EdLawConnect Blog

Nothing illustrates how public schools have become lightning rods for social issues like Assembly Bill (“AB”) 1266, which amended Education Code section 221.5 as of January 1, 2014.

According to the Legislative Digest, AB 1266 “would require that a pupil be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities ...

A growing trend among school districts across California is to allow staff and students to Bring Your Own Device (“BYOD”) to the school campus.  Staffs have, and many already use, their own personal devices, such as smartphones and iPad for instruction and administration due to the efficiency and capabilities of these devices.  BYOD can boost staff performance because it eliminates limitations as to ...

Effective January 1, 2015, California minors can take advantage of SB 568’s “Eraser Law” when they desire to remove a post from a website, online service or application, or mobile application with which they are registered. While the new law was intended to provide minors with a way to remove posts made during youthful lapses in good judgment, schools cannot ignore online student misconduct falling ...

On October 10, 2013, the Governor signed AB 256 amending California’s pupil discipline law, Education Code section 48900, which identifies grounds for suspension and expulsion, including bullying. Although most agree that bullying among students is undesirable, some are concerned that California’s latest anti-bullying legislation, AB 256, has gone too far and may encourage schools to violate ...

Recently the Third District Court of Appeal decided Crews v. Willows Unified School District, concerning a newspaperman’s appeal from an award of sanctions against him in the form of the school district’s attorneys’ fees for his filing a frivolous California Public Records Act lawsuit against the District.  Although the decision of the Court of Appeal reversed an award of sanctions against the ...

It is widely accepted that the time and cost to terminate a permanent certificated employee in California is excessive and presents an undue burden on public school employers.  Accordingly, the Legislature is presently considering changes to the teacher termination process.  While it is premature to speculate whether the changes under consideration will improve or further complicate the process, here is a brief overview of the existing process.

On May 31, 2013, the California Court of Appeal reversed the conviction of Karen Christiansen for violation of Government Code section 1090, which generally prohibits public officials from being financially interested in contracts they make in their official capacity. (People v. Christiansen, see decision here.) Because the Court concluded that Christiansen was an independent contractor, not an ...

Because of the way school facilities and technology funding has been separated and compartmentalized, we tend to think in narrow terms about how we approach new construction and modernization projects, information technology (IT) procurement, and IT system planning. There are major benefits to be drawn from a coordinated approach to these issues, which involves a comprehensive plan for IT structure. With this plan, we can design more energy efficient IT systems as our networks and data centers are built into our facilities and as we procure the equipment we plug into our networks.

A previous blog touched upon recent trends in student discipline and summarized certain legislation pending at that time, which signaled a policy move toward reducing the exclusion of students from school as a result of suspensions and expulsions and, instead, implementing alternative means of discipline.

Of the four main bills introduced last year – SB 1235, AB 1729, AB 2537, and AB 2242 – only two were ...

Recent developments in Court treatment of California Public Records Act (CPRA) issues has raised some concern as to possible Court expansion of the scope of records that a public agency may be compelled to produce.  We want to share these concerns with you, so that you can better prepare to meet increasingly challenging requirements as Courts expand the scope of the CPRA.

Under the CPRA “public records” ...