If a Board of Management expels a student or suspends a student or refuses to enrol a student then the parent may appeal that decision to the Secretary General of the Department of Education and Science and the appeal will be heard by an appeals committee. Appeals are dealt with within 30 days, but the Secretary General may extend the time by a further 14 days. If the appeals committee upholds a complaint or believes that a matter arose that needs to be remedied, it must make recommendations to the Secretary General about the action required. The Secretary General must give reasons for the decision of the appeals committee and, if it has made a recommendation, may give directions to the board on how to resolve the issue. The NEWB is also able to make submissions to the appeals committee in cases where the parent appeals.
Schools have considerable independence in the area of discipline.
However, they must use fair procedures. This includes hearing the student's case. Most schools already have a code of behaviour that sets out how students will punished for breaching it. It is assumed that parents agree to the punishments set out in the code if they are told about the code when their child starts school. As a result, if the punishment is detention, the parents or student cannot claim that the student has been falsely imprisoned.