Law School By Laptop
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 236: Coping with COVID-19 in Law School
A.N. v. Upper Merion Area School District, 2022 WL 3371612 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 16, 2022). The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania upheld a hearing officer’s award of 5.5 hours of compensatory...more
While the great majority of schools will not be requiring their students or staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 this coming school year, that’s not necessarily true for schools in the Northeast and on the West Coast....more
In this second blog post in our series on the OSERS Question and Answer document on IDEA requirements related to returning to in-person instruction, we are focusing on two questions relevant to this time of transition and...more
The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) published a Question and Answer document to advise school districts on returning to in-person instruction. The OSERS Q&A...more
Last week, ISBE published long-awaited guidance related to remote learning for the 2021-2022 school year. We have been anticipating this guidance since early in the summer when ISBE announced that school would, with limited...more
On July 1, 2021, several new U.S. Department of Education (Department) final regulations resulting from its 2019-20 “Distance Education and Innovation” negotiated rulemaking went into legal effect, although certain of these...more
The college experience has changed a lot over the past year. Since the COVID -19 pandemic began, millions of students across the country have had their first taste of 100% online classes as well as the new territory of online...more
In this immediate post-COVID-19 education landscape in which schools are contemplating a full return to in-person instruction, schools are also grappling with the stark realities of achievement gaps and the disproportionate...more
A year after COVID-19 forced school systems to shutter their doors and transform overnight to a new model of remote learning, they are now facing a new challenge -- educating and supporting students while they transition to a...more
The first full school year conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic is coming to a close. The sudden inability to deliver educational instruction in person due to the pandemic gave rise, by necessity, to the expanded use of...more
2020 has been a tumultuous year, but it has taught us to better prepare for the future and how to better enable schools to maintain their operations in the face of these unprecedented challenges. As schools faced shutdown...more
To the shock of no one, the guidance concerning the use of in-person, “hybrid” and remote learning models in the Connecticut schools during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve. This is not completely...more
Parents, students, and educators are navigating a novel educational landscape. Some schools are relying on a virtual model that requires significant technological involvement, others have opened up their facilities for...more
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts find themselves engaging in virtual education at unprecedented levels, and with this comes many questions that may not have been considered in the past, including whether...more
Now that many of us have been doing some form of remote learning for close to 7 months, we are starting to see hearing officers and state agencies weigh in to resolve complaints related to the appropriateness of remote...more
The U.S. DOL issued additional guidance on August 27, 2020 as to when employees may use paid Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) leave to care for their children under different COVID-related school models. ...more
A significant challenge for reopening the economy and returning to “normalcy” during the COVID-19 pandemic is addressing whether, when, and how schools and colleges will open this fall. As with the initial shelter-in-place...more
ISBE released a comprehensive guidance document today with learning recommendations for the return to school this fall. In a letter introducing this document...more
The White House recently announced that nonimmigrant visa holder students may not remain in the United States if they take full online course loads in the fall. Additionally, the Department of State announced it will not...more
ISBE and IDPH recently released their guidance related to Starting the 2020-21 School Year. The guidance addresses a broad range of topics, including some suggestions related to special education. The following week ISBE...more
An Auburn University student claims he did not get what he bargained for in being relegated to distance learning instead of having an in-person educational experience. On June 30, 2020, Steven Bailey filed a federal court...more
On June 30, 2020, ISBE issued an FAQ document with the purpose of assisting school districts in the transition to in-person instruction. This document, which supplements ISBE’s general guidance on return to in-person...more
As we’ve previously reported in detail, on November 1, 2019, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) published final rules concerning state authorization of distance education programs and other topics. Notably, the new rules...more
As fall creeps closer, and COVID-19 remains a part of our lives, staff members and families are asking how students will engage in learning. While no one has the perfect or complete answer, we do know what tools districts...more
We recently let you know about a pending bill that would make changes to several special education procedures. Senate Bill 1569 has now been signed by Governor Pritzker as PA 101-0643....more