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?

On September 29, 2014, Governor Brown approved a series of bills to protect against misuse or unauthorized release of students’ personal information. Assembly Bills 1442 and 1584 add privacy requirements to the Education Code for school districts using a program or third-party provider to gather or store personal student information. Senate Bill 1177 adds restrictions under the Business and Professions Code for Internet operators in possession of personally identifiable student information, so that private companies may now share in the responsibility to protect this information. The legislation goes into effect January 1, 2015.

Assessments are one of the primary vehicles by which IEP teams better understand the unique educational needs of special education students.  There are times, however, when a school district’s efforts are frustrated before testing even begins.  Luckily, two recent cases, one decided before the California Office of Administrative Hearing (OAH) and a second decided by OAH then the United States District ...

Under current law, an operator of a commercial Web site, online service, online application, or mobile applications that knows its service is being used by or directed to minors is required to: (1) make its privacy policy available to consumers; (2) notify consumers of the personal information it is collecting from them; (3) disclose the purpose for which collected information will be used; and (4) give ...

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, on Tuesday, April 19, 2014, the Los Angeles Unified School District unveiled groundbreaking news by stating school police will no longer cite students for minor offenses such as fighting and petty theft. Rather, students will be referred to counseling and other programs. According to School Police Chief Steven Zipperman, “for lesser offenses, officers will use a new ...

Recently the U.S. Supreme Court found that the exemptions for warrantless searches of arrestees for weapons or evidence, justified by the need for officer safety and to prevent destruction of evidence, did not apply to searching electronic data on a cell phone.  The Court unanimously ruled that the police need warrants to search cellphones of people they arrest.  The court heard arguments in two cases and ...

In the landmark case of Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982), the United States Supreme Court held that a state may not deny access to a basic, free public education to a child because that child is undocumented.  In addition, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title 42, United States Code, section 2000d) prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, and the implementing regulations ...

The California Education Code establishes the length of minimum school days for students based on grade levels. The minimum school day for students grades four through twelve is two-hundred and forty (240) minutes or four hours per school day.  Whereas, the minimum school day for grades one through three is two-hundred and thirty (230) minutes or three hours and fifty minutes per school day.  (Ed. Code §§ ...

Ever wish you could delete that embarrassing picture you posted to Facebook from cyberspace…permanently? California’s new “Eraser Law” gives California minors the ability to do just that. Well, except, maybe not permanently.

Senate Bill 568, approved by the Governor on September 23, 2013 and codified as California Business & Professions Code section 22580 et seq., goes into effect on January 1 ...

On July 21, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown announced he signed AB 2127 into law, adding Education Code section 35179.5 and amending section 49475 to limit full-contact football practices at the middle school and high school levels.

Under AB 2127, which takes effect January 1, 2015, drills involving game speed tackling are prohibited in the off-season and are limited to 90 minute sessions twice a ...