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 preventing the new law from going into effect. Apparently, the law […]
Here we go again. Only a few days after the 4th Circuit issued its decision Kowalski v. Berkley County Sch., the 8th Circuit has now become the latest court to recently weigh in on the issue of whether a school district’s discipline of off-campus online speech violates a student’s free speech rights under the First Amendment. As discussed […]
As school districts puzzle over what sort of rules and prohibitions should be included in board policies addressing teachers’ use of social networking sites, one state’s legislature has stepped into the breach. In Senate Bill 54, also known as the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, Missouri effectively became the first state to ban exclusive communications between teachers and students on […]
School districts in Connecticut looking for guidance on how to handle discipline of students engaging in provocative speech on-line at home have been watching with interest the outcome of two cases in the Third Circuit that seemed to reach conflicting results. Both cases were re-heard by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, […]
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 cyber-bullying, redefines “bullying” for purposes of the statute, and requires school districts to […]
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 come back and claim that the district has denied […]
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 of District Court Judge Mark Kravtiz denying the plaintiff […]
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 Response to Intervention (RTI) activities (or, as we in Connecticut call it, […]
With budget season in full swing, readers may wish to re-acquaint themselves with Connecticut law limiting the expenditures of public funds when a referendum is pending. These rules apply to Boards of Education. To begin with, until a referendum is actually pending, i.e. all the steps necessary to have it placed on the ballot have […]
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 policies and procedures dictating which school personnel authorized by the statutes will have actual authority in the district to administer […]
