EdLawConnect Blog

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider three cases involving cyberbullying. That refusal leaves school districts in a continuing quandary about how to respond to off-campus cyberbullying, and illustrates how reasonable minds can come to very different conclusions on whether school districts have the right to impose discipline, or whether such discipline violates the First Amendment.

In ...

Since voter approval of Proposition 215 in 1996 (enacting the Compassionate Use Act ("CUA")), school districts have encountered issues regarding the discipline of students and employees who possess medical marijuana cards. Due to the tumultuous nature of the law, when asked how to proceed in such situations the responses have varied widely over the years. In light of the California Supreme Court’s decision in Ross v. RagingWire Telecommunications, Inc. (2008) 42 Cal.4th 920, however, it can be stated with greater confidence that the CUA will not insulate employees or students who happen to be qualified medical marijuana patients from discipline under the Education Code.

We are occasionally asked about the authority and responsibility of a governing board regarding requests for subpoenas in student expulsion cases.  Though the issue does not arise very often, it is important to understand what is required and what options are available.  The rule can be summarized as follows: Governing boards have an obligation to consider subpoena requests – they cannot have a blanket ...

On December 2, 2011, the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Justice (DOJ) jointly issued guidelines on the voluntary use of race to achieve diversity in postsecondary education and to achieve diversity and avoid racial isolation in elementary and secondary schools within the framework of Titles IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S ...

After the initial publicity surrounding Governor Brown’s unexpected veto of the student fee legislation, AB 165, there was a bit of a lull in the media attention paid to the topic. Thankfully, though, the veto and some misinformation reported in the media immediately after − e.g., a blog post headline stating AB 165 was a bill “banning pay-for-play sports fees,” when such fees have been explicitly ...

The adoption of acceptable use policies to establish the nature and limits of employee and student access to and use of computer systems is by now a common practice. Once such policies are established, however, districts and county offices of education sometimes fail to review them to ensure they are current. In today’s rapidly changing technology environment, these policies can quickly become outdated in the face of new technologies and means of communication, the most recent examples including social networking, micro-blogging, and cloud computing.  It is important that acceptable use policies be kept current to address the impacts of new technologies.

On October 9, 2011, Governor Brown signed AB 1156.  The law, similar to AB 9 (also approved by Governor Brown on October 9, 2011, and about which we previously reported), is an anti-bullying measure aimed at giving victims of bullying priority or special consideration for interdistrict transfers.  The law amends Sections 32261 (Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985), 32282, 32283, 46600, and 48900 of the Education Code.