When Is A School District “Deliberately Indifferent” To Student...
When a student alleges discrimination within the school environment, the school district may be held liable if it was “deliberately indifferent” to the discrimination. Three recent cases involving...
View ArticleAlert: Student Data Privacy: States Keep Up the Momentum
While Congress continues to consider (but not act on) nationwide student data privacy initiatives, the states continued to lead the charge in 2015. Earlier this year, we reported that, in 2014, 36...
View ArticleReal Estate and Land Use - September 2015 #2
Use It or Lose It: San Clemente Required to Refund $10 Million in Unused Impact Fees: Walker v. City of San Clemente (August 28, 2015, G050552) - Why It Matters: In a strict reading of a local agency’s...
View ArticleOCR Finds Title IX Violation for School District’s Prohibition of Transgender...
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) recently concluded that a public school district in Illinois violated Title IX both by prohibiting a transgender high school student...
View ArticleSchool Districts: APPR in New York, Just Like the Weather…If You Don’t Like...
Almost six years ago, New York State passed Education Law § 3012-c, which fundamentally altered classroom teacher and principal evaluations, requiring for the first time that student performance and...
View ArticleESSA, Sexual Misconduct, and “Passing the Trash”
There is a new provision in the Every Student Succeeds Act (“ESSA”) entitled “Prohibition on Aiding and Abetting Sexual Abuse.” It attempts to prevent school employees who have engaged in sexual...
View ArticleCAS Legal Mailbag Question of the Week
Dear Legal Mailbag: I admit to being a bit of a neat freak, and I am now wondering whether my idiosyncrasy has gotten me in trouble. Last month, I was walking through our gymnasium and saw a bunch of...
View ArticleThe Governance – Achievement Link
Barely a week goes by without the reporting of our ongoing and seemingly endless national debate about public education and the quality of our nations’ schools. This debate typically invokes such...
View ArticleCAS Legal Mailbag Question of the Week – March 2016 #4
Dear Legal Mailbag: Have you noticed that parents increasingly have boundary issues as to what is their business and what is not? I have, and I need your help....By: Shipman & Goodwin LLP
View ArticleCAS Legal Mailbag Question of the Week – March 2016 #5
Originally appeared in the CAS Weekly NewsBlast. Dear Legal Mailbag: As the principal of a large high school, I get a lot of letters. I have been around, and I know all about keeping legitimate items...
View ArticleOpen Discussion of Pending Grievances Permitted At School Board Meetings
Abington Heights School District (Case No. PERA-C-11-221-E) (Pa. LRB 2015) (Decided December 15, 2015). A Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board hearing examiner determined that the District was permitted...
View ArticleRecap: Board Member Roles and Responsibilities
As the board of directors for the school district, board of education members have a unique variety of responsibilities to meet and roles to fill. Among their many duties, board members are expected to...
View ArticleCAS Legal Mailbag Question of the Week – April 2016 #2
Dear Legal Mailbag: I am blessed, I think, because a wealthy new family just enrolled two children in my school, and the father has taken a great interest in our facilities. He can come on a bit strong...
View ArticleSixth Circuit Rules that the "Deliberate Indifference" Standard Still Matters...
In Stiles v. Granger County Board of Education, the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a Title IX lawsuit against a public school district because the alleged victim of...
View ArticleSchool Districts: Tax Cap Upheld Over Strong Dissent - Next Stop N.Y.’s...
The Appellate Division, Third Department today upheld a constitutional challenge to New York’s tax cap. The suit, brought by NYSUT, asserted several different legal theories challenging the...
View ArticleCAS Legal Mailbag Question of the Week – May 2016 #2
Dear Legal Mailbag: It happens every time. One of my fourth grade teachers sent permission slips home with the children a week ago, but she realized the day of the field trip to the dairy farm that one...
View ArticleTeacher’s Verbal Abuse of Student Does Not Rise to “Conscious-Shocking” Level...
L.H. and C.H. v. Pittston Area Sch. Dist., 130 F. Supp. 3d 918 (M.D. Pa 2015) (Decided September 10, 2015). The District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania determined that verbal abuse by a...
View ArticleCAS Legal Mailbag Question of the Week – June 2016 #2
Dear Legal Mailbag: Last month, the fifth grade classes at my school went on a field trip to a canning factory. In hindsight, it was not my finest moment as a principal. I was late in having the...
View ArticleThe Side of Tax Reform They’re Not Telling You
Deep-sixing property taxes is a popular pledge on the state and local campaign trail. But the promise is only half the story. Citizens need to ask: “And then what?” Like a climbing wall, eliminating...
View ArticleEducation Legislation Summary 2016
2016 SESSION - CONNECTICUT GENERAL ASSEMBLY - In its 2016 regular and special sessions, the General Assembly made a number of changes in the statutes that affect public education in Connecticut. This...
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