## Facts

- Viktoria King, a public high-school student in Beaufort County, was involved in a physical altercation at school.
- The school imposed a 10-day suspension, and the principal recommended a long-term suspension for the remainder of the school year.
- In February 2008, the Beaufort County Board of Education voted to suspend King for the rest of the school year and denied her access to alternative education during the suspension.
- A panel of central-office administrators conducted a due-process hearing and upheld the Board’s decision.
- King sued the Board and the superintendent (official capacity), seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and alleging violations of North Carolina statutes and the state constitutional right to a sound basic education.

## Issues

1. Whether North Carolina statutory law required the Board to provide King alternative education during her long-term suspension, or to give a legally sufficient reason for denying it.
2. Whether denying alternative education during a long-term suspension violated King’s North Carolina constitutional right to a sound basic education.

## Decision

- The North Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals and left in place the dismissal of King’s complaint.
- The Court held the Board did not violate state law by denying King alternative education during her long-term suspension.
- The Court rejected the claim that the denial of alternative education during the suspension violated the state constitutional right to a sound basic education.

## Legal Principles

- North Carolina’s statutory discipline framework authorizes, but does not require, local boards to provide alternative education to every long-term suspended student.
- Decisions about discipline and alternative placements are largely committed to local board discretion, and courts will not impose an extra-statutory requirement that boards give particularized reasons for each denial of alternative education.
- The state constitutional right to a sound basic education does not create an individual entitlement to continued educational services during a properly imposed long-term suspension, particularly where procedural protections were provided.

## Conclusion

The court held that a local board may deny alternative education to a student serving a long-term suspension without violating North Carolina statutes or the state constitutional right to a sound basic education, and it affirmed dismissal of the student’s claims.


King v. Beaufort Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 364 N.C. 368 (2010)