Transgender Student Files First Discrimination Suit Against Wisconsin School...
Last Tuesday, the Kenosha Unified School District (“KUSD” or “the District) became the first Wisconsin school district to be sued under federal law by a transgender student alleging the District and...
View ArticleZoning Law Applicable to School Districts Signed into Law
On August 25, 2016, Governor Rauner signed into law Public Act 99-890, which is the result of an effort by the education community to temper the effect of the recent Supreme Court decision in Gurba v....
View ArticleArbitration Award Reinstating Teacher Charged With “Grooming” of Student...
Cornwall – Lebanon School District v. Cornwall – Lebanon Education Association, Court of Common Pleas of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania No. 2015-01556 (April 21, 2016). Common Pleas Court vacates...
View ArticleGet Ready for the Changing Landscape of Expulsions
The legislature, this year, put in place significant changes relative to the expulsion of students which will supposedly go into effect on August 15, 2017. Assuming that the legislature leaves intact...
View ArticleNew York Court Finds Schools Not Constitutionally Underfunded
On September 19, 2016, an Albany, New York trial court in Maisto v. New York rejected plaintiffs’ claims that the state was constitutionally underfunding eight small-city school districts. Stinson...
View ArticleConstruction Update: What Every School District Should Have On Its Radar Screen!
By now you may have read in the newspaper or heard through the grapevine that one of our Michigan public school districts was forced to shut down several of its elementary schools following a State...
View ArticlePrivacy Tip #54 – Keep Student Data Safe
In the past few years, we have seen the explosion of “big data,” “data analytics,” “data aggregation,” “predictive modeling,” and “data breaches.” None of these terms existed when I graduated from law...
View ArticleNational Anthem Protests: How Should Educational Institutions Respond?
Picture this scenario at your school: parents, students, and fans fill the stands on the night of the big game. The marching band takes the field, but as it begins to play the national anthem, the...
View ArticleCAS Legal Mailbag Question of the Week – November, 2016 #3
Dear Legal Mailbag: - I am an avid fan of free legal advice, and I read your Legal Mailbag column whenever it appears. You answered a question last week about an FOIA request concerning the written...
View ArticleAppellate Court Determines that Student Handbook is not a Contract
In Mulvey v. Carl Sandberg High School et al., a family sued its school district and various district officials and coaches alleging breach of contract for the District’s alleged failure to enforce the...
View ArticleMichigan Court of Appeals Holds that Schools May Ban Firearms from School...
In two published decisions, issued on December 16, 2016, the Michigan Court of Appeals has held that schools and school districts have the legal authority to forbid the possession of firearms on school...
View ArticleSuccessful Implementation of Restorative Justice Practices
The passage of legislation mandating consideration of Restorative Justice in schools marks a movement away from "zero tolerance" by requiring schools to consider a number of mitigating factors or...
View ArticleWebsite Accessiblity - An Introduction to the Problem and Best Practices for...
Are you reading this article on a computer? I would venture to guess that you are. How did you access this page? Did you have to navigate through multiple web pages? While you were at it, were you...
View ArticleOral Argument Presented in Supreme Court Case Addressing the Level of...
On January 11, 2017, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of Endrew F. ex rel. Joseph F. v. Douglas County School District RE 1, Docket No. 15-187, to address the level of benefit a...
View ArticleA Cadillac, A Serviceable Chevrolet Or Something In Between: The Supreme...
On January 11, 2017, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, a case likely to change the landscape of special education by redefining the...
View ArticleThe Scope of the IDEA Statute: How Far Must Local School Districts Go In...
Say what you will about the Roberts Court, but you cannot say it does not confront diffi cult issues that impact the everyday lives of most Americans. One of those issues presently before the Court is...
View ArticleSCOTUS Service Dog Decision Could Spell Bad News For Schools
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that a disabled child’s parents were not legally required to jump through certain additional hoops and exhaust administrative remedies in a...
View ArticleTrump Administration Withdraws Transgender Guidance
On February 22, 2017, one day before briefs were submitted to the Supreme Court in a case involving a transgender student in Pennsylvania, the Trump Administration, through the Department of Justice...
View ArticleKansas Supreme Court Declares School Funding Formula Constitutionally...
Earlier this month, the Kansas Supreme Court issued an opinion in Gannon v. Kansas holding that the state’s current system of funding public education was inadequate under the state's constitution. The...
View ArticleNew Standard for FAPE - Program Must Allow Child to Make Progress...
The decades-old standard for what constitutes a free appropriate public education for students with disabilities was changed in an opinion issued this week by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court created...
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