CSDE Provides Guidance, FAQs on Civil Rights Protections and Supports for...
In light of the Trump administration’s rescission of 2016 federal guidance from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education concerning school district obligations to transgender and gender...
View ArticleSchool Districts, Undocumented Student, and Equal Access to Public K-12...
With the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on the horizon, many K-12 schools, school districts, taxpayers, and others are asking: Do undocumented students have the right to...
View ArticleCAS Legal Mailbag Question of the Week – September, 2017 #2
Dear Legal Mailbag: I was surprised to receive a letter the other day addressed to me as school principal with the Connecticut Department of Corrections as the return address. I opened the letter and...
View ArticleWorth Another Look: The Public School Code
As we make our way toward finally finishing the 2017-2018 fiscal year budget, another “code bill” reached the governor’s desk. The final version of H.B. 178 (Day, R-Berks), the Public School Code...
View ArticleOne Reason Your Property Taxes Skyrocketed - New Bond Measures
Contrary to popular belief, Oregon law does not limit property tax increases to three percent per year. If you received a property tax statement this year, you may have learned this the hard way....
View ArticleSenate Bill 621 Gives Part-Time Educators Their Proportional Share
Senate Bill 621 will become effective on January 1, 2018. The bill amends Labor Code section 515.8 and is intended to address the ambiguities in Assembly Bill 2230 which was enacted last year....By:...
View ArticleEducation Legislation Summary: 2017 Special Session – Biennial Budget,...
On October 26, 2017, the General Assembly passed Emergency Certified Bill 1502 (“Bill 1502” or “the Bill”). The Bill was signed by Governor Malloy on October 31, 2017 (except for a line item veto...
View Article2017 Legislative Summary (Part Two): The Budget “Implementer” And Its Effect...
In 2017, our firm published a summary of new legislation affecting Connecticut’s schools and public sector employers. However, the 2017 “regular session” of the Connecticut General Assembly was not the...
View ArticleNYS Governor’s Education Budget has Ramifications beyond Monetary Resources
Governor Cuomo’s 2018-2019 school aid proposal calls for an increase of about 3 percent or $769 million in total school aid. This is significantly lower than the $1.6 billion increase recommended by...
View ArticleCAS Legal Mailbag Question of the Week – January, 2018 #3
Dear Legal Mailbag: As the principal of a middle school, sometimes I feel more like a referee than an educator. Recently, I have received a number of complaints from teachers about one seventh grade...
View ArticleDepartment Of Education Releases Guidance On IDEA, FAPE, And Endrew F.
On December 7, 2017, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released a question-and-answer document on the Supreme Court’s 2017 opinion in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, 580 U.S., 137...
View ArticleCAS Legal Mailbag Question of the Week – February, 2018
Dear Legal Mailbag: This is the time of the year when some parents at my school really tick me off. It seems like every other day I receive an email or a call from a parent “informing” me that he or...
View ArticleSchool District Ordered to Allow Student to Use Medical Marijuana in Classroom
A recent decision from a federal court in Illinois has opened the door to significant debate regarding the use of medical marijuana in a school setting. The Schaumburg, IL School District has been...
View ArticleThe Commonwealth Court Holds That Time Limits for Public Comments at School...
Sklaroff v. Abington School District, 2017 WL 4582638 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2017). The Commonwealth Court reaffirms a school district’s authority under the Sunshine Act to impose reasonable time limits on...
View ArticleSee You In Court! – April, 2018
After serving as Chairperson of the Nutmeg Board of Education for six long years, Mr. Chairman announced unexpectedly at the last meeting in February that his company had transferred him to Illinois....
View ArticleCAS Legal Mailbag Question of the Week – April, 2018
Dear Legal Mailbag: I have been fortunate to be the principal in a school district that provides building substitutes and I have often been able simply to assign one of my two building subs to cover...
View ArticleSDE Issues New Guidelines for IEEs and In-School Observations
On March 27, 2018, the Connecticut State Department of Education (SDE) issued the long-awaited and much-anticipated Guidelines Regarding Independent Educational Evaluations at Public Expense and...
View ArticleIs Your District Developing a Plan to Safeguard Against Meal Shaming?
Effective April 12, 2018, Education Law § 908, entitled “Prohibition against meal shaming,” was added as part of the budget to require all public school districts, charter schools and non-public...
View ArticleThe Ability of a School To Punish Lewd Or Profane Speech Disappears Once A...
B.L. by Levy v. Mahanoy Area School District (“Levy”), Case No. 3:17-CV-1734, 2017 WL 4418290 (M.D. Pa. Oct. 5, 2017). District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania grants cheerleader’s Motion...
View Article#NeverAgain? How Schools Should Respond To Student Protests
After the February 14 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students began to organize like rarely before to protest gun violence in schools. Protests such as school...
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