EdLawConnect Blog

Under current law, postsecondary education institutions, including California Community Colleges, the University of California, and the California State University, are required to follow competitive bidding procedures to procure contracts for goods and services above a certain value.  With respect to California Community Colleges, Public Contract Code section 20651 requires competitive bidding ...

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 ...

Concerned about an instructor’s behavior and teaching methodologies, a student complains through email to a college.  Is the instructor entitled to a copy of the student’s email in its entirety?  A county office of education deletes emails during the course of routine network maintenance.  Is a parent entitled to electronic copies of emails regarding a student?  These are just two of many scenarios that ...

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.

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” ...

When educational institutions first embraced technology, a boilerplate Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) was generally sufficient to address many concerns about inappropriate behaviors, user expectations, system ownership, and electronic communications. In order to secure funding and grants, most institutions timely implemented an AUP and moved onto other more pressing issues. As technology ...

Over the past decade there has been a marked increase in the use of technology in education.  From the “early” days when schools began incorporating desk-top computers into the classroom, to the prevalence of laptop use by students and teachers, to the emergence of a variety of mobile devices in school contexts, the expansion of equipment and software adapted for educational purposes has been dramatic.

On ...

A new year often presents a suitable opportunity to review important employment policies. Although policies concerning the “acceptable use of electronic resources” were a novelty only a decade ago, they have now become so common that employers may neglect to review them from time to time to be sure they are still current. A policy written in 2005 could be out of date if it does not accommodate advances in ...

Since the advent of the cellular phone camera, nearly every high school student is equipped to surreptitiously videotape his/her teacher.  While this practice is statutorily-prohibited, what happens when a student breaks the rule and the cellular phone video depicts an image that would subject the teacher to discipline?

To be clear, the Education Code expressly prohibits surreptitiously videotaping a ...