

This case is a good example of why common sense and sensitivity should prevail when remote learning opens a window into students’ homes. We’ve heard stories about cameras revealing everything from parents exercising in their underwear to siblings running amok. Considerations of privacy, constitutional freedoms and basic fairness dictate that students should be held responsible only for conduct they direct toward the school environment and not what happens in the background.

»Put exclusionary placements mostly on hold. During remote instruction, consequences like expulsion, suspension and classroom removal are generally ineffective. Moreover, educators have raised concerns about keeping students connected to avoid loss of learning and attendance, so exclusion is less appealing. 

For serious misconduct, an exclusionary placement, even if virtual, may be required. Some schools are deferring placements until in-person instruction resumes. Another option might be a form of probation — if the student completes an alternative consequence and has good behavior, the placement will be lifted. Some schools are requiring additional virtual attendance at Saturday school or detention (with cameras on). Simply having a consequence on the books may affect students’ eligibility for honor societies and extracurricular participation.

»Seek new ways to redirect misbehavior. For less serious misconduct, administrators are getting creative and enlisting more help from parents. Ideas include restorative options like community service, mentoring younger students, writing apologies or essays about personal responsibility and soliciting more feedback and verification of compliance from parents.

»Modify the code of conduct. Your current code probably prohibits online misconduct, so in that sense, you may have all you need. Consider adding flexibility for restorative, remote options to address lower-level misconduct.

Finally, be sure your written rules and educator training emphasize the need to focus on students’ intentional conduct toward the school community, not background activities, when imposing discipline at home.
JOY BASKIN is director of legal services with the Texas Association of School Boards in Austin, Tex.