By Grace Lewis
Omaha World-Herald
CEDAR BLUFFS, Neb. — A volunteer firefighter in Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska, who is also a state-certified EMT from Fremont, was rejected from consideration as a Fremont firefighter in April because he had been homeschooled.
The Fremont Fire Department’s original job posting said applicants must have graduated from high school or have obtained a GED. But when 22-year-old Andrew Coates submitted his application, the city rejected it because his diploma was not from an accredited high school.
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Fremont’s human resources director, Jennifer McDuffee, said the job posting’s requirement for a high school diploma implied that the diploma must come from an accredited high school, according to Andrew Coates’ father, Seth Coates. The city later amended the job description to specify “graduation from an accredited high school.”
In Nebraska, homeschools are considered non-approved, non-accredited private schools. Parents and guardians who wish to educate their children at home must file for exempt status, electing not to meet state approval or accreditation requirements while still complying with the mandatory school attendance law, according to the Nebraska Department of Education.
“We understood that our homeschool operated legally under Nebraska’s Rule 13 and was exempt from the state’s accreditation requirements,” Coates’ father, Seth Coates, told The World-Herald. “What we never imagined was that the City of Fremont would treat the absence of accreditation — an inherent and legally permitted feature of Rule 13 education — as a basis for disqualifying Andrew from public employment.”
In the 2023-24 school year, the Nebraska Department of Education reported 14,613 Nebraska students who were exempt or homeschooled. About 64% of those students’ exempt status was based on religious reasons. The Education Department’s records indicate that the number of students the state listed as exempt jumped by more than 5,000 in the 2020-2021 school year, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The level has remained elevated since.
Andrew Coates appealed to the city’s Civil Service Commission, which held a hearing on his petition Friday.
“We’re not mad about one applicant, my application,” Coates told WOWT. “I think now it’s turned into we want to make sure that every homeschooler has an equal opportunity.”
Seth Coates said the commissioners seemed to understand that there were irregularities in the process, but they ultimately decided they couldn’t address city policy. Based on his discussion with city representatives, however, Coates noted that there seems to be no policy against hiring homeschool graduates.
He also noted that McDuffee, who he said made the decision to reject his son’s application, is the secretary of the commission tasked with investigating her hiring decision.
Fremont’s human resources director and fire chief did not immediately respond to World-Herald requests for comment on the requirement or about how many people the requirement has affected.
Cedar Bluffs Fire Chief Chris Lichtenberg, speaking at the hearing, said, “I feel that the city of Fremont is really missing out here, and in my mind, because of his homeschooling ... you guys are discriminating against him,” according to WOWT.
Seth Coates told The World-Herald the family is exploring every possible legal remedy.
He said his son was encouraged to simply get a GED to address the accreditation issue. But when people apply to get their GEDs, they’re instructed to select which applicable set of circumstances apply to them. There is no option in the GED application process for people who graduated from homeschool, Seth Coates said. He noted that the Education Department told him a GED was not an appropriate avenue for someone who graduated with a homeschool high school diploma.
“It is both surprising and deeply troubling that a city government would use our family’s lawful education choice to exclude him from consideration,” Seth Coates said.
Should a homeschool diploma be treated the same as an accredited high school diploma when applying for a firefighter job? Why or why not?
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