Oral Notice and Meeting at Student's Home Considered Adequate Notice and Sufficient Hearing Prior to Emergency Expulsion
Doe v. Mercer Island Sch. Dist., 288 F. App’x 426 (9th Cir. 2008)
A student challenged his emergency expulsion on procedural and substantive due process grounds in the Western District of Washington. Plaintiff also sought an expungement of the records related to his expulsion that were kept by the school district. Prior to the expulsion, a representative of the school district had met with the student and his mother and gave them oral notice of the expulsion. Later that evening, the superintendent met with the student and his mother for several hours to discuss the incident and the mother’s concerns. The superintendent testified that she did not make the decision to expel the student until near the end of the evening meeting.
On these grounds, the Ninth Circuit upheld the summary judgment dismissal of plaintiff’s claims because he was provided with adequate notice and a hearing regarding the expulsion. The appellate court also upheld the summary dismissal of plaintiff’s substantive due process claims on the grounds that the superintendent made the decision to expel the student based on her knowledge of the student’s assault on his sisters and her concern that the student might be threat to the school. Because courts view with deference a school’s decision in connection with the safety of its students, the Ninth Circuit found that the expulsion did not violate the student’s substantive due process rights.
Finally, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s denial of the student’s request to expunge his records of the incident. The school district maintained the records in an internal, confidential file. The student did not allege, and there was no evidence to indicate, that the internal file did not contain an accurate, contemporaneous record of the expulsion and the student’s subsequent reinstatement. The school district also represented that the internal file would be shredded upon the student’s graduation from high school.
