State Codes and Statutes

Statutes > Nebraska > Chapter79 > 79-267

79-267. Student conduct constituting groundsfor long-term suspension, expulsion, or mandatory reassignment; enumerated;alternatives for truant or tardy students.The followingstudent conduct shall constitute grounds for long-term suspension, expulsion,or mandatory reassignment, subject to the procedural provisions of the StudentDiscipline Act, when such activity occurs on school grounds, in a vehicleowned, leased, or contracted by a school being used for a school purpose orin a vehicle being driven for a school purpose by a school employee or byhis or her designee, or at a school-sponsored activity or athletic event:(1) Use of violence, force, coercion, threat, intimidation, or similarconduct in a manner that constitutes a substantial interference with schoolpurposes;(2) Willfully causing or attempting to cause substantial damage to property,stealing or attempting to steal property of substantial value, or repeateddamage or theft involving property;(3) Causing or attempting to cause personal injury to a school employee,to a school volunteer, or to any student. Personal injury caused by accident,self-defense, or other action undertaken on the reasonable belief that itwas necessary to protect some other person shall not constitute a violationof this subdivision;(4) Threatening or intimidating any student for the purpose of or withthe intent of obtaining money or anything of value from such student;(5) Knowingly possessing, handling, or transmitting any object or materialthat is ordinarily or generally considered a weapon;(6) Engaging in the unlawful possession, selling, dispensing, or useof a controlled substance or an imitation controlled substance, as definedin section 28-401, a substance represented to be a controlled substance, oralcoholic liquor as defined in section 53-103.02 or being under theinfluence of a controlled substance or alcoholic liquor;(7) Public indecency as defined in section 28-806, except that thissubdivision shall apply only to students at least twelve years of age butless than nineteen years of age;(8) Engaging in bullying as defined in section 79-2,137;(9) Sexually assaulting or attempting to sexually assault any personif a complaint has been filed by a prosecutor in a court of competent jurisdictionalleging that the student has sexually assaulted or attempted to sexuallyassault any person, including sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaultswhich occur off school grounds not at a school function, activity, or event.For purposes of this subdivision, sexual assault means sexual assault in thefirst degree as defined in section 28-319, sexual assault in the second degreeas defined in section 28-320, sexual assault of a child in the second or thirddegree as defined in section 28-320.01, or sexual assault of a child in thefirst degree as defined in section 28-319.01, as such sections now provideor may hereafter from time to time be amended;(10) Engaging in any other activity forbidden by the laws of the Stateof Nebraska which activity constitutes a danger to other students or interfereswith school purposes; or(11) A repeated violation of any rules and standards validly establishedpursuant to section 79-262 if such violations constitute a substantial interferencewith school purposes.It is the intent of the Legislature that alternatives to suspensionor expulsion be imposed against a student who is truant, tardy, or otherwiseabsent from required school activities. SourceLaws 1976, LB 503, § 11; Laws 1983, LB 209, § 2; Laws 1988, LB 316, § 3; Laws 1994, LB 1250, § 17; Laws 1995, LB 658, § 3; R.S.Supp.,1995, § 79-4,180; Laws 1996, LB 900, § 71; Laws 1996, LB 1050, § 5; Laws 2006, LB 1199, § 83; Laws 2008, LB205, § 2; Laws 2010, LB861, § 83.Effective Date: July 15, 2010 Cross ReferencesAnabolic steroids, prohibited acts, see section 79-296.Membership in secret school organization, grounds for expulsion, see section 79-2,101 et seq. AnnotationsThe subsections of this section are coextensive and a particular instance of student conduct may constitute grounds for discipline under more than one subsection of the statute. A particular instance of student conduct may be punishable under a subsection of this section despite being excepted from the scope of another subsection, so long as the conduct meets the requirements of the subsection under which the school district seeks to discipline the student. Busch ex rel. Knave v. Omaha Pub. Sch. Dist., 261 Neb. 484, 623 N.W.2d 672 (2001).Under subsection (1) of this section, the term "school purposes" includes the maintenance of an orderly and effective educational system. The use of violence or force to cause personal injury to a school employee who is attempting to prevent or break up a physical confrontation is a substantial interference with school purposes within the meaning of subsection (1) of this section. Busch ex rel. Knave v. Omaha Pub. Sch. Dist., 261 Neb. 484, 623 N.W.2d 672 (2001).Pursuant to subsection (3) of this section (formerly section 79-4,180), under its usual meaning, an injury caused by accident is one caused accidentally, unintentionally, or unexpectedly. Spencer v. Omaha Pub. Sch. Dist., 252 Neb. 750, 566 N.W.2d 757 (1997).This section (formerly section 79-4,180) lists the conduct which constitutes grounds for the use of long-term suspension, expulsion, or mandatory reassignment; it does not mandate the use of any one of these forms of punishment. Kolesnick v. Omaha Pub. Sch. Dist., 251 Neb. 575, 558 N.W.2d 807 (1997).