Retaining Hourly Employees During Shutdowns May Warrant MOA’s

Due to Covid-19 exposures and/or increased infection rates, school districts are being forced to close buildings on a short-term basis.  This can result in complications for hourly personnel, which can, in turn present complications for the district as a whole.  For example: the lack of consistent full-time employment and pay may prompt them to find …

Be Specific to Keep Suspensions Valid, Says Interim Commissioner

The Interim Commissioner of Education has been busy issuing decisions in August and September addressing the sufficiency of charges for student discipline hearings. Particularly, in two cases of note, suspensions were annulled and expunged due to a finding that the charges levied by the District were insufficient. By way of review, to suspend a student …

Preparing for Possible Reductions in Force

In April 2020, Governor Cuomo announced the possibility of mid-year state aid cuts of up to twenty percent if the federal government did not provide financial assistance.  Even though on September 16, 2020 Governor Cuomo announced that the aid to be disbursed in September will not be reduced, the already reduced state aid, along with …

New Record Retention Schedule: ED-1 is Being Replaced by LGS-01

NYSED and Facilities Planning for School Re-Opening

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) recently issued Guidance dealing with facilities renovations associated with School Re-Opening, available at http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/reopening-schools/nys-p12-school-reopening-guidance.pdf. More recently, FAQs were issued by the NYSED Office of Facilities Planning (OFP) available at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/facplan/documents/08-05-2020COVIDFAQs.pdf .  In addition to the FAQs, the OFP issued a form to be used when submitting facilities renovations …

Do Not Forget Your SRO and Safety Plans

The past three months have been unexpected to say the least.  Now that the school year is complete and the budget vote is over, it is time to plan for next year.  Most of us are questioning what next year will look like.  While you navigate the post-COVID world, do not lose sight of your …