2021-2022 WEBINAR SERIES
October 5, 2021
Let’s Assess this Hot Mess: CRT, Sex Ed, Masks, Vaccines, Protests, Religion, and the Law: Why You’re Doing it Right if Everyone Hates You for Something
Let’s be honest, it’s been a hell of an 18-month stretch…. If you didn’t quit, retire, or schedule a lobotomy in the past few years, we know you’re in it to help kids. But why does it feel like 95% of the job (and legal advice) is spent on everything but education?! Let’s own the crazy together. The cocktail of COVID-19, politicization of everything, and K-12 schools presents us with a unique opportunity to debrief, bitch a little, and learn a lot. On a topic-by-topic basis, we’re going to cover what the law actually says (without plowing the same old ground, we promise) and how all of us can be better educators and leaders as a result of the chaos.
December 14, 2021
(En)roll me away! Option Enrollment, Residency, Part-time Enrollment, Court-involved Youth, DHHS, Probation, Homeless Students, and Who Pays for What
Some of the most frustrating days in our office involve struggling to piece together multiple laws that dictate enrollment, education, and payment obligations. Rarely does it feel like the educational needs and “best interests” of the child are the central focus. From “DHHS just sent this superintendent letter” to “They say they rented an apartment in town,” the state and federal laws governing student enrollment and school obligations have always been a mess. In the worst cases, they’re a strange combination of selectively followed, hardly enforced, internally inconsistent, and obviously misinterpreted. This deep dive will help you make sense of all of these “Who’s your daddy?” situations and cover new legal options you have in some of the most difficult cases.
January 25, 2022
Title VI, Disproportionality, and Other Laws OCR Enforces that ARE NOT Title IX, IDEA, or 504!
Don’t get us wrong, Title IX, IDEA, and Section 504 are always great topics to cover with ever-changing cases, rules, and regulations. We’ll be talking about them a lot this year, to be sure. But increasingly, and especially under the Biden Administration, we are seeing more litigation and enforcement actions around other, lesser known laws that apply with equal force every time you open your doors. This presentation will focus on your legal obligations under those laws and what exactly “disproportionality” means when it’s used by OCR, the Nebraska Department of Ed., and others. We’ll also cover new and existing data reporting obligations and how we expect that will be used to regulate schools moving forward.
March 1, 2022 (Tentative)
Don’t Shoot the Messenger (Again), but Title IX is Going to Change (Again)
The Biden Administration will be proposing substantive changes to the Title IX regulations you’ve spent hours learning about and enforcing [ducks for cover], probably at about the same time courts and OCR will be returning decisions on some of the initial complaints and lawsuits filed under the new sexual harassment regulations. To complicate matters even further, the Supreme Court is declining to address key issues not involving sexual harassment, like transgender student participation and facilities, but the Biden Administration has signaled they may finally try to incorporate gender identity and sexual orientation into actual regulations rather than “guidance letters.” We’ll be honest: the substance of this presentation will depend on when (not if) and how all of these things happen. Book March 15 for now, but note that we may end up moving the date depending on how everything unfolds in what promises to be another busy year on the Title IX front!