Lively Technical College Dismissal Lawyer

Lively Technical College in Tallahassee is operated by Leon County Schools.

Above the statutory floor in 2025

The practical-nursing program passed 87.5% of 40 first-time candidates in 2025 against a 77.17% floor under Fla. Stat. section 464.019(5)(a)1, clearing it by about 10.3 points. A result above the line removes a set of arguments the college might otherwise make: it cannot attribute a dismissal to an unprepared cohort, and it is under no statutory pressure to protect a marginal pass rate. The question narrows to whether it followed its own published progression and conduct rules — and whether the school board, rather than the college, made the final decision.

The statute that protects state college students does not cover you

Fla. Stat. section 1006.60 — five business days’ advance written notice of the charges, access to inculpatory and exculpatory information, an impartial hearing officer — applies by its own terms to Florida College System institutions and state universities. A district technical college is neither: it is a public school operated by a district school board under sections 1001.44 and 1003.02. Sections 1006.61, 1006.62 and 1002.21 are limited the same way. So a student here gets none of the statutory protections a student at the state college down the road gets.

What you have instead is constitutional, and the Eleventh Circuit has addressed this exact setting. Castle v. Appalachian Technical College, 631 F.3d 1194 (11th Cir. 2011) — a nursing student at a public technical college — proceeded on the footing that the student held a property interest in continued enrollment that could not be taken without due process, and recorded that denying a pre-suspension hearing is itself a violation. Wells v. Columbus Technical College, 510 F. App’x 893 (11th Cir. 2013), applied Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975), to a technical college suspension. Goss requires notice and an opportunity to respond before the sanction takes effect.

If the college calls the dismissal academic, Board of Curators v. Horowitz, 435 U.S. 78 (1978), removes the hearing requirement — but only where the institution evaluated the student carefully and deliberately and kept them informed of the deficiency and of the risk of dismissal. A competency-based dismissal is usually labeled academic for that reason, which is why the label is worth contesting.

The board has to decide, and often has not

Because no statute writes a conduct code for adult career-center students — section 1006.07(2) is written for elementary and middle and high schools — the governing document is the district school board’s own rules, adopted under section 1001.41(2) and section 1003.02(1)(c), which expressly covers adult and career education programs. Get the board policy, not only the college handbook.

And the decisive procedural point: per Fla. Att’y Gen. Op. 2001-05, a board may delegate the evidentiary hearing to a qualified hearing officer, but the final expulsion decision must be made by the board itself and cannot be delegated. In practice these removals are frequently handled inside the college by a director or a program committee and the board never votes. Where that happened there is a structural defect to raise that does not require relitigating the facts.

A school board’s final expulsion order is reviewed by appeal to a Florida District Court of Appeal under Fla. Stat. section 120.68. The notice of appeal is due to the board’s clerk within 30 days of rendition, and rendition happens only when the written order is filed with that clerk. The appellate court asks whether the board’s findings rest on competent substantial evidence in the hearing record, whether a material procedural error impaired the fairness of the proceeding, and whether the board misread the law — it does not reweigh evidence, so the record has to be built inside the board process.

Where a case is filed

Tallahassee is in Leon County, which puts a federal claim in the Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee Division. Review of a final expulsion order goes to the Florida District Court of Appeal for the appellate district where the school board has its headquarters, or where a party lives.

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

• Obtain the district school board policy as well as the college handbook, and hold the college to whichever is more demanding.
• Establish whether the school board itself decided the expulsion, or whether the college did it alone.
• Contest the academic-versus-disciplinary characterization, because it sets how much process was owed.
• Test the Horowitz minimum: was the deficiency identified in writing, and was the student warned that dismissal was possible?
• Preserve the 30-day appeal window, which opens when the board’s written order is filed with its clerk.

The full framework, and every Florida district technical college nursing program with its 2025 result, is on the Florida district technical college page. Program-level pass rates are tabulated on the Florida nursing program pass-rate page.

What Lively’s own rules say about staying in a health program

Lively does not publish its Practical Nursing rules on minimum grades, clinical removal or readmission. Board Policy 2421, the School Board’s policy for Lively (last revised October 8, 2013), says health programs follow their own handbooks, which are not online, and calls their grading, attendance and withdrawals “not grievable.”

Nursing is taught in Building 15 (Health Education) on the main campus, 500 North Appleyard Drive, Tallahassee. Aviation students use a second campus at Tallahassee International Airport. The 2026-2027 Course Catalog lists eight health programs: Central Sterile Processing Technician, Massage Therapy, Medical Assisting, Nursing Assistant, Patient Care Technician, Phlebotomy, Practical Nursing and Professional Nursing (LPN-RN).

The 2026-2027 application packet for the Crusoe-Holifield Practical Nursing Program names some removal triggers. The program runs 1,350 clock hours, 675 of them clinical. Failing any of three random drug screens means withdrawal, and charges on a student’s record that block clinical placement can too (p. 5). The LPN-RN packet caps absences at 45 hours for the whole program (p. 3).

The 2026-2027 Student Handbook requires a 2.0 GPA, 75 percent of competencies each evaluation period, and acceptable conduct, graded as “Professionalism” (pp. 30-31). A student still behind after a signed probation plan may be withdrawn by the supervising administrator on the instructor’s recommendation. Its general attendance rules, which exclude health programs, contradict each other: absences are capped at 10 percent of scheduled hours (p. 18), yet withdrawal comes when absences “exceed 85%” (p. 19).

Who removes a student, and how long you have to object

Administrators make removal decisions at Lively, and the handbook describes no hearing before a withdrawal. Administration decides suspensions, and a student may be withdrawn on the Director’s recommendation (pp. 50-53). Some offenses bring immediate “automatic withdrawal,” including severe or repeated unprofessional conduct “in clinical or workplace settings” and falsified “time logs, or clinical hours.” An automatic withdrawal bars the grievance procedure and keeps the student out at least six months (p. 34).

The Adult Student Grievance Procedure has five steps (pp. 54-56):

• Talk informally with the person involved.
• File the grievance form with the department head or Assistant Director by the close of the fifth school day after the incident. A written decision follows in 5-10 business days.
• Get it to the Director within ten days of the incident (no unit given), a window that can close before the first decision arrives.
• Within five working days, the Director names a panel of three to seven members, mostly staff, which hears both sides. The Director rules within three working days of its recommendation.
• Appeal to the Assistant Superintendent within five school days. The final decision comes within five working days.

The handbook says a grievance cannot reverse academic, conduct or dismissal decisions unless required procedures were skipped. Board Policy 2421 lists different steps, ending with a “Divisional Director.”

Expulsion runs through the district. Board Policy 5611 says the Board acts on any expulsion recommendation. Policy 5610.06 gives an adult student 21 days from receiving the Superintendent’s charging letter to request a hearing before a Board member serving as hearing officer. Lively’s handbook mentions neither, though Policy 5611 says its due-process statement belongs in every student handbook. Its discipline section cites a “School Board Policy 5610, Student Discipline” that the Board’s policy manual lacks.

Filing or answering a Title IX complaint at Lively

The Leon County Schools Title IX Coordinator handles sexual harassment complaints involving Lively students under Board Policy 2266 (revised August 10, 2022). It refers to students admitted to a “District postsecondary institution.” Anyone may report in person or by mail, phone or email. A formal complaint must be signed or otherwise show who is filing it. Under the policy:

• The district aims to finish within 60 days, appeals included, and “days” means business days.
• Each side gets at least 10 calendar days to answer the evidence, and the investigative report at least 10 calendar days before a decision.
• The decision-maker takes written questions and limited follow-up. No live hearing is described.
• Each side may bring an advisor of its choice, who may be an attorney.
• After an individualized safety and risk analysis, the Superintendent may remove a student respondent in an emergency.
• Appeals must be “timely,” but no deadline is stated.

Lively’s handbook reprints an older Policy 5517 that sends sexual harassment through a separate process with different deadlines. The current Policy 5517 (revised December 11, 2024) leaves conduct covered by Policy 2266 to Policy 2266 alone.

Titles conflict too. Policy 2266 names the Superintendent, the district Title IX page names an Assistant Superintendent, and the handbook names a district Director. The reporting webpage cited in Policy 2266 now returns an error.

Getting accommodations at Lively

Adult students must ask for accommodations themselves. Lively does not identify or test for disabilities, so nothing starts until the student discloses to Student Services in Building 9 (850-487-7473). Under the handbook (pp. 22-25), a 504 Chairperson opens the case on an LTC 504-Referral Form. A Section 504 Committee Review Team decides eligibility. An eligible student gets a written plan on the LTC 504/ADA Accommodation Plan Form within 30 calendar days.

The committee includes the student, an administrator and the student’s instructors; a parent joins only with the student’s consent form. Accommodations may not lower or fundamentally alter program standards. Under Policy 2421, requests go through an instructor or counselor and need supporting documentation, though no Lively document says what kind; students are re-evaluated yearly. For Testing Center exams, the 2026-2027 Guiding Plans ask for five days’ notice (p. 51).

If a request is denied, the handbook promises access to the decision records and a grievance, but its disability section does not print the steps, saying the school administrator keeps them. District Policy 2260.03 offers an impartial Section 504 hearing on actions from the prior 180 days. It is written for parents or guardians and does not say how an adult student asks for one.

Other Florida technical and career institutions

Every school writes its own dismissal, appeal and conduct rules, and the filing deadlines are rarely the same from one campus to the next. These pages set out the procedure at other Florida technical and career institutions:

• Lorenzo Walker Technical College Dismissal
• Manatee Technical College Dismissal
• Marion Technical College Dismissal
• McFatter Technical College Dismissal
• Merryfield Academy
• More Tech Institute

Common questions about Lively Technical College cases

What was Lively Technical College’s nursing pass rate?

87.5% of 40 first-time practical-nursing candidates in 2025, against a statutory floor of 77.17%.

Does Fla. Stat. 1006.60 apply to Lively Technical College?

No. That section applies to Florida College System institutions and state universities. This is a public school operated by Leon County Schools, so your protections come from the Fourteenth Amendment — see Castle v. Appalachian Technical College, an Eleventh Circuit case about a nursing student at a public technical college — and from the board’s own adopted rules.

Who has to make the final decision to expel me?

The district school board. Per Fla. Att’y Gen. Op. 2001-05 a board may delegate the evidentiary hearing to a hearing officer, but the final expulsion decision must be made by the board and cannot be delegated. These removals are often handled inside the college with no board vote, which is a concrete defect worth raising.

How long do I have to challenge the decision?

Thirty days from rendition, which is when the board’s written final order is filed with its clerk. Review is by appeal to a Florida District Court of Appeal under section 120.68, and the notice of appeal is filed with the board’s clerk. The court checks the hearing record for competent substantial evidence and for procedural or legal error — it does not reweigh the evidence.

Can a Lively nursing student appeal being withdrawn from the program?

Only in a narrow way. Board Policy 2421 says Health Education grading, attendance and withdrawals are not grievable, and the 2026-2027 Student Handbook warns that health programs may have limits on appeal eligibility. The handbook’s Adult Student Grievance Procedure is limited to procedural problems, and its form is due by the close of the fifth school day after the incident.

Where does a Lively student report sexual harassment?

To the Leon County Schools Title IX Coordinator, who receives formal complaints under Board Policy 2266 and appoints the investigator and decision-maker. The district aims to finish within 60 business days, appeals included, but the policy sets no deadline for filing an appeal. The anti-harassment procedure printed in Lively’s 2026-2027 handbook is older text; the Board’s current Policy 5517 leaves conduct covered by Policy 2266 to that policy alone.