Aparicio-Levy Technical College Dismissal Lawyer

Aparicio-Levy Technical College in Tampa is operated by Hillsborough County Public Schools.

A career program, and a framework nobody explains

This college does not report a nursing program to the Board of Nursing, so the pass-rate analysis that dominates Florida student-defense writing does not apply here. What does apply is the procedural framework below, and it is the part students are never told about — because the statute everyone cites was written for a different kind of institution.

The Hillsborough picture

Hillsborough County Public Schools runs three technical colleges — Aparicio-Levy, H.W. Brewster and Erwin. Only Erwin reports a practical-nursing program, which passed 87.10% of 31 in 2025. For a student in one of Aparicio-Levy’s trade or career programs there is no pass-rate figure to argue about, so the procedural framework below is the whole of the analysis — and the school board policy is the document to obtain first.

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

Tampa is in Hillsborough County, which puts a federal claim in the Middle District of Florida, Tampa 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 Aparicio-Levy’s EMT rules say about failed exams and missed hours

At Aparicio-Levy, an EMT student must score at least 75 percent on every module exam, and a first-try score below that on a third module exam ends enrollment immediately. The rule appears under “Satisfactory Academic Progress” for Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) – ATD in the college’s 2026-2027 Hillsborough Technical Colleges Student Handbook (July 2026 publication).

• A score under 75 percent must be cured by passing one of two retakes within one week; a passed retake counts as 75 percent.
• Failing both retakes means immediate dismissal.
• Retakes are allowed on only two different module exams.

The 300-clock-hour program allows no more than 30 hours of absences and tardies combined. Make-up work is due within three days unless the instructor agrees otherwise. On no-call, no-show absences the handbook contradicts itself: the college appendix says three straight days “may” lead to withdrawal and lets the student petition the Academic Affairs Committee, while the district-wide section says withdrawal “will” follow.

Classes meet at the main campus, 10119 E. Ellicott Street, or at Aparicio-Levy’s Instructional Service Center at Erwin Technical College. The college’s 2026-27 program summary says Pell grants are not available for EMT or Firefighter, and Firefighter admits only students who have finished an accredited EMT program.

Clinical sites can stop an EMT student before any committee meets

Graduation requires hospital clinicals and ambulance ride-alongs, and the handbook says those hospitals’ and companies’ policies are final. EMT students also need health insurance covering hospitalization, an acceptable background screening, a passing physical, and a drug screen.

Among its EMT registration forms, the college posts “Student Disqualification Guidelines – Criminal Background,” which governs hospital placement. It bars placement for a long list of offenses unless the case ended in a not-guilty finding or a complete dismissal, and the check covers everywhere the student lived or worked in the past ten years. Other offenses are weighed case by case.

Two more hurdles: a second positive drug screen means withdrawal and at least a one-year wait before seeking re-entry, and a student with limits on physical activity, such as after surgery or during pregnancy, must bring a physician’s release stating no limitations before returning to class, lab, or clinicals.

Who decides a withdrawal, and what the school board’s policies add

The handbook never says who makes the first withdrawal call. Review goes to the Academic Affairs Committee, convened by a site administrator and possibly including the instructor, the counselor or program advisor, and a social worker; it covers academic, attendance, and conduct withdrawals and re-entry. The program instructor and school administration have the last word on re-admission. The handbook sets no notice period, hearing, advisor rule, or appeal for it. Suspected forgery can bring withdrawal pending investigation. A new application may be filed no sooner than 60 calendar days after withdrawal, re-entry is generally a one-time chance, and after a conduct withdrawal both the committee and a school administrator must approve it.

The handbook defers to district procedures on anything it omits. The board’s discipline policies, which address parents and never mention the technical colleges, say:

• Policy 5610: a principal may suspend for up to ten school days. Expulsion starts as a principal’s recommendation to the Superintendent, who takes it to the School Board. The Board hears expulsion appeals; the Superintendent hears suspension appeals for it.
• Policy 5611: written notice and a chance to respond before a suspension; for expulsion, written notice and a chance to answer before the Superintendent with a representative.
• Policy 5610.01: an emergency removal needs no advance hearing, but one lasting more than a school day brings a hearing, targeted within ten school days, or three school days if expulsion is likely.

No document says whether a conduct withdrawal counts as a suspension or an expulsion. Aparicio-Levy’s website points its “Student Code of Conduct” link to the district’s 2026-27 code for families, which allows legal counsel or another representative at any meeting or hearing under it.

Filing a grievance or a Title IX complaint

The handbook’s grievance steps (the instructor, a written complaint to the principal, the Director of Workforce and Continuing Education, the Regional Superintendent, the HCPS Formal Grievance Form (SB60801), then the Florida Department of Education and the accreditor) carry no deadlines; board policy supplies them. Policy 2260.02 (revised March 7, 2017) allows 60 calendar days from learning of the problem to raise a school-level grievance and 10 school days to appeal a principal’s written decision to the Office of Employee Relations, which has 15 school or work days to hold a hearing before the Superintendent.

Sexual harassment goes to a school administrator or the district’s Office for Civil Rights Compliance (813-272-4098); the handbook’s named contact is the Executive Officer of Compliance. The district posts no Title IX procedure written for its technical colleges. Policy 5517.02 (adopted June 23, 2013) names the General Manager of Employee Relations as compliance officer. The person accused is told within three business days and may respond in writing within five business days; the investigation aims to finish within 21 calendar days; the Superintendent then decides within ten business days. No hearing or appeal is described. That policy sets a 60-day filing limit, while Policy 5517 says there is none and puts the ordinary investigation at 31 calendar days.

Getting accommodations at Aparicio-Levy

Tell your school counselor or program advisor about the disability and bring documentation that clearly shows it; staff then meet with you about accommodations. The handbook sets no deadline and no appeal for a denial.

Policy 2260.01 names the Supervisor of Psychological Services as the district’s Section 504 contact for students and routes disability complaints through Policy 2260.02. The district’s notices page takes requests through the school or the Executive Officer, Compliance, and asks at least two weeks’ notice for sign language interpreters. The district’s Section 504 rights notice, aimed mostly at parents, allows a written grievance to the Assistant Director of Compliance and Staffing, answered within 30 days.

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:

• ATA Career Education
• Atlantic Technical College Dismissal
• Bene’s Career Academy
• Big Bend Technical College Dismissal
• Brightmed Health Institute
• Cambridge College of Healthcare & Technology

Common questions about Aparicio-Levy Technical College cases

Does the nursing pass-rate analysis apply here?

No — this college does not report a nursing program to the Board of Nursing. What applies is the procedural framework: Fla. Stat. section 1006.60 does not reach district technical colleges, so the Fourteenth Amendment and the school board’s own rules govern.

Does Fla. Stat. 1006.60 apply to Aparicio-Levy Technical College?

No. That section applies to Florida College System institutions and state universities. This is a public school operated by Hillsborough County Public 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.

My son has already retaken two EMT module exams at Aparicio-Levy. What happens if he scores under 75 percent on another one?

Under the EMT program’s Satisfactory Academic Progress rule in the college’s 2026-2027 handbook, a first-attempt score below 75 percent on a third module exam means immediate dismissal, with no retake. The handbook sends academic withdrawals to the Academic Affairs Committee for review, and a student starts that review through the school counselor or program advisor. The handbook sets no deadline for asking, so make the request in writing right away.

Can a hospital keep an Aparicio-Levy EMT student out of clinicals?

Yes. The handbook says the hospitals’ and ambulance companies’ policies are final, and the disqualification guidelines posted with the EMT registration forms bar hospital placement for listed offenses unless the case ended in a not-guilty finding or a complete dismissal. Because the program requires hospital clinicals and ambulance ride-alongs to graduate, a refusal can keep a student from finishing.