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Posted on 09/21/2026 7:49:46 AM PDT by DFG
A 22-year-old Nebraska volunteer firefighter wants to turn the work he already does into a career. One line on his diploma stopped him before he got the chance.
Andrew Coates volunteers with the Cedar Bluffs Fire Department and holds a state EMT license. He applied for a paid firefighter position with the City of Fremont, but WOWT reported that the city rejected his application because his high school diploma came from homeschooling.
The disagreement is not simply over whether Fremont can require an accredited education. It is also over what the city told applicants when Coates applied.
At the time, the job posting required graduation from high school. After Coates was rejected, the city changed the requirement to specify graduation from an accredited high school.
The Fine Print
Fremont Human Resources Director Jennifer McDuffee told WOWT that accreditation was already understood to be part of the original requirement.
"I would say it's a standard understanding that when someone requests a high school diploma or GED, they're asking for an accredited diploma," McDuffee said.
That distinction matters in Nebraska because homeschooling operates under a different legal structure from an accredited public or private school.
The Nebraska Department of Education calls homeschools "exempt schools." Families using them elect not to meet the state's approval or accreditation requirements, and the schools are considered non-approved and non-accredited private schools.
That does not mean Nebraska ignores completion of a homeschool education.
Under Nebraska Revised Statute 79-201, a child who completes the program of instruction offered by an exempt school is specifically recognized separately from a student who earns a high school diploma under the state's standard graduation requirements.
The statute concerns compulsory school attendance, not firefighter hiring requirements.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
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I bet he can read and process better than 75% of the kids from a “real” high school.
Agree but would up percentage to 93
He needs to relocate to the Sovereign State of Florida. Better everything.
If only there were standardized tests that could be used to compare applicants against each other. 🙄
Regulation is how the left destroys things it can’t control.
Sounds like he could sue the ever-living shite out of em too..
FWIW, I have an 8-year old granddaughter that’s being homeschooled.
Her current reading and comprehension skills are now rivaling the today’s high school senior levels!!! Her math skills? Not so much...LOL. She’s trying though.
Patriotic Americans who have been homeschooled may someday save our great nation.
So get a GED and move on.
This requirement exists for one reason, and one reason only—to protect teacher’s unions.
so they turn down a guy who likely learned the same or more than traditional HS graduate? Most homeschoolers, from what I’ve heard, test better than traditional.
I remember the days before HR people. How did we ever get by without them?
The institutional crap you get as a homeschooling product is just part of the totality of your education.
“”I would say it’s a standard understanding that when someone requests a high school diploma or GED, they’re asking for an accredited diploma,” McDuffee said.”
another of her problems, she thinks her understand is the standard. How long has she been director of HR? and she didnt bother to make sure information for job requirements that her office hires is correct? her schooling, or brain function lacks.
Avoid obviously unreasonable people.
I think you’re missing the point. He has a valid degree and they changed the requirement AFTER he applied. Are you going to front him the money and time to take the GED? His degree is good enough to get him into the University of Nebraska, but not a town fire department???
And somehow I bet they have illegal immigrants somewhere in there…
I think public highschoolers learn next to nothing.
How about an aptitude test to level the field, because what they are REALLY saying is a homeschool VALEDICTORIAN is not a “highschool 4.0 student” when we know the truth....public school kids learned very little.
She's not wrong.
No one's doubting the man is qualified, but phony diploma mills are a dime a dozen. Anyone could print up a homeschool high school diploma.
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