79-868. Board; standards violation; investigations; procedure.
The board may request the commission to hold hearings and make recommendations to the board concerning alleged violations of standards of professional ethics and practices by holders of public school certificates. The board may employ hearing officers to hold hearings and make recommendations to the board concerning alleged violations of standards of professional ethics and practices by holders of nonpublic school certificates. The recommendations of the commission shall be made a part of the record of the board in all cases of public school certificate revocation or suspension and reinstatement of a revoked public school certificate. The commission may privately admonish or warn or publicly reprimand teachers and administrators holding public school certificates for violation of the standards established pursuant to section 79-866. Any public reprimand by the commission shall be reported to the State Department of Education. Any recommendation for the revocation or suspension of a public school certificate by the commission shall be reported to the board.
The commissioner may employ persons to investigate and prosecute cases of alleged violations of standards of professional ethics and practices before the commission or before the board and its hearing officers. The commissioner shall cause to be investigated expeditiously any complaint which is filed with him or her or which is otherwise called to his or her attention and which if legally sufficient constitutes grounds for the revocation or suspension of a certificate or any other appropriate penalty set forth in section 79-866 or in the rules and regulations adopted and promulgated pursuant to such section. If following an investigation the commissioner determines that legally sufficient grounds exist for revocation or suspension of a certificate or for any other appropriate penalty set forth in such section or rules and regulations, the commissioner may, in his or her discretion, file a petition with the commission for adjudication of the matter or may reach an agreement for the appropriate sanction as allowed by the rules and regulations.
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Annotations
There exists no right of appeal to the State Board of Education from an order of the Nebraska Professional Practices Commission dismissing a complaint against a member of the teaching profession for a violation of professional practices criteria. Berquist v. Campbell, 210 Neb. 658, 316 N.W.2d 596 (1982).
The competency standards of the Professional Practices Commission are not designed for use by a school board, and in the absence of evidence that the school board has adopted those standards as their own, the school board may not terminate a tenured teacher's contract because of a violation of those standards unless the termination is the result of investigation conducted under former section 79-1282. Schulz v. Board of Education, 210 Neb. 513, 315 N.W.2d 633 (1982).