Legal Lessons
The selected Legal Lessons listed below are a series of items legal in nature originally published as part of the School Leader Update. Legal Lessons are only informational. They do not constitute legal advice. If you need legal advice for your own situation you should contact your district's legal counsel or private counsel.
Abuse of students by school employees (October 2012 School Leader Update)
Appeals
Athletic Eligibility
- Athletic Eligibility for Students who Open Enroll Due to Harassment (May 2016 School Leader Update)
- Athletic Eligibility - Scholarship Rule
- Athletic Eligibility - Reorganizations, Whole Grade Sharing, Dissolutions (March 2011 School Leader Update
Attendance policies - Key Points to Remember (September 2014 School Leader Update)
Background checks and the role of BOEE (November 2013 School Leader Update)
Birth Certificates - Important Reminders from IDPH
Bloodborne Pathogen Guidance (January 2018 School Leader Update)
Bullying and Harassment
- Bullying, harassment, and the equity link (January 2014 School Leader Update)
- Bullying and Harassment (November 2012 School Leader Update)
- Letter to educational leaders regarding discrimination and harassment based on race, religion, or national origin (February 2016 School Leader Update)
Cell Phones - Confiscation and Searches (March 2011 School Leader Update)
Chapter 102 Level I Investigator Manual (April 2018 School Leader Update)
Chapter 103, Top 10 points (September 2017 School Leader Update)
Chapter 103 Rules UPDATE (September 2019 School Leader update
Close or Not to Close, that is the Question (February 2018 School Leader Update)
Compulsory Attendance Reminders SWVPP & Kindergarten (November 2019 School Leader Update)
Custody, Court Orders, and Requests for Records (September 2018 School Leader Update)
Dress Codes (October 2018 School Leader Update)
Digital Fingerprinting by School Districts Illegal (June 2016 School Leader Update)
Driver's Education, waivers, nonpublic school students (June 2013 School Leader Update)
Emergency Operations Plans & Confidentiality (April 2019 School Leader Update)
English Learners
- English learner students equal access to education (February 2015 School Leader Update)
- English learners - The U.S. Department of Education releases guidance on (November 2016 School Leader Update)
Epinephrine for schools (February 2015 School Leader Update)
Equity Issues
- Equality for transgender students
- Guidance Issued on Equity for Students in Career and Technical Education (July 2016 School Leader Update)
- Violence, Discrimination - USDE OCR guidance on responsibilities of schools (June 2014 School Leader Update)
- Voluntary Resolution with Mississippi’s Tupelo Public School - USDE’s Office of Civil Rights Announcement (November 2014 School Leader Update)
Expulsion and suspension policies in early childhood classrooms (January 2019 School Leader Update)
Fee Reminders (August 2019 School Leader Update)
FERPA
- FERPA and Videos (March 2018 School Leader Update)
- FERPA and emergencies
- FERPA for Facebook, other social media (February 2018 School Leader Update)
- FERPA and School Volunteers (January 2017 School Leader Update)
- FERPA Guidance for School Resource Officers (March 2016 School Leader Update)
- FERPA Guidance on the USA (July 2014 School Leader Update)
- FERPA and PPRA Notices (December 2012 School Leader Update)
- FERPA Responsibilities (August 2019 School Leader Update)
- H1N1 and FERPA Disclosures (December 2012 School Leader Update)
- NSLA and FERPA (March 2014 School Leader Update)
Firearms on school grounds (March 2018 School Leader Update)
First Amendment/Free Speech
- Confederate flag in school and free speech (October 2016 School Leader Update)
- First Amendment (July 2014 School Leader Update)
- Free Speech Principles (July 2013 School Leader Update)
- U.S. Supreme Court declines to review First Amendment decision (May 2014 School Leader Update)
Food Allergies (January 2015 School Leader Update)
Foreign exchange students (those with a J-1 Visa)
Foster Care
- Information sharing for children in foster care (October 2012 School Leader Update)
- Educational Records for children in foster care (September 2012 School Leader Update)
Gift Law (April 2011 School Leader Update)
Good Conduct
- Rules over the summer (June 2018 School Leader Update)
- A review of Good Conduct (October 2017 School Leader Update)
- Good Conduct/GPA Policies and Curricular and Co-Curricular Activities (March 2017 School Leader Update)
- Good Conduct Policies - Appeal (April 2014 School Leader Update)
Graduation
- Graduation - Reminders on school days (April 2017 School Leader Update)
- Graduation Don'ts - Top Six (May 2019 School Leader Update)
Head Lice: A nuisance but not a medical or health hazard (April 2016 School Leader Update)
Homeless
- New Rules Effective for Athletics and Homeless Students (January 2018 School Leader Update)
- Local homeless education liaison (November 2016 School Leader Update)
- Homeless students (September 2016 School Leader Update)
IDEA and ADA, Intersection of (December 2014 School Leader Update)
Instructional Hours vs. Days Updates (March 2014 School Leader Update)
Immigrant Children/Students
- Immigrant Children, Education of (March 2017 School Leader Update)
- Immigrant students, Guidance from the USDE on (October 2014 School Leader Update)
Iowa DCI hosts a Missing Children’s Day Poster Contest (February 2017 School Leader Update)
Kadyn’s Law - Iowa School Bus Safety (September 2017 School Leader Update)
Laptops, Chromebooks and Other Technology Fees
Limited home rule (June 2017 School Leader Update)
McKinney-Vento
- Homeless students (September 2016 School Leader Update)
- Local homeless education liaison (November 2016 School Leader Update)
- McKinney-Vento Amendments (November 2016 School Leader Update)
Medicaid, New federal special education rule on claiming (April 2013 School Leader Update)
Medication Waste Guidance (June 2019 School Leader Update)
Miranda Warnings to Students (November 2018 School Leader Update)
Money remaining in student lunch accounts (June 2019 School Leader Update)
Natural Disasters and Displaced Students (April 2019 School Leader Update)
Open Enrollment
- Athletic Eligibility for Students who Open Enroll Due to Harassment (May 2016 School Leader Update)
- Open enrollment appeals (December 2014 and November 2012 School Leader Updates)
- Open enrollment appeals: Applying the correct legal standard (February 2015 School Leader Update)
- Open Enrollment Appeal Procedures (October 2014 School Leader Update)
- Open enrollment nuts and bolts (February 2014 School Leader Update)
- Open enrollment to online academies (March 2015 School Leader Update)
- Open Enrollment Refresher (February 2018, School Leader Update)
Open Records Law and Emails (July 2018 School Leader Update)
Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment - School Compliance
Physical education excusals and less-than-year-long PE (April 2016 School Leader Update)
Pledge of Allegiance (November 2018 School Leader Update)
Pregnancy Discrimination - New Guidance from EEOC (September 2014 School Leader Update)
Public property, equipment and funds (May 2013 School Leader Update)
Records and access to students (March 2017 School Leader Update)
Top Five Registration Issues (August 2019 School Leader Update)
Religious Music in Public Schools (March 2016 School Leader Update)
Residency Issues (September 2018 School Leader Update)
Resident or Not - That is the Question (September 2019 School Leader Update)
Resident Students, Obligation to Educate (July 2011 School Leader Update)
Rules Adopted and Noticed by the State Board (February 2019 School Leader Update)
School Assembly Guidance (July 2016 School Leader Update)
School Discipline - Guidance from USDE (February 2014 School Leader Update)
School Health Legal Summary (January 2019 School Leader Update)
School immunizations and enrollment (October 2014 School Leader Update)
School Nurses
- School Nurses Caution: Picking up Student Prescriptions (May 2016 School Leader Update)
- School Nurses - Practice and Regulation (September 2014 School Leader Update)
- School Safety and Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) (June 2018 School Leader Update)
- School Safety Tips - School Security Video Intercom Access Control Systems, Protecting Students from Extreme Heat Situations (July 2014 School Leader Update)
- School Safety: Classroom Locks (March 2013 School Leader Update)
- School Safety Tips from the Iowa School Safety Coalition (ISSC)
School start date: co-curricular vs. extra-curricular activities (January 2016 School Leader Update)
Search and Seizure
- Search and Seizure: Top 10 Things to Know (April 2015 School Leader Update)
- Fourth Amendment Search and Seizure – Iowa v. Mar’Yo D. Lindsey Jr. — From the Iowa Supreme Court (August 2016 School Leader Update)
Service Animals in Schools (October 2013 School Leader Update)
Sexual Misconduct
Sexual Exploitation
- Sexual Exploitation changes in the law (October 2017 School Leader Update)
- Sexual Exploitation - Amendment to Iowa Code § 709.15 (June 2014 School Leader Update)
- Iowa Supreme Court reverses coach’s sexual exploitation conviction (May 2014 School Leader Update)
Senior Year Plus and dual-enrolled students (April 2016 School Leader Update)
Smoking & Vaping on School Grounds (March 2019 School Leader Update)
Snow Days and Hours Guidance Revisited (December 2019 School Leader Update)
Snow Days, Part II (March 2019 School Leader Update)
Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program Important Policy Reminders (January 2020 School Leader Update)
Student Privacy
Student Records and Child Abuse Investigations (March 2019 School Leader Update)
Student Records, Retention and Spring Cleaning (May 2019 School Leader Update)
Students with Disabilities
- Athletics, Students with Disabilities (March 2013 School Leader Update)
- Bullying of students with disabilities - USDE Office of Civil Rights Guidance (November 2014 School Leader Update)
- Diploma Requirements, Certificates, and Students with Disabilities (March 2013 School Leader Update)
- Measles in Schools while Protecting the Civil Rights of Students with Disabilities, OCR Guidance on the Risk of (April 2015 School Leader Update)
- New Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) website (July 2017 School Leader Update)
- Update on amendments to open enrollment rules (September 2017 School Leader Update)
Summertime coaching activities (March 2015 School Leader Update)
Supreme Court (United States and Iowa courts)
- The Supreme Court: A Year in Review (February 2018 School Leader Update)
- USDE Issues New Q&A on Free Appropriate Public Education following Supreme Court Decision (January 2018 School Leader Update)
- Fourth Amendment Search and Seizure - Iowa v. Mar’Yo D. Lindsey Jr. - From the Iowa Supreme Court (August 2016 School Leader Update)
- U.S. Supreme Court declines to review First Amendment decision (May 2014 School Leader Update)
- Iowa Supreme Court reverses coach’s sexual exploitation conviction (May 2014 School Leader Update)
Suspension, State Board upholds local board decision on (April 2015 School Leader Update)
TeachIowa.gov postings (April 2014 School Leader Update)
The Teacher Next Door - How to Catch a Predator (February 2020 School Leader Update)
Title IX
- OCR Guidance on Designating Title IX Equity Coordinator (May 2015 School Leader Update)
- Title IX and single-sex elementary and secondary classes and extracurricular (January 2016 School Leader Update)
- New Proposed Title IX Rule Provides Clarity for Schools, Support for Survivors, and Due Process Rights for All
Transportation for Shared Programs (May 2015 School Leader Update)
Uninterrupted Scholars Act (February 2013 School Leader Update)
U.S. Department of Education Guidance on School Climate Resources (May 2019 School Leader Update)
Unpaid Meal Policies - Best Practices to Ensure Access to Meals (November 2017 School Leader Update)