PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Gavels & Gowns - What’s Next in VA K-12 Education? An Interview with Scott Brabrand, Executive Director of VASS
Podcast: A Conversation with Andy Rotherham on Hot Topics in Education for 2023
The Transformation of Education in Florida
School District Update Podcast: Hiring H-1B Teachers in 2021-2022
COVID-19: New York Travel Guidance, Related Disability FAQs, Reopening/Operating Procedures, School District Update
They Said What? First Amendment Issues in 2020
COVID School Landscape
Education Data Privacy and Security Laws: Best Practices for School Districts
Leadership in the Time of COVID
Nota Bene Episode 90: U.S. Q3 Check In: Stimulus, Relief, Election, and Direction with Elizabeth Frazee and Jonathan Meyer
Top 10 Actions (or Inactions), that Spur Special Education Impartial Hearing Requests for School Districts
Navigating the intersections of disability, student conduct, and due process is no easy task for higher education professionals. Balancing legal, ethical, and procedural responsibilities in disability-related behavioral...more
A ruling by the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) has clarified that school divisions have the legal right to seek attorney’s fees from special education advocates who repeatedly engage in frivolous or improper challenges....more
In Title IX investigations and decision-making processes, especially in word-against-word complaints where direct evidence is limited, pattern evidence can provide valuable clarity. When available and applicable, it offers a...more
In October 2023, a five-year-old girl (Roe) in the Red Lion Area School District (District) was reportedly physically and sexually assaulted by a male student while riding a school bus. After this incident, no measures were...more
As the end of the term seems to be rushing towards us, the U.S. Supreme Court issued six more opinions yesterday, mostly unanimous or near unanimous....more
A Pennsylvania federal district court held that a school district may have violated fundamental parental rights by not informing a parent of her child’s request to be considered transgender. In 2022, an eighth-grade...more
Flynn v. Big Spring Sch. Dist., No. 1:22-CV-00961, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168913, at *2 (M.D. Pa. Sep. 19, 2024) (District Court permits Plaintiffs who were regular attendants at school board meetings to move forward with...more
Schools are no longer exempt from immigration enforcement activities after President Donald Trump rescinded a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy last week that designated schools a "sensitive area" for immigration...more
Sometimes, despite the best and thorough efforts of school employees, parents of students receiving special education services will file a request for a due process hearing (usually known as a “due process complaint”). When...more
As you recover from another whirlwind of a school year, we hope you can take some time to relax and enjoy your summer break. The next few months will be the perfect time to – at your leisure – catch up on this past year’s...more
Dale McClendon v. The School District of Philadelphia, 2023 WL 4237080 (E.D. Pa 2023). (Federal court held that a school district was subject to due process and breach of contract claims for the manner in which it completed a...more
Can public school children with disabilities sue their schools for violations of the federal antidiscrimination statutes and collect compensatory damages before exhausting their administrative remedies under the Individuals...more
Save Our Saltsburg Schools v. River Valley School District, No. 1140 C.D. 2021 (Pa.Cmwlth. November 7, 2022) (Commonwealth Court rejects community group’s efforts to invalidate school district’s decision to close a school...more
Over the past year and a half, school districts have been inundated with high numbers of due process complaints and mediation requests. Looking back, it appears that as the wave of COVID-19 cases finally began to slow, the...more
Your personal information is threatened by more pernicious tools and attacks each year. While this blog often describes poorly written privacy laws stifling business and dangerous bureaucratic overreach by privacy...more
[Warning: This article does not reference viruses, vaccines, or mask-wearing.] The education world is in a state of flux, legally speaking. Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court will further opine on the extent to which the...more
T.W., a minor, through Waltman v. Southern Columbia Area School District (2020 WL 7027636) (M.D. Pa. 2020), Federal District Court for Middle District of Pennsylvania denies student’s and parents’ motion for preliminary...more
School District Effort to Prohibit Students’ Political Attire Enjoined - Morgan v. Mifflin County School District, Case No. 1:2--CV-01930 (M.D. Pa. 2020). The United States District Court for the Middle District of...more
Part 2: California Laws Impacting Schools and School Districts for 2020 - Last year brought many changes to the legal landscape affecting educators. In this Best Best & Krieger LLP Legal Alert series, we look at some of...more
We had great participation in our IAASE session last week on this topic, with the audience voting electronically to weigh in on their anticipated outcomes of cases. If you missed it, here are our main takeaways....more
Judge v. Shikellamy Sch. Dist., 905 F.3d 122 (3d Cir. 2018). When a public school district offers an employee a chance to resign in lieu of termination, courts will review five factors to determine whether the resignation...more
No “State-Created Danger” In Student-On-Student Sexual Assault and Harassment Case When The School District Took Precautions To Avoid Sexual Assaults - Strobel v. Neshannock Township School District, Civil Action No....more
School districts have an additional defense in their arsenal when faced with an alleged procedural violation of the IDEA: the student’s own poor motivation. The United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, whose...more
HON. JANE CUTLER GREENSPAN (RET.) recently convened a roundtable discussion with luminaries in the Title IX field to discuss their observations and nascent trends. As part of this discussion, the panel identified issues and...more
D.M. by Sottosanti-Mack v. Easton Area Sch. Dist., CV 17-1553, 2017 WL 6557560 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 22, 2017). District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismisses § 1983 claim that school district violated student’s...more