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Connecticut Education Law Blog

Existing State Bullying Statute Repealed; New Statute Expands Definition of Bullying and Adds Implementation, Prevention Strategies and Teacher Training Requirements

The passage of PA 08-160 which repeals C.G.S. 10-222d, the state’s existing bullying statute effective July 1, 2008, and adds new requirements and changes the definition of bullying seemingly has gone unnoticed. The lack of attention may be because this Act also addresses controversial changes to in school suspension laws which have garnered much attention. Notwithstanding […]

Special Ed Hearing Statistics for 2007

If you have the patience to click on each individual numerical link on the State Department of Education website under Special Education Due Process Hearing Decisions, you too may be able to discern the following statistics from the 2007 hearing decisions.  These numbers are based on only those cases filed in 2007 that were also […]

Legislative Update: Recruiting and Bullying Policies

Proposed legislation introduced in today’s session of the General Assembly includes Raised Bill 5868, An Act Concerning Recruiting at High Schools, and Raised Bill 649, An Act Concerning School Learning Environment. RB 5868 would require all boards of education to adopt a written policy on or before January 1, 2009 regulating recruitment by the armed forces, prospective […]

More Legislative Updates: Criminal Charges for Residency Misrepresentation

Today’s bills filed in the General Assembly include Raised Bill 5833, a proposed amendment to Connecticut General Statutes Section 53a-119, which would add as a felony criminal charge “obtaining school accommodations by misrepresenting a child’s residence”.  This would be defined as a parent, guardian or person acting on behalf of such person (or student if […]

Legislative Update: Use of Asthma Inhalers

Raised Bill 5702, referred to the Committee on Public Health in this session of the General Assembly, would allow a “respiratory care practitioner” to issue a written certification to a local or regional board of education providing that a child diagnosed with asthma be permitted to possess an asthmatic inhaler at all times while attending […]

Busy Season at the State Legislature

If the last few days are any indication, it promises to be a busy season for the General Assembly, particularly at the Committee on Education.  Multiple bills have been raised in both the Senate and the House pertaining to education of school-age children, and most of these have been referred to the Education committee. While […]

Labor Board New Past Practice Exception For School Districts

The Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations recently issued a decision, Region 16 Board of Education, Decision No. 4270 (2007), in which it held that a unilateral change in the workload of Special Education Teachers constituted a prohibited practice. In doing so, the Board created an exception to the general rule that a unit wide fixed practice […]

NCLB Testing Requirements May Trump IDEA

In a recent decision, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (Illinois) has upheld the dismissal of a school district’s lawsuit challenging certain provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on the grounds that since NCLB was enacted after the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the later-enacted NCLB provisions would trump any conflicting requirements in […]

FMLA: President Signs Military-Related FMLA Changes

On January 28, 2008, President Bush signed into law H.R. 4986, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008 (“NDAA”). Section 585 of the NDAA amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (“FMLA”). The NDAA provides two new types of FMLA leave to employees with family members serving in the military: 1. Caregiver Leave: Permits […]