Employment Law Now V-96- LOTS of Big Employment Law Developments
COVID-19: New York Travel Guidance, Related Disability FAQs, Reopening/Operating Procedures, School District Update
They Said What? First Amendment Issues in 2020
COVID School Landscape
Increased immigration enforcement in Minnesota, Maine, and beyond is raising concerns for K-12 private and independent schools. In order to safeguard students and staff while ensuring legal compliance, you should proactively...more
The US Department of Education recently abandoned its legal defense of controversial guidance that sought to ban DEI programs at colleges and universities nationwide. On January 21, the Department quietly dismissed its appeal...more
This latest session in our Federal Update webinar series is designed to provide timely updates to institutions of higher education to help you prepare for and comply with the various Executive Orders, guidance documents,...more
Following a recent change to New York law, New York City’s independent schools are now required to adopt policies and procedures to protect students from bullying, both on and off-campus. On October 23, 2025, Governor Hochul...more
In K-12 environments, social media is a central hub of student life, where friendships grow, information spreads, and risks can emerge. The digital world mirrors the school community, and what happens online rarely stays...more
Welcome to our January 2026 issue of The Academic Advisor -- our education law insights e-newsletter. We hope you are off to a great start to the spring semester, even though spring is certainly eluding us at present per...more
The Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) and the Title IX team are two campus-based teams that sit at the intersection of safety and support, often serving the same students and employees in different ways. Although each team’s...more
Higher education saw rapid change in 2025, with institutions managing shifting regulations and guidance, financial pressures and evolving campus climate issues. This includes changes to Title IX, collegiate athletics,...more
On January 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (DOL) issued Opinion Letter FMLA2026-1, providing important guidance on how short-term school closures, such as snow days, affect a school employee’s...more
Sexually explicit photos are appearing more often in educational environments. Whether the images are real (authentic) or fake (synthetic, including AI-generated or “deepfake”), the harm they cause can be significant. When...more
Texas’s Attorney General just issued a sweeping 74-page Opinion that calls into question the legality of many Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the state in both public and private sectors, including...more
The US Department of Education recently launched a series of Title IX investigations of 18 different colleges and universities, state departments of education, and local public school systems that have policies allowing...more
Strong Behavioral Intervention Teams (BITs) are built with intentionality. Thoughtful investment in team development can make all the difference in fostering a collaborative, communicative, and effective team that better...more
In a prior installment of this blog post we outlined the law that all Arkansas school administrators should know about service animals. Now we turn to a slightly less clear issue that comes up quite frequently: the...more
The Illinois State Board of Education (“ISBE”) recently released revised guidance on physical restraint, time out, and isolated time out (“RTO”) in schools. The Permanent Regulations for the Use of Isolated Time Out, Time...more
On Dec. 18, 2025, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a complaint that challenged an expulsion of a student who announced his intention to bring a firearm to school. Halasz v. Cass City Public Schools, — F.4th —-,...more
From the vantage point of a Title IX Hearing Decision-Maker or Appeal Decision-Maker, the quality of the investigation report determines the likelihood of reaching well-supported, defensible complaint outcomes. Reports with...more
Motivational interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based therapeutic style developed in the early 1980s. While the technique may not come naturally, especially for those of us without a background in clinical or counseling work,...more
In August 2025, the definition of what constitutes sexual assault under the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) expanded, and as a result impacted the way Title IX Coordinators must evaluate certain incidents for...more
Fairfax Cty. Sch. Bd. v. McMahon, Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-1432, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179299, at *5 (E.D. Va. Sep. 5, 2025). District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declines to rule on the merits of a school...more
In 2022, Jack Reid, a 17-year-old student at a private New Jersey boarding school, died by suicide after experiencing severe on-campus and online bullying. Jack’s death underscored the gap in protection for private school...more
On November 6, 2025, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed a new state law (Senate Bill No. 246) that requires schools to notify parents, guardians, and school employees about any incidents involving a weapon on school...more
The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) has approved an emergency bylaw referendum allowing high school student-athletes to participate in Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) activities....more
The name, image and likeness (NIL) era in college sports continues to expand at the high school level. A high-profile lawsuit brought in the Court of Common Pleas, Franklin County, Ohio, by the mother of a five-star wide...more
We see a fair number of reports where one student or employee uses a sexualized label to describe another, sometimes in the heat of conflict, sometimes as gossip, and sometimes to create deliberate exclusion. These labels...more