Court Opinion

ID: 9530237
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:58:33.74962+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:02.830745
License: Public Domain

Fahrnbruch, J.,
concurring in part, and in part dissenting.
I agree with the trial court and with the majority of this court that expulsion from school is an appropriate sanction when a student takes a weapon to school. It should be pointed out, however, that under the Omaha Public School District’s rule, expulsion for the semester in which the violation occurs and the following semester is inherently inequitable.
Under the rule, if a weapons violation occurs the first week of the fall semester, the violator is expelled not only for the remainder of the fall semester, but also for the spring semester. On the other hand, if a violation occurs the last week before the end of the fall semester, the violator is expelled for only 1 week of the fall semester, plus the entire spring semester. Thus, the student violating the rule at the beginning of the fall semester is punished more severely than the student committing the same violation in the last week of the fall semester.
Fairness dictates that the length of Kolesnick’s expulsion should have been reduced. In that regard, the decision of the trial judge should have been affirmed.