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STUDENT BILL OF RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES PREAMBLE
The primary function of schools is to nurture the educative process of students and to equip them constructively to meet the challenges of the future.
If we, the students of the State of Hawaii, are to become citizens trained in the democratic process, we should be provided full opportunity to inquire, to question, and to exchange ideas.
Our rights and responsibilities, then, are analogous to those of an adult citizen.
- CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
All students shall enjoy rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.
Students shall be governed by all laws and ordinances of the State of Hawaii and the County of residence.
Moreover, students shall respect all rules, policies, and regulations of the Department of Education and of respective schools.
- ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITIES
Students shall have the responsibility to learn, and to respect the rights of others to learn.
Students shall also respect the rights of others to teach.
- FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION
Students shall have the right to hear and express publicly, various points of view on subjects without fear of reprisal or penalty.
However, students recognize the rights of others and the limitations imposed by the laws of libel, slander, obscenity and incitement to riot.
- INVOLVEMENT OF STUDENTS IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
Students shall have the right to be involved in the decision-making process that affects the educational system.
- FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY AND RIGHT TO PETITION
Students shall have the right to assemble peaceably.
Students shall have the right to "petition the government for redress of grievance.”
- FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
Students shall have the right to organize clubs or associations within the school as provided in the SCHOOL CODE.
- STUDENT DISCIPLINE
Students have the right to due process.
- RIGHT TO PRIVACY
Students have the right to privacy as provided in the Hawaii State Constitution, Article I, Section 5.
- INSTRUCTION AND ADMINISTRATION
Students have the right to be concerned about teachers selected to instruct them and administrators who supervise the schools and educational system they attend.
To this end, we should be given an opportunity to express our opinions concerning the instruction we receive from teachers and the administration of Hawaii’s public schools, recognizing that the evaluation of teachers and administrators rests with the appropriate supervisor established by collective bargaining contracts, the policies and regulations of the DOE, and the laws of the State of Hawaii.
- MISCELLANEOUS
Students shall have access to all statutes, rules, policies and regulations to which they are subjected. Copies of these and the Student Bill of Rights and Responsibilities shall be available for inspection either in the school office or in some designated location convenient to all.
Adopted – 3/7/74 by the DOE
© Hawaii State Department of Education, P.O. Box 2360, Honolulu, HI 96804; Physical address: 1390 Miller St, Honolulu, HI 96813; phone: 808-586-3230; fax: 808-586-3234. All rights reserved. For problems/questions concerning this web site, please email the webmaster. Links to other web sites should not be considered an endorsement. DOE is not responsible for the content of external web sites.