                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

BOARD OF EDUCATION GUIDELINES AND MODEL POLICIES FOR CODES OF STUDENT CONDUCT;
SCHOOL BOARD REGULATIONS (§ 22.1-279.6)

A. The Board shall establish guidelines and develop model policies for codes of
student conduct to aid local school boards in the implementation of such
policies. The guidelines and model policies shall include (i) criteria for the
removal of a student from a class, the use of suspension, expulsion, and
exclusion as disciplinary measures, the grounds for suspension, expulsion, and
exclusion, and the procedures to be followed in such cases, including
proceedings for such suspension, expulsion, and exclusion decisions and all
applicable appeals processes; (ii) standards, consistent with state, federal,
and case laws, for school board policies on alcohol and drugs, gang-related
activity, hazing, vandalism, trespassing, threats, search and seizure,
disciplining of students with disabilities, intentional injury of others,
self-defense, bullying, cyberbullying, harassment, and intimidation, and
dissemination of such policies to students, their parents, and school personnel;
(iii) standards for in-service training of school personnel in and examples of
the appropriate management of student conduct and student offenses in violation
of school board policies; (iv) standards for dress or grooming codes; and (v)
standards for reducing bias and harassment in the enforcement of any code of
student conduct.
			In accordance with the most recent enunciation of constitutional principles
by the Supreme Court of the United States of America, the Board&#8217;s
standards for school board policies on alcohol and drugs and search and seizure
shall include guidance for procedures relating to voluntary and mandatory drug
testing in schools, including which groups may be tested, use of test results,
confidentiality of test information, privacy considerations, consent to the
testing, need to know, and release of the test results to the appropriate school
authority.
			In the case of suspension and expulsion, the procedures set forth in this
article shall be the minimum procedures that the school board may prescribe.

B. School boards shall adopt and revise, as required by &#xA7; 22.1-253.13:7 and
in accordance with the requirements of this section, regulations on codes of
student conduct that are consistent with, but may be more stringent than, the
guidelines of the Board. School boards shall include in the regulations on codes
of student conduct procedures for suspension, expulsion, and exclusion decisions
and shall biennially review the model student conduct code to incorporate
discipline options and alternatives to preserve a safe, nondisruptive
environment for effective teaching and learning.

C. Each school board shall include in its code of student conduct prohibitions
against hazing and profane or obscene language or conduct. School boards shall
also cite in their codes of student conduct the provisions of &#xA7; 18.2-56,
which defines and prohibits hazing and imposes a Class 1 misdemeanor penalty for
violations, that is, confinement in jail for not more than 12 months and a fine
of not more than $2,500, either or both.

D. Each school board shall include in its code of student conduct policies and
procedures that include a prohibition against bullying. Such policies and
procedures shall (i) be consistent with the standards for school board policies
on bullying and cyberbullying developed by the Board pursuant to subsection A;
(ii) direct the principal or his designee to notify the parent of any student
involved in an alleged incident of bullying within 24 hours of learning of the
allegation of bullying; (iii) address instances of cyberbullying that occur
outside of school property between students enrolled in the school division;
(iv) provide protections designed to ensure that any student who is a victim of
or a witness to an instance of cyberbullying is not deterred from reporting or
seeking support for such instance of cyberbullying by fears of retaliation,
social alienation or rejection, or other negative treatment; and (v) include a
list of support services and resources available through each public school to
any student who is a victim of cyberbullying relating to reporting and seeking
support after experiencing an instance of cyberbullying, including mental health
support services, and any information necessary to access any such support
services and resources.
			Such policies and procedures shall not be interpreted to infringe upon the
First Amendment rights of students and are not intended to prohibit expression
of religious, philosophical, or political views, provided that such expression
does not cause an actual, material disruption of the work of the school.

E. A school board may regulate the use or possession of beepers or other
portable communications devices and laser pointers by students on school
property or attending school functions or activities and establish disciplinary
procedures pursuant to this article to which students violating such regulations
will be subject.

F. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require any school board to
adopt policies requiring or encouraging any drug testing in schools. However, a
school board may, in its discretion, require or encourage drug testing in
accordance with the Board of Education&#8217;s guidelines and model student
conduct policies required by subsection A and the Board&#8217;s guidelines for
student searches required by &#xA7; 22.1-279.7.

G. The Board shall establish standards to ensure compliance with the federal
Improving America&#8217;s Schools Act of 1994 (Part F-Gun-Free Schools Act of
1994), as amended, in accordance with &#xA7; 22.1-277.07.
			This subsection shall not be construed to diminish the authority of the Board
or to diminish the Governor&#8217;s authority to coordinate and provide policy
direction on official communications between the Commonwealth and the United
States government.

H. Each school board shall include in its code of student conduct a prohibition
on possessing any retail tobacco product or hemp product intended for smoking,
as those terms are defined in &#xA7; 18.2-371.2, on a school bus, on school
property, or at an on-site or off-site school-sponsored activity.

I. Any school board may include in its code of student conduct a dress or
grooming code. Any dress or grooming code included in a school board&#8217;s
code of student conduct or otherwise adopted by a school board shall (i) permit
any student to wear any religiously and ethnically specific or significant head
covering or hairstyle, including hijabs, yarmulkes, headwraps, braids, locs, and
cornrows; (ii) maintain gender neutrality by subjecting any student to the same
set of rules and standards regardless of gender; (iii) not have a disparate
impact on students of a particular gender; (iv) be clear, specific, and
objective in defining terms, if used; (v) prohibit any school board employee
from enforcing the dress or grooming code by direct physical contact with a
student or a student&#8217;s attire; and (vi) prohibit any school board employee
from requiring a student to undress in front of any other individual, including
the enforcing school board employee, to comply with the dress or grooming code.

HISTORY: Code 1950, §§ 22-230.1, 22-230.2; 1972, c. 604; 1980, c. 559; 1993,
cc. 819, 856, 889; 1995, cc. 724, 801; 1997, cc. 391, 585, 608, 830; 1998, c.
902; 1999, c. 432; 2000, c. 360, §§ 22.1-277.02:1, 22.1-278, 22.1-278.2; 2001,
cc. 688, 820; 2003, c. 899; 2004, cc. 574, 908, 939, 955; 2005, cc. 461, 484,
520; 2009, c. 431; 2013, c. 575; 2014, c. 326; 2017, c. 684; 2019, cc. 172, 246;
2020, c. 678; 2023, cc. 296, 297; 2024, cc. 796, 821; 2025, c. 438.