Free Speech Showdown – Social Media and Students’ Rights

Free speech has always been and remains a hotly contested issue in our society, especially in the public school context. There is a delicate balancing act between recognition of schools’ necessity to maintain an orderly environment conducive to learning and their students’ First Amendment rights. Last summer, in B.L. v. Mahanoy Area School District, the …

Federal Court Rules: No Right to Independent Functional Behavioral Assessment

On September 17, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that parents of students with a disability are not entitled to obtain an independent Functional Behavioral Assessment (“FBA”) as a form of an independent educational evaluation (“IEE”).  (D.S. v. Trumbull Bd of Educ.)  This ruling is contrary to guidance from the …

Retaining Hourly Employees During Shutdowns May Warrant MOA’s

Due to Covid-19 exposures and/or increased infection rates, school districts are being forced to close buildings on a short-term basis.  This can result in complications for hourly personnel, which can, in turn present complications for the district as a whole.  For example: the lack of consistent full-time employment and pay may prompt them to find …

Be Specific to Keep Suspensions Valid, Says Interim Commissioner

The Interim Commissioner of Education has been busy issuing decisions in August and September addressing the sufficiency of charges for student discipline hearings. Particularly, in two cases of note, suspensions were annulled and expunged due to a finding that the charges levied by the District were insufficient. By way of review, to suspend a student …

Preparing for Possible Reductions in Force

In April 2020, Governor Cuomo announced the possibility of mid-year state aid cuts of up to twenty percent if the federal government did not provide financial assistance.  Even though on September 16, 2020 Governor Cuomo announced that the aid to be disbursed in September will not be reduced, the already reduced state aid, along with …

New Record Retention Schedule: ED-1 is Being Replaced by LGS-01