Summertime Blues: T.M. v. Cornwall and The Mainstreaming of...
In a decision that will likely result in both practical challenges and financial burdens for public school districts, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held in T.M. v. Cornwall...
View ArticleDOJ and DOE Warning: School Enrollment Practices Must Not Discourage...
According to the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, U.S. school districts are discouraging student enrollment based on their parents’ illegal immigrant status. The Departments issued guidance,...
View ArticleCPUC Review of Comcast-TWC Merger Gives Cities & Schools Opportunity to...
The California Public Utilities Commission has decided to focus on the cost and availability of broadband services in its review of the proposed merger between the two largest cable and broadband...
View ArticleThis Year, Schools Face Increased Obligations for Addressing Bullying
Two new laws require school districts and charter schools to reconsider their approach to bullying. The first new bullying law requires school boards and charter schools to make extensive revisions to...
View ArticleU.S. Department of Education Issues New Guidelines On Collecting Student Data
This past July, the U.S. Department of Education released the Transparency Best Practices for Schools and Districts, a new set of guidelines created to improve relations between school districts and...
View ArticleProposed FERPA Update Would Strengthen Student Data Privacy
On July 30, 2014, two U.S. senators introduced the Protecting Student Privacy Act, which would update the sections of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that deal with protecting the...
View ArticleCalifornia Breaks New Ground in Education Privacy Law with K-12 Student Data...
A substantial rise in schools’ use of online educational technology products has caused educators to become increasingly reliant on these products to develop their curricula, deliver materials to...
View ArticleResidency and “Illegal Alien Status” Are Not Mutually Exclusive for School...
It is worth remembering that when determining if someone is a resident of your school district, the fact that someone may not actually be a legal resident of this nation is irrelevant. In order to...
View ArticleYes, Indeedy. Competitive Bidding Not Required for School District...
Remember when you discovered that the tooth fairy wasn’t real? It was kind of a bummer on one hand learning that it wasn’t a fairy that magically appeared to swap your tooth for cold hard cash, but...
View ArticleIllinois Court: Municipal Zoning and Stormwater Laws Apply to School...
Much of land use law involves questions over the breadth of local government powers. Today, we're looking at a spat between two units of local government: a municipality and a school board. The...
View ArticleSummary Of 2014 Connecticut Legislative Enactments Affecting The Public...
The Connecticut General Assembly enacted a number of changes in its 2014 session. The following summary provides an overview of the legislative enactments that have had, or will have an impact on...
View ArticleCutting the BS(A): California's Prop 2 Re the Budget Stabilization Account
In our second blog examining the propositions we'll be seeing on the election ballot November 4th, we'll take a look at California's Proposition 2, or the Rainy Day Budget Stabilization Fund Act...
View ArticleSchool Board Taught a Costly Lesson: Court Upholds Reinstatement with 10...
Ms. Fair was employed by the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (the “Board”) from 1988 to 2004, when her employment was terminated. During her employment, Ms. Fair had developed a psychiatric...
View ArticlePolicy Revisions Due to New Laws
This Alert is intended to give a general explanation of 2014 legislative enactments of the Connecticut General Assembly that may impact your board of education policies. For more detailed and...
View ArticleHow to Respond to FOIA Requests For Overall Teacher Summative Ratings?
It has come to our attention that certain school districts in Connecticut have already received requests under the Freedom of Information Act [“FOIA”] for access to overall district and school level...
View ArticleProposed Transgender Student-Athlete Policy Sparks Public Controversy in...
It looks like transgender students in Minnesota will have to wait a few more months to receive clarity on whether they can participate in school athletics and play on sports teams based on their...
View ArticleVirginia Supreme Court Opinions Affecting Local Government Law: October 31, 2014
Happy Halloween! The Virginia Supreme Court issued opinions on Halloween this year. A complete coincidence, but I do hope that nothing in this term’s opinions has scares you! This term resulted in two...
View ArticleLet’s Go To The Videotape: Can School Security Videos Be Subject To...
School districts usually deny requests to view school video recordings, such as security tapes, in light of concerns about the privacy rights of students featured on these recordings. In a recent...
View ArticleTeacher And School Civil Liability For Sexual Abuse Of A Student
B. (A.) v. D. (C.), [2011] B.C.J. No. 1087, 2011 BCSC 775, per Gray J. [3851] The plaintiff AB sued a teacher CD and the Board of School Trustees of District EF with respect to alleged sexual abuse she...
View ArticleChild Abuse and Neglect Mandated Reporter Training Will Be Mandatory Starting...
Effective January 1, 2015, AB 1432 requires school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter...
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