Demetricia was expelled for the remainder of the school year on April 22, 1997, after she incurred her sixth suspension. The school policy provided for expulsion after four suspensions. Demetricia is an Afro-American in a school with only a 2% Afro-American student body. When she experienced racial prejudice from other students, she understandably reacted with anger and hostility. Unfortunately, she often reacted with anger and hostility toward authority figures as well. Her suspensions resulted from escalating anger and hostility when she was disciplined for misbehavior that was not racially motivated.

On April 18, 1997, Demetricia got into an altercation with a couple of teachers and a principal that escalated into an incident where the police were called to the school. April 18th was a Friday. She was expelled at the next Board meeting held on Tuesday, April 22, 1997. Mrs. Hinton was notified of the pending expulsion hearing at about 6:00 p.m. on Monday evening, April 21, 1997. Mrs. Hinton was not able to secure an attorney until about 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 22, 1997.

The issue on appeal before the State Board of Education is whether the decision to expel Demetricia was reasonable and in conformance with the District's disciplinary policy as expressed in the student handbook, and whether the expulsion procedure violated Demetricia's procedural due process rights. Under the evidence presented in this case, the disciplinary action imposed was consistent with the procedures outlined in the student handbook. However, the administrative law judge and the hearing panel found that the notice given to the Appellant was not constitutionally adequate. In a case as factually complex as this one, 24 hours oral notice was not adequate.

The expulsion was based upon prior incidents of misconduct by Demetricia during the current school year, but the Board packets contained her disciplinary actions for two school years. Because of the overtones of racial prejudice, the mother sought representation by legal counsel, but had difficulty securing representation on the same day as the board hearing.

Because of these facts, the ALJ and the hearing panel recommended that the State Board reverse the expulsion and requested that the District expunge the record of her expulsion from her 8th grade record in the 1996-97 school year.