Ed and Margena Doty appealed the decision of the Board of Directors of the Colfax-Mingo Community School District made on October 21, 1999, expelling their son from 12th grade for the remainder of the 1999-2000 school year.

After conducting a full evidentiary hearing, the local board expelled Ryan because it concluded that Ryan had threatened to kill the high school principal, William Armstrong. In so doing, the local board reviewed Ryan's prior disciplinary record and "determined that over the course of the past year Ryan ?conducted a campaign of threats of physical attack and harassment directed towards teachers and admini-strators." The district offered to pay for Ryan to attend a program at the community college, "Basics and Beyond" to enable Ryan to complete his high school graduation requirements by January 2000.

Ryan will complete his graduation requirements, but appeals the expulsion because he wants to participate in the commence-ment exercises with his class in the spring.

His parents raise three issues for review: 1) That the administration improperly considered Ryan's prior disciplinary record without proper notice of its intent to rely on said information; 2) That Ryan's expulsion was not supported by the evidence because the Principal's version of the facts was disputed by Ryan and three of his fellow-students who witnessed the "threat"; and 3) The fact that the administration was represented by the same attorney who, on prior matters had been the attorney for the board, meant that the board could not decide the expulsion as an impartial decision-maker despite the fact that the board was represented by an attorney from a different law firm.

The Administrative Law Judge and the hearing panel found that the issues raised by the Dotys' lacked merit both factually and legally.

That the decision of the Board of Directors of the Colfax-Mingo Community School Board made on October 21, 1999, expelling Ryan Doty for the remainder of the 1999-2000 school year, be affirmed.