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Belgrade school board votes to expel two students for the 2024–25 school year
Summary
At a regular meeting the Belgrade school board moved into executive session over student discipline and approved expulsions for two students for the 2024–25 school year, voting 6–1 on the first case and 7–0 on the second; no public comments were heard.
The Belgrade school board voted to expel two students for the 2024–25 school year after closed executive sessions on student disciplinary matters.
The board's chair said the items involved personal matters and that "the demand for individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure in this matter," prompting closed deliberations. After returning to open session, the chair moved to expel “student number 1” for the first semester of the 2024–25 school year; a board member seconded the motion and the motion carried 6–1. Later in the meeting the board returned from a second executive session and approved a motion to expel “student 2” for the 2024–25 school year; that motion carried 7–0.
The chair opened the meeting by leading the Pledge of Allegiance and reminded attendees of Montana law governing public comment and privacy protections. The board invited public comment but heard none before moving on to new business.
Board members repeatedly cited the board's privacy obligations when announcing the executive sessions, saying that little would be gained by publicly discussing the facts and that privacy protections for the individual students outweighed public disclosure.
No identifying information about the students or the specific conduct that led to the expulsions was discussed in open session. The board recorded only the motions, seconding, and vote tallies. A board member who seconded both motions did not give a public statement explaining the votes.
The board adjourned after formalizing the expulsions and noted that letters would be sent to the affected parties.
The expulsions follow closed deliberations permitted under the board's cited privacy rationale; the board did not take public testimony on either case.
