In a decision issued July 24, 2014, Senior United States District Court Judge Jack Weinstein has authored an opinion proposing a new standard for evaluating whether the IEP of a special education student who has experienced bullying provides that student with a free...
We Are All Newtown
Some of you may have noticed that this blog has gone somewhat silent in the last couple of months. It’s not that there haven’t been developments in education law worthy of comment. But business as usual has been difficult to reestablish. Instead, we seem to...
IEE’s, Residential Placement, Failure to Provide FAPE Addressed in Plainville Court Decision
In a decision issued March 31, 2012, a United States District Court judge has rejected the appeal of the Plainville, Connecticut board of education from a hearing officer’s ruling mandating reimbursement for residential placement at the F.L. Chamberlain School in...
Parents Refuse Consent for IEP? Still No Obligation to Write 504 Plan
If you are responsible for the implementation of either IEP’s or Section 504 plans in your school district, at some point, you have probably encountered a situation where a parent refuses to provide consent (or revokes consent) for an IEP, and insists that the...
Judge Blocks Missouri Facebook Law
On August 2 we posted an article about a new law set to go into effect in Missouri prohibiting on-line communications between teachers and students that seemed to have some potentially problematic language in it. Late last week a Missouri judge issued an injunction...
New Anti-Bullying Statute Goes Into Effect Today
If you haven’t already, be sure to get a copy of Substitute Bill 1138, Public Act 11-232, effective July 1, 2011, which makes sweeping changes to the State’s anti-bullying statute applicable to public school districts. The new law adds specific prohibitions against...
Parent Cannot Revoke Consent for Special Ed, Then Claim Denial of FAPE
This is one of those (rare) moments where, as a school lawyer, you think common sense has prevailed. We shouldn’t need a decision from a State hearing officer to tell us that once a parent has revoked consent for special education services, then the parent cannot...
Second Circuit: First Amendment Law Protecting Student Speech is Confusing
The next chapter in the continuing saga of Doninger v. Niehoff, et al. was decided and issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on April 25, 2011. You may recall reading about this case in 2008, when the Second Circuit upheld the decision...
OSEP Says Don’t Insist on RTI Evidence Before Evaluating Private School Students for Learning Disabilities
A recent letter issued by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) calls into question the practice of denying a request to evaluate a student for potential learning disabilities based upon the failure of the private school where the child attends to conduct...
Medication Administration Regulations Amended
This fall, Connecticut revised the regulations implementing those provisions of Section 10-212a of the General Statutes concerning administration of medications in school by school personnel. The revised regulations require school districts to develop and implement...
