Nebraska — school discipline
- The lines the state draws
- Nebraska defines its removals by length in one section. "Short-term suspension means the exclusion of a student from attendance in all schools within the system for a period not to exceed five school days." "Long-term suspension means the exclusion of a student from attendance in all schools within the system for a period exceeding five school days but less than twenty school days;" "Expulsion means exclusion from attendance in all schools within the system in accordance with section 79-283;" and "Mandatory reassignment means the involuntary transfer of a student to another school; and" (79-256) Emergency exclusion is separate and bounded by its own necessity: "Any emergency exclusion shall be based upon a clear factual situation warranting it and shall last not longer than is necessary to avoid the dangers described in subsection (1) of this section." Past five days it acquires a deadline: "If the superintendent or his or her designee determines that such emergency exclusion shall extend beyond five days, the school board shall adopt a procedure for a hearing to be held and a final determination made within ten school days after the initial date of exclusion." (79-264(2), (3)) The firearm case carries a floor the district must adopt and may lift: each district "shall adopt a policy requiring the expulsion from school for a period of not less than one year of any student who is determined to have knowingly and intentionally possessed, used, or transmitted a firearm" on school grounds or at a school activity, and "The policy shall authorize the superintendent or the school board or board of education to modify the expulsion requirement on an individual basis." (79-263(1))
- Offices and appeal bodies in these sources
- Nebraska routes a long-term suspension, expulsion, or mandatory reassignment to a hearing examiner rather than straight to the board, and gives the family a say in who that is. If a hearing is requested, "the superintendent shall recommend appointment of a hearing examiner within two school days after receipt of the hearing request." The family may object: they "may request designation of a hearing examiner other than the hearing examiner recommended by the superintendent if notice of the request is given to the superintendent within two school days after receipt of the superintendent's recommended appointment." On such a request the superintendent "shall provide one alternative hearing examiner who is not an employee of the school district or otherwise currently under contract with the school district and whose impartiality may not otherwise be reasonably questioned." (79-269(1)) The statute then enumerates what disqualifies a hearing examiner — a personal bias, personal knowledge of evidentiary facts, having served as legal counsel to the district, or having a spouse employed by or under contract with it — and states who pays: "Expenses and fees of any hearing examiner, in connection with the hearing, shall be paid by the school board." (79-269(1)(c), (2)) No state office, phone number, or email for parents appears in the sources; that absence is the finding.
- Sources last checked
- Sep 15, 2026
Reproduced from the state's own statutes quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.
This page assembles what Nebraska publishes in statute about K-12 school discipline: the removal types and their length, the emergency-exclusion procedure, the notice a principal must send before a long-term suspension, expulsion, or mandatory reassignment, the hearing and its examiner, what continues during a suspension, the record a family may examine, and, because two of the statute's own sections leave the substance of student-conduct rules to each board, a map of those delegated questions. The fullest single statement runs across Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-256 through 79-269, part of the Student Discipline Act (79-254 to 79-294). Nebraska's own vocabulary appears throughout: short-term suspension, long-term suspension, expulsion, mandatory reassignment, emergency exclusion, and the hearing examiner. District rules and standards on student conduct, adopted under 79-262, add detail this page does not carry; the delegation map below points at exactly that question. For a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan, the disability layer lives on this site's Nebraska special education page. Confirm applicability with the district and the agencies. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.
The framework, as the state writes it
Four removal types, and the length that sorts them (79-256). Short-term suspension, long-term suspension, expulsion, and mandatory reassignment are each defined and quoted in the docket; a short-term suspension runs no more than five school days, a long-term suspension more than five but less than twenty, and expulsion and mandatory reassignment are separately defined rather than bounded by a day count in this section.
Emergency exclusion (79-264). A student may be excluded on two grounds: "If the student has a dangerous communicable disease transmissible through normal school contacts and poses an imminent threat to the health or safety of the school community; or" "If the student's conduct presents a clear threat to the physical safety of himself, herself, or others, or is so extremely disruptive as to make temporary removal necessary to preserve the rights of other students to pursue an education." (79-264(1)(a), (b)) The necessity and escalation clocks are quoted in the docket.
Firearms policy (79-263). Each district's mandatory one-year expulsion policy, and its required individual-modification authority, are quoted in the docket. Districts must also report annually to the State Department of Education: "An assurance that the school district has in effect the policy required by subsection (1) of this section; and" "A description of the circumstances surrounding any expulsions imposed under the policy" required by subsection (1), including the school's name, the number of students expelled, and "The types of weapons concerned." (79-263(2))
Long-term suspension, expulsion, or mandatory reassignment procedure (79-268, 79-269). A principal's decision to discipline by one of these three routes triggers the notice and hearing scheme detailed in section 02 below.
Board rulemaking (79-262, 79-257). The conduct rules a student is charged with violating are the board's own: 79-262 directs each board to establish and promulgate rules and standards concerning student conduct, and 79-257 authorizes the board to act for conduct prohibited by those rules. Neither section's full text was reached by this capture; both are cited by 79-256 through 79-269 as the source of the board's authority, and the delegation they create is mapped below.
No Nebraska Department of Education guidance document on student discipline was located in the sources reviewed.
The published process
- Notice and hearing before exclusion
- The clock starts at the decision, not the removal: "The decision as to recommend discipline shall be made within two school days after learning of the alleged student misconduct. On the date of the decision, a written charge and a summary of the evidence supporting such charge shall be filed with the superintendent. The school shall, within two school days after the decision, send written notice by registered or certified mail to the student and his or her parent or guardian informing them of the rights established under the Student Discipline Act". (79-268(1)) That written notice must include, among other things, "The rule or standard of conduct allegedly violated and the acts of the student alleged to constitute a cause for long-term suspension, expulsion, or mandatory reassignment, including a summary of the evidence to be presented against the student;" "The penalty, if any, which the principal has recommended in the charge and any other penalty to which the student may be subject;" a description of the hearing procedures and appeal procedures; and "A form on which the student, the student's parent, or the student's guardian may request a hearing". (79-268(2)(a), (b), (f), (h)) If a hearing is requested within five school days after the notice, "the superintendent shall recommend appointment of a hearing examiner within two school days after receipt of the hearing request." The family may object within two school days, and the superintendent must then offer an alternative examiner "who is not an employee of the school district or otherwise currently under contract with the school district and whose impartiality may not otherwise be reasonably questioned". The family then has five school days to select among the options and notify the superintendent. (79-269(1)(a), (b)) The examiner must give written notice of the hearing's time and place "within two school days after being appointed", and the hearing itself "shall be held within a period of five school days after appointment of the hearing examiner," with "No hearing shall be held upon less than two school days' actual notice to the principal, the student, and the student's parent or guardian, except with the consent of all the parties." (79-269(1)(e), (3))
- Services during exclusion
- The notice itself must state "Resources the school is able to provide or recommend to assist the student;" and "How the school plans to handle such behavior in the future, including an actionable plan aimed at maximizing strategies to keep the student in school". (79-268(2)(c), (d)) On coursework specifically: the notice must state "that if the student is suspended pending the outcome of the hearing, the student may complete classwork and homework, including, but not limited to, examinations, missed during the period of suspension pursuant to district guidelines which shall not require the student to attend the school district's alternative programs for expelled students in order to complete classwork or homework". (79-268(2)(e))
- The record made, and the appeal route
- Before the hearing, the notice must state that the principal, legal counsel for the school, the student, and the student's parent, representative, or guardian have the right "to examine the student's academic and disciplinary records and any affidavits to be used at the hearing concerning the alleged misconduct" and "to know the identity of the witnesses to appear at the hearing and the substance of their testimony". (79-268(2)(g)) That right is backed by a delivery deadline: the same parties "have the right to receive a copy of all records and written statements referred to in the Student Discipline Act as well as the statement of any witness in the possession of the school board or board of education no later than forty-eight hours prior to the hearing." (79-269(4)) The notice must also carry "A description of the hearing procedures provided by the act, along with procedures for appealing any decision rendered at the hearing". (79-268(2)(f)) What those appeal procedures actually provide is not stated in the sections reviewed here (79-256, 79-263, 79-264, 79-268, and 79-269 were searched); the Student Discipline Act's later sections, not yet captured, are the likely place they are set out.
- If the student has an IEP or Section 504 plan
- the disability layer lives on this site's Nebraska special education page. The discipline sections reviewed here do not themselves cross-reference disability law.
The four rows above answer the questions an experienced adviser raises first, from the state's own statutes, or record that a question is not answered in them.
Timelines, as stated in the sources
All quoted; none calculated. From Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-256 through 79-269 as retrieved 2026-09-15.
On the decision to recommend discipline: "within two school days after learning of the alleged student misconduct." (79-268(1))
On sending written notice after the decision: "within two school days after the decision". (79-268(1))
On requesting a hearing: "If a hearing is requested within five school days after receipt of the notice". (79-269(1)(a))
On the superintendent recommending a hearing examiner: "within two school days after receipt of the hearing request." (79-269(1)(a))
On objecting to the recommended examiner: "within two school days after receipt of the superintendent's recommended appointment." (79-269(1)(b))
On selecting among examiner options: the student or parent or guardian "shall, within five school days," select and notify the superintendent. (79-269(1)(b))
On the examiner's notice of hearing time and place: "within two school days after being appointed". (79-269(1)(e))
On holding the hearing: "within a period of five school days after appointment of the hearing examiner," subject to change by the examiner "for good cause with consent of the parties." (79-269(3))
On notice of the hearing itself: "No hearing shall be held upon less than two school days' actual notice to the principal, the student, and the student's parent or guardian, except with the consent of all the parties." (79-269(3))
On disclosing records and witness statements: "no later than forty-eight hours prior to the hearing." (79-269(4))
On emergency exclusion past five days: "a hearing to be held and a final determination made within ten school days after the initial date of exclusion." (79-264(3))
What any of this means for a particular situation is for the agency and its processes to determine.
Assigned to district policy by the quoted provision
The statute writes the frame and expressly hands part of it to each district's board. Each entry below is a question the board's own rules or policy answer, with the delegating text quoted. No district's rules are captured or quoted here.
What conduct is prohibited, and the board's authority to act on it. 79-262 directs each board to establish and promulgate rules and standards concerning student conduct, and 79-257 authorizes the board to act for conduct prohibited by those rules; neither section's own text was reached by this capture, and both are cited repeatedly by the sections that were.
Whether an individual student's mandatory firearm expulsion is modified. The district's firearms policy "shall authorize the superintendent or the school board or board of education to modify the expulsion requirement on an individual basis." (79-263(1))
How a suspended student completes missed classwork and homework. Coursework may be completed "pursuant to district guidelines which shall not require the student to attend the school district's alternative programs for expelled students in order to complete classwork or homework". (79-268(2)(e))
How the hearing procedure runs when an emergency exclusion extends past five days. "the school board shall adopt a procedure for a hearing to be held and a final determination made within ten school days after the initial date of exclusion. Such procedure shall substantially comply with the provisions of sections 79-266 to 79-287, and such provisions shall be modified only to the extent necessary to accomplish the hearing and determination within this shorter time period." (79-264(3))
Records access, as stated in the sources
Before the hearing, the family and the student's representatives have the right "to examine the student's academic and disciplinary records and any affidavits to be used at the hearing concerning the alleged misconduct" and to know the witnesses and the substance of their testimony, with copies of all records and written statements due "no later than forty-eight hours prior to the hearing." (79-268(2)(g); 79-269(4)) Beyond the hearing record itself, general discipline-record access outside a pending hearing, and expungement, are not stated in the sections reviewed (79-256, 79-263, 79-264, 79-268, and 79-269 were searched); 79-266, cited by 79-264 as part of the Act's general procedure but not itself captured, is the likely place expungement is addressed. Federal records rights under FERPA are not restated here.
Source map
| Document | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-256 (terms defined) | nebraskalegislature.gov | source laws on the section page; no separate revision date; retrieved Sep 15, 2026 |
| Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-263 (district firearms policy) | nebraskalegislature.gov | source laws on the section page; no separate revision date; retrieved Sep 15, 2026 |
| Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-264 (exclusion; emergency exclusion; procedure) | nebraskalegislature.gov | source laws on the section page; no separate revision date; retrieved Sep 15, 2026 |
| Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-268 (procedures for long-term suspension, expulsion, mandatory reassignment) | nebraskalegislature.gov | source laws on the section page; states an effective date of July 18, 2026; retrieved Sep 15, 2026 |
| Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-269 (hearing; hearing examiner; examination of records) | nebraskalegislature.gov | source laws on the section page; no separate revision date; retrieved Sep 15, 2026 |
| Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-262 (board rules and standards), 79-257 (board authority), 79-266 (pre-expulsion procedures; alternative assignment; expungement) and 79-283 (expulsion term) | in the same Act, cited in the captured sections | capture pending |
| Nebraska Department of Education guidance on student discipline | — | not located in this review; capture pending |
| District rules and standards concerning student conduct | each board, per Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-262 | never captured; see the delegation map |
Change log
2026-09-15 · Deepened to full depth (discipline-layer deepening pass). Recaptured first-party under the standing recipe tools/recipes/nebraska-discipline.json (digest 24167877c84f): Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-256, 79-263, 79-264, 79-268, and 79-269, same five addresses as the baseline capture. The recapture reproduced the statutory text of all five sections unchanged from the 2026-08-30 baseline — the only differences were in the Legislature's own site navigation and script chrome (a few menu items and inline script comments trimmed), which the recipe's body-scoped extraction picks up alongside the statute text; no quoted statutory text was affected, so the capture was retained as confirmed. Built out sections 01 and 02, the timelines block, the district delegation map, and records access from the same five sections; no new source was fetched. Findings recorded: (1) 79-268's own page states an effective date of July 18, 2026 — the only one of the five captured sections to carry a section-specific effective date rather than only session-law history, and that date and the section's text (including the classwork/homework and resources/behavior-plan notice requirements) were already present in the 2026-08-30 baseline capture, so this is not new drift; (2) the notice-and-hearing scheme runs on nine separate short clocks, more than any state built so far in this layer, from the two-day decision through the 48-hour pre-hearing records deadline; (3) the statute requires the notice to state a description of hearing and appeal procedures, but what the appeal procedures actually are is not stated in the five sections captured — the record-made row states this as a genuine absence rather than inferring a route from the notice requirement alone; (4) the delegation map rests on four clauses, including two sections (79-262, 79-257) whose own text was never reached by this recipe but which the captured sections cite repeatedly as the source of board rulemaking authority — recorded as a recipe-scope gap, not a blocker, since the captured sections state the delegation's existence even without the delegated text itself; (5) general discipline-record access and expungement outside a pending hearing are not stated in the sections reviewed; 79-266 is identified as the likely governing section and remains uncaptured. No state office, phone number, or email for parents appears in any of the five sections; that absence, recorded at baseline, stands unchanged. Still uncaptured, none of them blocking full depth: 79-262, 79-257, 79-266, and 79-283 (all cited by name in the captured sections), and Nebraska Department of Education guidance. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.
2026-08-30 · Baseline page created (discipline-layer breadth sprint). Captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/nebraska-discipline.json: Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-256, 79-263, 79-264, 79-268, and 79-269, each from its own address at the Legislature. Findings recorded: (1) Nebraska defines short-term suspension at up to five school days, long-term as more than five but less than twenty, and expulsion by reference to a separate section, with mandatory reassignment named as a removal of its own; (2) the family may object to the superintendent's recommended hearing examiner and the district must then offer an alternative who is not its employee or contractor, which is the only state captured so far that gives the family a say in who hears the case; (3) the statute enumerates what makes a hearing examiner's impartiality reasonably questionable, requires the examiner be qualified by knowledge, training, or experience, and puts the examiner's fees on the school board; (4) the clocks run from the decision to discipline rather than from the removal — two school days to decide, two more to send notice by registered or certified mail, five school days for the family to request a hearing, two for the superintendent to recommend an examiner, five for the hearing after appointment, with a two-school-day floor on notice of it; (5) records and witness statements must reach the family no later than forty-eight hours before the hearing; (6) the notice must state the resources the school can provide or recommend to assist the student and how the school plans to handle the behavior in future, which no other state captured so far requires a disciplinary notice to carry; (7) emergency exclusion is bounded by necessity and, past five days, by a hearing and final determination within ten school days of the initial exclusion; (8) no state office or parent contact appears in the sources. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-30. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.