There was a time when America, essentially, was homeschooled. Then came one-room country schoolhouses and later, school districts.
Now that original and proven education method has become a hot topic on social media as a pressure campaign is being launched against officials in Fremont, Neb., because they denied a state-certified EMT a job as firefighter.
You know, because he was homeschooled.
Seems they posted the job opening and only specified a diploma or GED, then they had to go back and “fix” the ad because they now are insisting a diploma from an “accredited” building.
A report at Firehouse explains officials in Fremont denied Andrew Coates the job after he applied, then went back and “changed the job description.”
Coates already is a volunteer firefighter in Cedar Blufffs, Neb., as well as a state-certified EMT.
“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,” the report said.
Town human resources chief Jennifer McDuffee claimed the requirement is for a specific diploma, not just affirmation of an education, explained Coates’ father, Seth Coates.
The state there believes homeschools to be non-approved, non-accredited private schools. The state says homeschool parents must ask for an exempt status and elect “not to meet state approval or accreditation requirements.”
“We understood that our homeschool operated legally under Nebraska’s Rule 13 and was exempt from the state’s accreditation requirements,” 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.”
Homeschool students across the nation mostly perform at superior levels to those students in public schools.
And in the state, during 2023-24, there were nearly 15,000 students exempted or homeschooled, mostly over religious issues.
Chris Lichtenberg, the Cedar Bluffs fire chief, blasted Fremont officials for “really missing out here.”
“You guys are discriminating against him,” he said, according to WOWT.
Legal remedies now are being considered.
#BREAKING: Outrage is erupting after a 22-year-old who runs into BURNING BUILDINGS as a volunteer firefighter was told he isn’t qualified to be a paid firefighter…
…because he was HOMESCHOOLED.
Then the city changed the job posting to cover it up.
His name is Andrew… pic.twitter.com/6Dnx9UB6XZ
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) September 21, 2026
Online reports confirmed “rage” is erupting at the situation, because this is “a 22-year-old who runs into BURNING BUILDINGS as a volunteer firefighter” but was told he won’t be hired.
That report charged, “The job posting he applied to said ‘graduation from high school.’ That’s all it said. He graduated high school. He has a diploma. And AFTER they rejected him, the city went back and added the word ‘accredited’ to the job description.”
It continued, “Homeschoolers are literally a generation of kids who read ABOVE grade level, who work with their HANDS, who volunteer in their communities, who show up for their neighbors. And this young man is the proof. At 22, he’s a certified EMT and a volunteer firefighter, while plenty of his peers are on a couch. When your house is on fire at 3 a.m., I promise you will not ask the man dragging your children out where he went to high school. You will not ask if his diploma was accredited. You will thank GOD he came.”
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[ H/T WorldNetDaily ]
