On January 22, 2024, the United States Department of Education (“USDOE”) issued a Dear Colleague Letter regarding supporting students with disabilities who require assistive technology (“AT”) in order to receive meaningful...more
In May 2022, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it intended to strengthen and protect rights for students with disabilities by amending the regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973...more
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
On July 19, 2022, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) released several guidance documents concerning the civil rights of students...more
As the issues related to the mandated school closures in response to the COVID-19 crisis continue to rapidly evolve, the Governor extended the closure through April 7, and in all likelihood, Illinois schools will remain...more
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has presented unprecedented challenges for public and private educational institutions across the country. As schools evaluate how to move forward, Husch Blackwell and our...more
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) recently issued a “Supplemental Fact Sheet” updating its earlier Questions & Answers and Fact Sheet on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and clarifying that schools should not refrain...more
In the wake of Governor Pritzker’s recent order requiring all Illinois schools to close between March 17 and March 30, many schools and school districts have been left guessing how to best serve students with disabilities and...more
As you are all aware, a basic educational requirement in the State of Connecticut is that each school district must make a minimum of 180 days of instruction available to students each school year. ...more
On October 20, 2017, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) within the U.S. Department of Education rescinded 72 education policy guidance documents. Sixty-three of the documents are from the...more
While education issues are expected to be major priorities in Congress throughout 2018, Congressional leadership left town last year still unable to come to an agreement on the funding of Cost Sharing Reductions (CSRs) and...more
On February 24, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13777. This order required Federal agencies to evaluate their existing regulations and make recommendations to the agency head regarding their repeal, replacement,...more
Recently, the U.S. Department of Education published regulations to implement Rosa’s Law, legislation enacted in 2010 to replace the term “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability” in federal laws. These laws include...more
At the end of last month, the Department of Education released three new sets of guidance on the federal civil rights laws that govern students with disabilities. All three offer valuable information about current and...more
The Department of Education recently issued a Dear Colleague Letter explaining the obligations of school districts to students with ADHD under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The guidance notes that over the last five...more
“Not so fast!” cried privacy advocates and parents when California federal judge Kimberly Mueller ordered the release of a huge database of personally identifiable student information to a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers. ...more
A school district’s failure to properly address bullying of students with disabilities could result in a denial of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) for those students. This is the message clearly conveyed to school...more
On August 20, 2013, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) released a “Dear Colleague Letter” providing an overview of school districts’ responsibilities under the Individuals with Disabilities...more