Page 30 - Atlanta Public Schools Student Handbook

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Legal Representation/Involvement of an Attorney at the Disciplinary Hearing: The student/parent/guardian must notify Student Discipline not less than 48 hours prior to the hearing if the student may be represented by an attorney. Failure to give such notice can result in the hearing being continued.
Procedural Objections: Objection to the sufficiency of the notice and/or other procedural objections shall be waived unless written notice thereof is filed with Student Discipline no less than 24 hours prior to the time the hearing is scheduled to begin. The hearing may be postponed until such defects have been removed or remedied.
Decisions: The hearing officer, panel or tribunal, after conducting the hearing and receiving all evidence, shall render a decision based solely on the evidence received at the hearing and shall determine what, if any, disciplinary action shall be taken. Such action may include, but is not limited to, assignment to alternative school, short-term suspension, long- term suspension, expulsion or permanent expulsion.
Sanctions: The hearing officer, panel or tribunal may consider the student’s entire student record to include the academic, disciplinary and attendance to determine the appropriate punishment or sanction to be imposed.
Appeals: Any party may appeal the hearing decision to the Board by filing a written notice of appeal addressed to the attention of the Superintendent within twenty (20) calendar days of the date of
decision. Only written appeal submissions received within the 20-day deadline specified in OCGA §20-2-754 will be considered. No party requesting an appeal may submit additional arguments or materials for consideration by the Board after the 20-day deadline without approval of the Superintendent or designee. Appeals by the administration must be approved by the Superintendent. If granted, the Board will discuss the appeal in Executive Session. The Board’s review will be based solely on the record. The Board shall not hear any oral arguments as part of any appeal nor shall it consider any evidence that was not presented at the disciplinary hearing. The Board may take any action it deems appropriate and has the power to affirm, reverse, or modify in any respect the decision reached.
Any party may appeal the Board’s decision to the State Board of Education pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1160 (b) through (f) and regulations of the Georgia Board of Education governing such appeals. If an appeal to the State Board is requested, a written transcript of the disciplinary hearing will be prepared and submitted to the State Board. The decision of the Board will not be suspended during the State Board appeal period.
Expedited Appeals: Any party may the hearing decision directly to the Superintendent, by emailing their appeal request within five (5) days from the date of the decision to the Superintendent at suptoffice@atlanta.k12.ga.us and Erica.Long@atlanta.k12.ga.us
or hand-delivering the appeal to the Superintendent’s Office within five(5)daysofthedateofthehearingdecision. Failuretosubmitthe expedited appeal to all relevant parties as indicated may result in the appeal not being considered. All expedited appeals must be in writing and forth the reasons the Disciplinary Hearing Decision is considered to be incorrect, along with any supporting arguments. Additionally, expedited appeals must indicate “Superintendent Appeal” in writing at the top of the appeal. Failure to include this may result in the appeal being handled pursuant to Board appeal procedures. The appeal may be submitted
by the appealing party or by an attorney representing the party. No new evidence or testimony will be considered, and no oral argument will
be heard by the Superintendent. The Superintendent will review the record and make their decision based solely on the evidence submitted to the Hearing Officer. The Superintendent may impose more lenient consequences, the same consequences, or more severe consequences should they uphold the decision that the student violated the policies as charged. The Superintendent’s decision will be documented in writing, with copies provided to the student, parent/guardian, the Principal, and Office of Student Discipline within five (5) calendar days from the date the appeal was received. The Superintendent has the right to extend the deadline to issue their decision at their discretion up to an additional five (5) days. The Superintendent’s failure to issue a timely decision
will not overturn or reverse any decision of the Hearing Officer. Parties submitting appeals are encouraged to closely monitor the deadline and submit an appeal to the Local Board if they are concerned about timeliness of the Superintendent’s decision. Expedited appeals to the
Superintendent are optional. Parties may bypass an appeal to the Superintendent and appeal directly to the Local Board of Education if they so choose. Any party who submits an expedited appeal and is dissatisfied with the outcome may additionally submit an appeal to the Local Board within twenty (20) days of this original hearing decision. Submitting an expedited appeal does not toll the timeline to submit a Board appeal.
Any student found in violation of Battery of School Employee and/or Battery of School Employee Causing Physical Harm is not eligible for an expedited appeal.
Student Offenses:
A student shall not violate any of the following rules of APS. The disciplinary levels below correspond to the progressive discipline levels detailed above. However, in serious offenses, principals or designees working in conjunction with the Office of Student Discipline or an Associate Superintendent may use a higher level of progressive discipline. The Student Code of Conduct provides examples of offenses that may occur, but it is not intended to include all offenses for which disciplinary action may be taken, as it is not possible to identify every behavior which might result in disciplinary consequences.
Disciplinary actions for students whose parents/legal guardians have completed the Parental Consent & Acknowledgement Form are as follows:
• First violation: Verbal warning.
• Second violation: The device will be confiscated and the telephone
or device will be returned only to the parent/legal guardian who must
schedule a conference at the school to retrieve the item.
• Third violation: The device will be confiscated and will result in the student’s loss of the privilege of possessing a mobile telephone or
PED on school property for one semester. Written notice will be mailed to the parent/guardian, and the telephone or device will be returned only to the parent/legal guardian who must schedule a conference at the school to retrieve the item.
• Fourth (or more) violation: The phone will be confiscated, and the student will lose the privilege of possessing a cellular telephone or PED on school property for one calendar year. Written notice will be mailed to the parent/guardian, and the telephone or device will be returned only to the parent/legal guardian who must schedule a conference at the school to retrieve the item.
Confiscated Property:
(1) School officials may confiscate or seize any item a student brings onto campus, or is otherwise in the student’s possession on campus, if such item is:
(a)evidenceofadisciplineruleviolationorsuspectedruleviolation;or (b) evidence of a crime or suspected crime, or
(c) is otherwise causing, has caused, or may cause disruption to
students, staff or the school. The determination of whether any item is a disruption is at the discretion of school administration.
(2) School administration or designee may obtain photographic or video imagining of any items seized/confiscated from a student and may retain such images as needed for discipline, criminal, or other school purposes.
(3) If the seized/confiscated item is a personal electronic device and not confiscated by law enforcement, the device will only be returned
to the student’s parent/guardian once the school has completed all investigative matters. The parent/guardian must come to the school
to personally retrieve the device. Prior to return, any content on the personal electronic device that is considered illegal or in violation of the Code of Conduct, suspected of being illegal or in violation of the Code of Conduct, or evidence or suspected evidence of illegal activity or Code of Conduct violation(s) may be removed and or retained by School Administration and/or law enforcement.
(4) Except as provided below, if the seized/confiscated item is not illegal/does not contain anything illegal or suspected of being so, and is an item that is generally permitted to be on campus, the item will be