Circuit Courts of Appeals Split on Transgender Bathroom Issue
On December 30, 2022, a federal circuit court of appeals broke from the decisions from other circuits and held that separating the use of male and female bathrooms on the basis of biological sex does not violate the United States Constitution or Title IX. In Adams v....
Court Confirms Narrative Portion of Attorney Invoices May Be Redacted
State ex rel. Ames v. Baker, Dublikar, Beck, Wiley & Mathews, 2023-Ohio-263 This particular case and its parties have an extensive legal and procedural history that we will not bore you with here. The pertinent fact for purposes of this article is the Ohio Supreme...
Ohio Federal Court Affirms Exhaustion Requirement Under IDEA
As school districts continue to feel the bite from parent demands stemming from COVID closures and learning alternatives, the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio recently affirmed that the pandemic does not justify circumventing established due...
Court of Appeals Reverses Trial Court that Upheld a Nonrenewal
Jones v. Kent City School Dist. Bd. of Edn., 2023-Ohio-265 The Eleventh District Court of Appeals of Ohio (Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage, and Trumbull) reversed a trial court’s decision affirming a board of education’s decision to nonrenew a teacher. During...
Career Tech Corner: Ensuring Access through Admissions
It’s admissions time! For CTCs, admissions staff are busy processing applications and making plans for the incoming class for 2023-2024. This is also a great time of year to remind staff about a CTC’s obligation to ensure that programs are accessible to all students,...
On the Call Podcast: OCR Complaints & Records Requests
Receiving an OCR records request can be as scary as watching the latest horror movie and may make you want to "Scream". Jeremy and Erin help take the panic out of the request with some practical tips to get through the response process. They discuss two cases that...
On the Call Podcast: Assistive Technology
Runs, Hits, and Errors with Assistive Technology: Jeremy and Erin discuss if - and how - you provide assistive technology as part of the IEP. They cover the "what ifs': What if the technology doesn't work? What if it isn't used properly while at home? And while there...
New! On the Call Podcast: MDR Basics
The Special Education Team of Ennis Britton is pleased to announce the rollout of our new podcast “On the Call". Each episode focuses on a real-life special education scenario you may have encountered or might bump into very soon. Ennis Britton attorneys Jeremy Neff...
New! EB’s Career Tech Corner: CTCs Begin Welcoming New Members Statewide
As we head into a new year, many joint vocational school districts are welcoming new members to their governing boards. This can be an exciting time, with opportunities to meet and work with fresh faces and new ideas. This might also present some unanticipated...
Ennis Britton is Pleased to Announce Pete Japikse has Joined the Ennis Britton Consulting Group
Ennis Britton is pleased to announce Pete Japikse has joined The Ennis Britton Consulting Group, offering transportation consulting services to the Firm’s clients. Pete is available for transportation consulting assistance including but not limited to T-1 and T-2...
Open Meetings and Public Records Law: Three Recent Sunshine Cases in Ohio
Sunshine law litigation is constantly ongoing in Ohio’s courts. Recently, three new cases expand our understanding of how open meetings and public records law is applied to public bodies. Must a public entity teach citizens requesting records how to use its software?...
Supreme Court Clarifies that Plaintiff Has Burden of Proving Violations of the Ohio Open Meetings Act
On December 1, 2022, the Supreme Court of Ohio released a decision clarifying the burden of proof remains with a plaintiff in actions to enforce the Ohio Open Meetings Act (OMA). In State ex rel. Hicks v. Clermont Cty. Bd. of Commrs., Slip Opinion No. 2022-Ohio-4237,...
Appeals Court Rejects Hyper-Technical Procedural Defenses in Upholding the Termination of a Principal
DeVito v. Clear Fork Valley Local Schools Bd. of Edn., 2022-Ohio-3894 The Fifth Appellate District upheld the termination of a principal accused of, among other things, misconduct related to her evaluation duties. The principal allegedly asked a teacher to sign a...
Two Recent COVID-19 Court Cases Related to Schools
Another facet of the ongoing fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic is the litigation that has ensued, particularly in employment law. Last month, there was progress in two cases stemming from the pandemic. The first involves the non-teaching employee employment statute, RC...
OSEP Advises State Directors Regarding Serving Highly Mobile Students
Last month the Office of Special Education Programs and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services issued a letter to state directors of special education regarding the critical nature of ensuring prompt services for highly mobile students with...
Feds Stress Compliance with Special Education Requirements for Preschool-aged Children
Perhaps revealing enforcement priorities, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Head Start (OHS) recently issued a joint letter reminding state educational...
Revised IDEA Regulations Finally Coming?
On Friday, October 14, the Ohio Department of Education filed proposed revisions to the IDEA operating standards (Ohio Administrative Code 3301-51). On Tuesday, November 15, the State Board of Education will hold a hearing on these proposed revisions. This is all part...
Court Determines Dress Code May be Covered Under Title IX
The board of trustees of a North Carolina charter school discovered that designing a dress code based on the view that girls are “fragile vessels” could violate both the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Parents of several...
SCOTUS to Consider Exhaustion of Remedies Case
The Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to hear a special education case concerning a family's obligation to exhaust administrative remedies before filing a claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The case of Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools involves...
OCR Provides Guidance for Pregnant and Parenting Students
U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently released guidance linking the protections of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act to students and employees based on pregnancy and related conditions. The October 4, 2022 guidance reiterated...
Ohio Supreme Court Asked to Review Guidance Counselor’s Right to Retain Outside Attorney During Arbitration
On January 1, 2022,An Ohio guidance counselor who opted out of the union has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to overturn a decision of the 11th District Court of Appeals which found she did not have a right to use her own attorney during an arbitration hearing. Revised...