In December of 1998, John Lawler was a seventh-grade student attending the secondary school in the District. He was a good student and had no history of disciplinary problems at school. On the evening of December 7, 1998, John was to perform in a band concert in the elementary building where he had attended the year before. Before the performance on that evening, John placed the package near the desk of one of his former teachers, Ted Carpenter. The package contained 3 fireworks, a glass baby food jar with cook-stove fuel in it, and a small tin of gunpowder. These items were connected together with duct tape inside the shoebox-sized cardboard container. A fuse protruded out of one end of the package and a cigarette lighter was taped to the outside of the package near the fuse. The package was wrapped in Christmas paper and a bow. It came with a note addressed to Mr. Carpenter, which included instructions for lighting the fuse.

On the morning of December 8, 1999, Mr. Carpenter found the package and notified school officials who immediately evacuated the elementary building. The Fire Marshal and local police were called. John admitted that he had placed the package on the teacher's desk.On Thursday, December 10, 1998, John was removed from his home by law enforcement officials and taken to Mercy Hospital in Mason City for evaluations. Also on that date, Principal Dayton sent a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Lawler stating that John was being suspended until the Board convened to consider disciplinary action. On that same date, Superintendent McIntyre sent a separate letter to the Lawlers informing them that the Board would hold a special disciplinary meeting "to deal with board policy 903.1 ? "Weapons".

On December 14, 1998, the Special Board meeting took place. The Board heard the evidence from Superintendent McIntyre and from Principal Dayton and then went into open session. In open session, as reflected in the December 14, 1998 minutes, the Board adopted a resolution that the package violated the Board's weapons policy and that John had brought the package onto school property. The Board decided to wait to decide what disciplinary action should be taken until it had more information from law enforcement officials.On September 9, 1999, the Board met in closed session to hear statements on what action should be taken to discipline John. By this time, nine months had passed between the date of the incident and the date the Board officially met to act on John's discipline.

The Board then voted in open session without any deliberation to expel John "through the 1999-2000 school year." The Shinn decision set out the elements of due process for students facing expulsion in Iowa. In re Don Shinn, 14 D.o.E. App. Dec. 185(1996). The State Board concluded that the notice of the December 14, 1998, hearing provided to theAppellant violated the Due Process Clause as interpreted by previous State board decisions. In addition, the Appellant did not have all of the due process protections afforded her at the December 14, 1998, hearing before the Northwood-Kensett Board. Finally, the Board issued inadequate written findings and conclusions as to the charges and the penalty on both December 14, 1998, and September 9, 1999. For the above reasons, the Board's decision to expel John was reversed.

The complexity of this case was worsened by the Board's bifurcation of its expulsion decision between the findings of fact on December 14, 1998 and the disciplinary action nine months later on September 9, 1999. The Board needed both the findings of fact and its disciplinary action to form a complete expulsion decision. Due to the Board's bifurcation of its decision in this way, the hearing panel concluded that the Board's action on John's expulsion was not final until after its September 9, 1999 meeting. The hearing panel, therefore, concluded that all due process violations which occurred on or before the December 14, 1998, meeting contaminated the final Board action on September 9, 1999.The State Board reminded the Northwood-Kensett Board that Iowa Code section 280.17B(1999) places the responsibility on local school authorities to prescribe procedures for continued school involvement with students during the time they are suspended or expelled.

The Administrative Law Judge and hearing panel recommended that the decision of the Northwood-Kensett District Board of Directors, made on September 9, 1999, be reversed.