The Supreme Court held that before a short suspension a student is entitled to notice of the charges and an opportunity to respond — which in practice means a conversation in a hallway that may last two minutes. That holding is the floor for nearly every school discipline decision in the country, and understanding why it is so thin explains most of what happens in this field. This article covers what process is actually due, how the search standard differs from the criminal standard, when student speech may be punished, and why the disability protections rather than the due process protections do the real work. It then explains the manifestation determination that decides whether a student may be removed at all, the stay-put provision that freezes placement during a dispute, and the exhaustion rules that determine where a family may sue.