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.

The new law becomes operative on January 1, 2015.  Therefore, any lease leaseback project that is awarded after January 1, 2015, involves a projected expenditure of $1,000,000 or more, and uses any money from the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 or any future state school construction bond must comply with the mandatory prequalification procedures found at Public Contract Code section 20111.6.

On September 18, 2014, Governor Brown signed AB 1581 which amended Education Code sections 17406 and 17407 (the lease leaseback statutes) to expressly provide that the mandatory prequalification requirements apply to the lease-leaseback delivery projects.  The mandatory prequalification requirements set forth in the new Public Contract Code section 20111.6 apply to any school district public works ...

On September 2, 2014, a California appellate court upheld an order requiring a college math professor to undergo a “fitness for duty examination” (“FFD”) based on behavior that his colleagues considered erratic and threatening in nature.  The court also rebuffed the efforts of the professor’s attorneys to interject themselves into the workplace dispute by placing conditions on the FFD.  The ...

Almost all school districts have been faced with the problem of workplace bullying, but until recently workplace bullying has received little attention compared to bullying prevention efforts for minors and students.  Just as national attention on student and minor cyberbullying prompted legislation by many states, now workplace bullying is also receiving attention and has now received legislative action.  Spurred by studies regarding the damaging effects of workplace bullying on employees, including reduced productivity, morale, higher absenteeism rates, and frequent employee turnover, California Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez proposed AB 2053, with the goal of addressing the issue of workplace bullying.  Governor Brown signed the legislation yesterday, September 9, 2014.

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 ...

Have you ever had a request from a teacher to express milk during the school day?  The percentage of mothers breastfeeding is on the rise in the United States, meaning the likelihood of receiving such a request is likely to increase.  District employees, including teachers, are entitled to break time to express their breast milk pursuant to Labor Code section 1030.  Such breaks, however, may be unpaid if they exceed the number of paid breaks which the teacher may otherwise be entitled to receive under the law or pursuant to the teachers’ collective bargaining agreement.

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 ...