Board Meeting Minutes – Specificity Needed
The Eleventh District Court of Appeals was recently faced with the issue of whether Ohio’s Open Meetings Act requires the meeting minutes of a public body to be accurate enough to show the specific reasons a Board has entered into executive session. In State of Ohio...
Facebook and First Amendment Rights
Like students, teachers do not shed their constitutional right to free speech while at school. However, their rights are not without limits as the Sixth Circuit demonstrated recently when it issued a ruling upholding termination of a teacher. In Sensabaugh v....
Records of Deceased Student and Mass Shooter Case Decided
Recently, in State ex. rel CNN, Inc. v. Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Local School Dist., 2019-Ohio-4187, the Second Appellate District ruled that the death of a student does not remove the legal protections of the confidentiality of student records. In August 2019, an adult...
Food Allergies and Special Education
Students with food allergies may be eligible for special education supports and protections. For instance, a student could be IDEA- eligible as “other health impaired” if the allergies adversely affect learning or the student needs special education/related services due to the allergies. More commonly, students with food allergies may be eligible for a 504 plan if they have a physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.
Ohio’s School Funding System
A complaint challenging the constitutionality of Ohio’s school funding system was filed in the Perry County Court of Common Pleas in 1991. The plaintiffs alleged that vast disparities and shortfalls in per pupil funding, among other concerns, meant the State of Ohio...
District’s Termination of Superintendent Upheld
The Court of Appeals in Logan County, Ohio recently upheld a decision of the Indian Lake School District Board of Education terminating its superintendent after he was arrested for gross sexual imposition of a minor. The superintendent was placed on paid...
Court of Appeals Disagrees That a Student’s Right to Privacy Ends Upon Death
A dispute over the disclosure of student records has led to the Court of Appeals for Ohio’s Second Circuit to analyze whether a student’s right to privacy in education records extinguishes upon death. Both federal and state laws protect the confidentiality of student...
A Quick Note About Parental Leave
Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers may not discriminate against employees on the basis of several protected classes, including sex. Thus, courts and administrative agencies have interpreted Title VII to prohibit an employer from engaging in...
Ennis Britton is Proud to be a Platinum Sponsor of the OSBA Capital Conference!
Ennis Britton is proud to be a Platinum Sponsor of the 2019 Ohio School Boards Association Capital Conference. This means you will see our team of attorneys and firm logo in a lot of places! The firm is the exclusive sponsor of the OSBA Conference App, which will be...
Ennis Britton Welcomes New Attorney to the Team!
Ennis Britton is excited to announce that attorney Robert J. McBride has joined our team! Bob has dedicated his practice to representing public school districts and private sector clients in the areas of employment law, civil rights defense, board leadership, labor...
Court Sides with District in Teacher Termination and Vacates Back Pay
The Sixth District Court of Appeals delivered a win to school districts recently when it reversed a lower court’s decision ordering the Perkins Local School District to reinstate a former teacher who had been terminated with an award of $367,202.52 in lost wages and...
School District Transgender Policy Violates Title IX
On August 9, 2019, a federal judge in Virginia ruled in favor of a transgender student in holding that a school district’s policy violated his rights under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause. The Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board case stemmed from a school...
Arming School Personnel
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office recently released an opinion in response to a request for legal advice on the issue of arming school staff. The letter requested, among other things, an analysis on how the training requirements under R.C. 109.78(D) apply to school...
Are Text Messages on Personal Cell Phones Public Records?
It is no secret that board of education members and school employees often communicate with one another through their personal cell phones. However, board members and employees rarely consider that these private text messages could potentially be disclosed to the...
Restraint and Seclusion
The use of restraint and seclusion in schools continues to be a high priority for state and federal policy makers. Ohio’s first regulations specifically addressing restraint, seclusion, and positive behavior intervention and supports took effect in 2013 as Ohio...
Can a School Board Member Serve as a Coach?
Given their choice to enter into elective office, school board members are typically service oriented individuals. They are very active in their communities and are often interested in the athletic programs of their district. Thus, it is not surprising that many...
Student Dress Code
A Federal District Judge recently ruled that a charter school dress code policy which required girls to wear skirts and prohibited girls from wearing pants or shorts, violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Many challenges in the past have...
Sick Leave Donation Program
The Ohio Attorney General has released a formal opinion finding that the board of education of a joint vocational school district (JVS) has no authority to establish a sick leave donation program for non-teaching employees of the district who are not members of a...
Changes Coming for Body Worn Camera and Dashboard Recordings
A new law may impact the obligations of schools, School Resource Officers, and law enforcement agencies, in general, in responding to a request for dash cam or body cam recordings. HB 425, which added new exceptions to the R.C. 149.43 definition of public records,...
The Licensure Code of Conduct for Ohio Educators
The Licensure Code of Professional Conduct for Ohio Educators (“Code”), which was first adopted in 2008, outlines the framework for professional conduct for individuals who have a license or permit issued by the State Board of Education. On February 13, 2019, the Ohio...
Federal Procurement Spring Survival Guide
As of this fiscal year, all school districts that purchase goods or services with federal grant funds must comply with new federal regulations that were adopted a few years back. This is an important issue for schools to consider as they enter into contracts this...