We encourage a proactive and preventative approach to promoting and maintaining a safe, productive and efficient environment for educating students and serving the school community. We offer a blend of expertise and practical advice resulting from years of hands-on business and operational management experience. We analyze and work to resolve both unique and routine challenges confronted by Boards of Education and administrators.
Our practice is dedicated exclusively to the representation of employers in all aspects of employment and labor relations law. This highly regulated environment demands representation based on strategic solutions tailored to the needs and objectives of each employer. We recognize the importance of both leadership and compliance in organizational success.
Each year schools receive solicitations from third parties offering to perform the various services required to operate the school district. These vendors sometimes seduce schools with offers to perform services the schools have no authority to contract for, which can lead to unauthorized contracts and legal headaches.
It is an unfortunate reality that students engage in behaviors that are — or might appear to be — threats to others in the school community. Schools must investigate and respond to real or perceived threats immediately. But in their haste, schools must not lose sight of their obligation to provide students with due process before imposing student discipline.
There has been a spike in data security breaches during recent years, including unauthorized access to and release of student records. The New York State Education Department (“NYSED”) and the Office of the New York State Comptroller (“Comptroller”) stress that adequately safeguarding confidential information regarding students and their families is of the utmost importance. The Comptroller and NYSED both emphasize the need for school districts and vendors providing information technology services (“IT”) to adhere to federal and state laws regulating data protection and to include security protocols in their contracts aimed at avoiding the unauthorized disclosure and release of protected information.