EdLawConnect Blog

School districts (and county offices of education and charter schools) can be liable for failing to address the bullying or harassment of a student with a disability.  Are you properly addressing and responding to complaints of bullying and harassment?

School districts are required to ensure that extended school year (“ESY”) services are available as necessary in order to provide a free appropriate public education (“FAPE”) in accordance with federal and state law. (Title 34 Code of Federal Regulations (“C.F.R.”) Section 300.106(a)(1)) An individual education plan (“IEP”) team must make the determination on an individual basis ...

On May 6, 2013, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied a district’s motion to dismiss an attorney’s fees action in J.B. v. San Jose Unified School District, 2013 WL 1891398, No. C-12-06358 SI (N.D. Cal. May 6, 2013). This ruling is particularly relevant to all school districts which are currently receiving increasingly more requests for independent education evaluations (“IEEs”) than in past years. In short, the Court ruled that the withdrawal of the San Jose Unified School District’s due process hearing complaint to defend its own evaluation may have conferred on J.B. (“Student”) “prevailing party” status which would entitle him to reasonable attorneys’ fees.