Maintain School District Facilities with Annual Capital Outlay Projects

A Capital Outlay Project is a program authorized by Education Law and the NYSED Office of Facilities planning which allows school districts to plan and implement a Capital Project by informing voters about the project in the budget newsletter and including a line item for the project in the school district budget. If the budget …

Meetings in the Sunshine – Compliance with the Open Meetings Law

Oversight of Student Activity Funds is Not to be Taken Lightly

Teachers often serve as extraclassroom activity advisors.  Extraclassroom activities, in turn, often involve student fundraising efforts.  Students use the fundraising experience to learn basic financial literacy and accounting, with the goal of using the money raised to participate in an extraclassroom experience.  Club advisors should be provided with written guidance and support regarding their financial …

A Refresher on Bullying and IEPs

In a 2011 decision, T.K. v. New York City Dep’t of Ed., 779 F. Supp.2d 289 (E.D.N.Y. 2011), the U.S. District Court determined that there may be times when a Committee on Special Education (“CSE”) is required to address bullying in a student’s Individualized Education Plan (“IEP”) and that failure to do so may deny …

Free Speech Showdown – Social Media and Students’ Rights

Free speech has always been and remains a hotly contested issue in our society, especially in the public school context. There is a delicate balancing act between recognition of schools’ necessity to maintain an orderly environment conducive to learning and their students’ First Amendment rights. Last summer, in B.L. v. Mahanoy Area School District, the …

Federal Court Rules: No Right to Independent Functional Behavioral Assessment

On September 17, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that parents of students with a disability are not entitled to obtain an independent Functional Behavioral Assessment (“FBA”) as a form of an independent educational evaluation (“IEE”).  (D.S. v. Trumbull Bd of Educ.)  This ruling is contrary to guidance from the …