Donatello School of Nursing Student Defense Lawyer | Apopka

Donatello School of Nursing and Healthcare, LLC, in Apopka, recorded one of the lowest practical-nursing pass rates in Florida in 2025.

23.53% of 34 first-time candidates

The practical-nursing programme passed 23.53% of 34 first-time candidates against a 2025 practical-nursing floor of 77.17% — eight passes and twenty-six failures. Roughly three candidates in four failed.

Under Fla. Stat. section 464.019(5)(a)1 a Florida nursing programme’s first-time NCLEX passage rate must stay within 10 percentage points of the national average for comparable programmes — in 2025 that floor was 76.05% for associate-degree programmes and 77.17% for practical-nursing programmes. Section 464.019(5)(a)2 puts a programme two consecutive years below the floor at risk of probation and loss of approval, and section 464.019(5)(c) then obliges the programme to disclose that probationary status in writing to its students and applicants — a failure to give that notice is an independent, statute-based misrepresentation theory against a school that enrolled a student while on probation. A single year below the floor is not probation, and the Board of Nursing publishes no probation roster, so probationary status must be established from board minutes and orders rather than inferred. Every Florida programme is tabulated on the Florida nursing programme pass-rate page.

A result at this level changes what a dismissal case is about. When a school fails three candidates in four, the proposition that a particular student was removed because they could not meet the standard is difficult to sustain; the more natural reading is that the programme was not delivering what it promised. The claim then turns on the school’s own contractual undertakings about instruction, clinical placement and remediation, and on what it told students and applicants about its results.

A private school, so the statute students rely on does not apply

Most writing about Florida student dismissal assumes a public college, where Fla. Stat. section 1006.60(3) supplies notice, a hearing, the right to be accompanied by counsel and a burden that rests on the institution. This is a private institution. None of that section reaches it.

What governs instead is the enrolment agreement, the catalogue and the student and programme handbooks, read as a contract. Sharick v. Southeastern University of the Health Sciences establishes that a Florida student dismissed in breach of the school’s own contractual undertakings has a claim, and that damages can extend to lost future earning capacity rather than a refund of tuition. So the work is documentary: identify the exact promises the school made about process, and show which it did not keep.

Two further things matter at schools of this kind. Many enrolment agreements contain an arbitration clause, and whether it binds a student depends on the version signed, how broadly it is drafted, whether its cost terms are unconscionable and whether the school has waived it — that question comes first, because it decides whether there is a courtroom at all. And where a school is licensed by the Florida Commission for Independent Education rather than regionally accredited, the CIE complaint route exists alongside any civil claim and is often the faster pressure point.

Confirm the entity before filing

Donatello operates as a limited liability company and appears in Florida corporate records under more than one closely similar name. Before a demand or a complaint, establish from the enrolment agreement and the corporate records which entity the student actually contracted with, whether it remains active, and who its registered agent is. For a small LLC school this is not a formality — it determines whether there is anything to recover against.

Where a Donatello case is filed

Apopka is in Orange County, in the Middle District of Florida, assigned by Local Rule 1.04(a) to the Orlando Division — subject to any forum or arbitration term in the enrolment agreement.

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

  • Resolve the arbitration question first, from the agreement the student actually signed.
  • Assemble the enrolment agreement, catalogue and programme handbook for the correct edition, and pin down the promises about process.
  • Test the progression arithmetic — withdrawals, repeats and clinical failures are often counted in ways the handbook does not authorise.
  • Use the Commission for Independent Education complaint route where the school is CIE-licensed, in parallel with the civil claim.
  • Press on the wording of the decision letter, which follows the student into every future licensure and transfer application.

How Florida student dismissal cases work generally is set out on the Florida student defence page.

Other Florida nursing programs

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 nursing programs:

Common questions about Donatello School of Nursing cases

What was Donatello’s pass rate?

23.53% of 34 first-time candidates in 2025 — eight passes and twenty-six failures — against a practical-nursing floor of 77.17%.

Does a rate that low change my case?

It changes what the case is about. Where three candidates in four fail, the argument that one student was removed for failing to meet the standard is hard to sustain, and the focus shifts to what the school promised about instruction, clinical placement and remediation.

Why does the corporate entity matter so much here?

Because Donatello is a limited liability company appearing under more than one similar name in Florida records. Identifying the right entity, confirming it is still active and locating its registered agent determines whether a judgment would be worth anything.

Which court covers Apopka?

The Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division. Apopka is in Orange County — subject to any forum-selection or arbitration clause in the enrolment agreement.