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 (Chapter 102 Level 1 Investigator)
Appeals
Athletic Eligibility
- Athletic Eligibility for Students who Open Enroll Due to Harassment
- Athletic Eligibility - Scholarship Rule
- Athletic Eligibility - Reorganizations, Whole Grade Sharing, Dissolutions
Attendance policies - Key Points to Remember
Background checks and the role of Board of Educational Examiners
Bullying and Harassment
- Bullying, harassment, and the equity link
- Bullying and Harassment
- Letter to educational leaders regarding discrimination and harassment based on race, religion, or national origin
Cell Phones - Confiscation and Searches
Choosing an Electronic Health Record System, Vendors, and School Health Services
Custody, Court Orders, and Requests for Records
Digital Fingerprinting by School Districts Illegal
Driver's Education, waivers, nonpublic school students
Emergency Operations Plans & Confidentiality
ESSA’s Provisions for Educational Stability for Children in Foster Care: Effective December 2016
English Learners
- English learner students equal access to education
- English learners - The U.S. Department of Education releases guidance on
Enrollment policies for the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program
Equity Issues
- Equality for transgender students
- Guidance Issued on Equity for Students in Career and Technical Education
- Violence, Discrimination - USDE OCR guidance on responsibilities of schools
- Voluntary Resolution with Mississippi’s Tupelo Public School - USDE’s Office of Civil Rights Announcement
Expulsion and suspension policies in early childhood classrooms
FERPA
- FERPA and Videos
- FERPA and emergencies
- FERPA for Facebook, other social media
- FERPA and School Volunteers
- FERPA Guidance for School Resource Officers
- FERPA Guidance on the USA
- FERPA and PPRA Notices
- FERPA Responsibilities
First Amendment/Free Speech
Foreign exchange students (those with a J-1 Visa)
Foster Care
Free Appropriate Public Education: USDE Q&A
Good Conduct
- Rules over the summer
- A review of Good Conduct
- Good Conduct/GPA Policies and Curricular and Co-Curricular Activities
- Good Conduct Policies - Appeal
Graduation
Head Lice: A nuisance but not a medical or health hazard
Homeless
- New Rules Effective for Athletics and Homeless Students
- Local homeless education liaison
- Homeless students
Instructional Hours vs. Days Updates
Immigrant Children/Students
Kadyn’s Law - Iowa School Bus Safety
Laptops, Chromebooks and Other Technology Fees
McKinney-Vento
Medicaid, New federal special education rule on claiming
Money remaining in student lunch accounts
Natural Disasters and Displaced Students
New Rule Adopted by the Iowa Public Information Board - Exempt Sessions
Open Enrollment
- Athletic Eligibility for Students who Open Enroll Due to Harassment
- Open enrollment appeals
- Open enrollment appeals: Applying the correct legal standard
- Open Enrollment Appeal Procedures
- Open enrollment nuts and bolts
- Open enrollment to online academies
- Open Enrollment Refresher
Physical education excusals and less-than-year-long PE
Pregnancy Discrimination - New Guidance from EEOC
Prom: The Four "Ds" of Prom Protocol: Dates, Dress, Decorum, Drug Testing
Public property, equipment and funds
Records and access to students
Religious Holiday Celebrations in Public Schools - Important Reminders
Religious Music in Public Schools
Resident or Not - That is the Question
Resident Students, Obligation to Educate
School Health Legal Reference Summary
School immunizations and enrollment
- School Safety and Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs)
- School Safety Tips - School Security Video Intercom Access Control Systems, Protecting Students from Extreme Heat Situations
- School Safety: Classroom Locks
- School Safety Tips from the Iowa School Safety Coalition (ISSC)
School start date: co-curricular vs. extra-curricular activities
Search and Seizure: Top 10 Things to Know
Sexual Misconduct
Sexual Exploitation
Senior Year Plus and dual-enrolled students
Smoking & Vaping on School Grounds
Snow Days and Hours Guidance Revisited
Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program Important Policy Reminders
Student Privacy Website U.S. Department of Education
Student Records and Child Abuse Investigations
Student Records, Retention and Spring Cleaning
Students with Disabilities
- Athletics, Students with Disabilities
- Bullying of students with disabilities - USDE Office of Civil Rights Guidance
- Diploma Requirements, Certificates, and Students with Disabilities
- Measles in Schools while Protecting the Civil Rights of Students with Disabilities, OCR Guidance on the Risk of
- Update on amendments to open enrollment rules
Summertime coaching activities
Supplement Not Supplant Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education
The Teacher Next Door - How to Catch a Predator
Title IX
- OCR Guidance on Designating Title IX Equity Coordinator
- Title IX and single-sex elementary and secondary classes and extracurricular
- New Proposed Title IX Rule Provides Clarity for Schools, Support for Survivors, and Due Process Rights for All
Transportation for Shared Programs
U.S. Department of Education Guidance on School Climate Resources
Unpaid Meal Policies - Best Practices to Ensure Access to Meals