The Constitutional Chamber (Sala Constitucional) has established that disciplinary proceedings conducted in schools or high schools—which are those through which a disciplinary sanction is ordered against a student—must safeguard fundamental guarantees. This means, among other things, that the student must be granted the opportunity to defend themselves with the support of their parents or guardians, must be made aware of all the evidence, and that any exculpatory evidence (prueba de descargo) they provide must be taken into consideration.

Furthermore, through consistent jurisprudence, the Constitutional Chamber has established that both the sanctioned conduct and the penalty must be clearly defined in the educational institution's internal regulations, and such rules must be known to the student in advance. Likewise, the sanction cannot be disproportionate to the offense.

However, there are unique cases that require a different analysis. For instance, those in which the student who committed the offense or engaged in the sanctioned conduct has a disability that is the probable cause of such behavior—such as a student whose condition causes reduced impulse control or leads to aggressiveness.

In those situations, utilizing general standards of conduct as a benchmark and sanctioning the student, full well knowing they have a disability that may very well be the root cause of the offense, constitutes, in my view, a discriminatory act. This is because, in my opinion, the student would essentially be penalized for the very existence of their disability.

In these cases, rather than applying the penalty established in the internal regulations, the Educational Institution is instead obligated to adopt all necessary measures to protect the student and guarantee the proper development of their educational process.

This, of course, does not imply that the educational institution cannot take measures regarding the facts that gave rise to the disciplinary proceeding. It could, for example, implement a constructive measure that is beneficial to the student, which must be determined on a case-by-case basis. However, it must never sanction them when there is evidence that their disability could be the cause of the conduct subject to the penalty.