Discipline

My Child Has Been Expelled for Smoking Pot: A 2025 Update for Parents, Educators, and Students

Facing an expulsion notice because your child was caught smoking marijuana (pot) is deeply unsettling. In 2025, public expectations, legal frameworks, and school policies have evolved—but the core challenge remains: balancing safety and accountability with care, rehabilitation, and a pathway back to education. This article updates the landscape, offers expert insight, and helps you chart a course forward.

1. The Context in 2025: What the Data Tells Us

Trends in adolescent cannabis use

• According to the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, roughly 6 percent of adolescents aged 12–17 reported past-month marijuana use, with no significant change from 2021 levels.
• In 2024, 25.8 percent of 12th graders reported cannabis use in the past 12 months—down from 29 percent in 2023. National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Meta-analysis of 63 studies (nearly 440,000 youths) links adolescent cannabis use with lower grades, higher dropout risk, and decreased rates of college attainment. getsmartaboutdrugs.gov

While the downward trend in youth marijuana use continues, administrators and parents cannot shrug off incidents as isolated—they remain serious, especially in school settings.

Legal and policy shifts

• In 2025, states are beginning to adopt rehabilitative expulsion policies. For example, California’s proposed AB 1230 would require school districts to create individualized rehabilitation plans for expelled students and assist them in completing requirements at no cost to the family.
• At the federal level, the Keeping Drugs Out of

Most private schools have Codes of Discipline that will not tolerate substance abuse. Smoking pot or drinking alcohol are common examples of substance abuse. I am bringing this up because many parents think that they can appeal disciplinary action a school brings against students. The problem is that students attending a private school are covered by what is known as contract law. In a public school they would have rights. That is not the case in a private school. Students' rights are clearly spelled out in the contract parents and the school sign.

Here, then, are some common questions parents have about private school discipline and how infractions of the school's discipline code are usually handled.

Parent:

My child has been expelled for smoking pot at their private school. I'm shocked and don't understand why the consequences are so severe. Can you explain?

School:

We understand this is a difficult situation. Private schools have strict policies regarding substance abuse, including marijuana use. When students break these rules, they face immediate consequences, often including expulsion. This is because private schools operate under contract law, which allows them to take action in disciplinary matters compared to what can happen in public schools.

Basically, it means that if you go to a private school, you are not covered by the same laws as you were when you attended public school. Private schools are covered by something called contract law. It means that schools have the right, and obligation, to act

I have been writing about corporal punishment in K-12 schools since 1999. Frankly, I am appalled that corporal punishment is still permitted in some American schools in 2026.

In 2019, 19 states still permitted corporal punishment in their public schools. While policies continue to evolve and the number of incidents has declined, the United States still does not have a federal law prohibiting corporal punishment in public or private schools, much less in the home. State and local laws govern education in almost every respect. Local and state taxes fund public education. Therefore, it has been the local and state authorities that make the rules regarding how students are disciplined.

What Is Corporal Punishment?

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) defines corporal punishment as:

“Any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light. Most involve hitting ("smacking", "slapping", "spanking") children, with the hand or with an implement."

That definition remains one of the most widely accepted descriptions of corporal punishment used by child welfare and educational organizations around the world.

How Many Children Are Involved With Corporal Punishment?

In previous years, hundreds of thousands of children experienced corporal punishment in public schools.

The U.S. Department of Education continues to monitor discipline practices through its civil rights data collection programs. While the number of incidents has declined over the past decade, advocates argue that any continued use of physical punishment remains a concern.

Why

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A private school handbook is essentially a set of guidelines for life in the school community. The reason why I am devoting an entire article here on Private School Review is to underscore the importance of handbooks. Both you and your child need to understand that the school's handbook is linked to the contract which you signed with the school. Private schools are not like public schools in this very important regard: students have rights in a public school; but they do not have rights in a private school. They are governed by what is known as contract law. That contract which you signed with the school spells out all the obligations of the parties to that contract. Somewhere buried in the fine print will be a statement to the effect that one of your child's obligations is to abide by the rules and regulations of the school and its community as set forth in the school's handbook and elsewhere.

Most handbooks are comprehensive, very detailed documents which seek to cover every conceivable aspect of school life. They are generally rather lengthy documents too as you will see when you review the examples listed at the end of this article. Take time to review your school's handbook. Discuss and confirm that your child understands the seriousness of this document. While the school will explain the content of its handbook at the beginning of school, assume nothing. Make sure that she understands that failure to abide by the terms

We parents hold our breath as our children enter the teenage years. They face so many temptations. They cope with so much peer pressure. Popular culture bombards them with notions of what is acceptable and what's cool. What's a parent to do? Sometimes it seems as though we are swimming against the tide. A very strong tide.

Regardless of what pressures our teenagers face, our job as responsible parents is to teach our children that there will be consequences for their actions. Some consequences are positive. Others will be negative. For example, when our teenagers learn to drive, they are taught that it is illegal to run a red light or to drink and drive. Those consequences seem pretty obvious. Most teenagers, but not all, tend to obey those basic rules. That's the point. We try very hard to teach our teenagers that rules are there for a purpose. You perhaps may not agree with the reason for the rule. You do, however, have to be aware of the rules and obey them.

But what about the consequences our children might face for breaking the rules in a private school? You see, private and public schools are very different when it comes to discipline. The difference between public and private schools becomes even more noticeable when handling big issues such as substance abuse, among other disciplinary matters. Most private schools will have immediate consequences for infractions