If you thought the holidays were the only season to watch for, think again—school districts across Illinois are entering another critical season—dismissals and reductions in force (RIFs) season. And due to those 2023 legislative changes, the rules for these critical […]
Category: Education
PAC Issues First Binding Opinion of 2026: Village Violated OMA by Restricting Public Comment
January 30, 2026
Takeaway: The PAC held that a village board violated the Open Meetings Act by improperly interfering with a resident’s public comment, including by prohibiting her from naming trustees and prematurely cutting off her remarks. The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access […]
Honoring a Best Friend’s Legacy: Nicki Bazer Named 2026 Recipient of the Shelli Anderson Legacy Award for Excellence in School Law
January 29, 2026
Franczek P.C. is pleased to announce that Nicki Bazer has been named the 2026 recipient of the Shelli Anderson Legacy Award for Excellence in School Law. The Shelli Anderson Legacy Award is presented annually by the Illinois Association of School Personnel […]
Webinar: Current CPI Compliance in Illinois Schools
January 28, 2026
Join us on February 19, 2026, at 12:00 PM as special education law attorneys Kaitlin Atlas and Jennifer Smith from Franczek P.C. and CPI’s Enterprise Education Executive Mike Baran for a discussion on the latest guidance around restraint and timeout in Illinois Schools, a […]
Webinar: Title IX Investigations – A Deeper Dive Into the Top Ten Title IX Questions
January 20, 2026
Join us on February 4, 2026, at 11:00 AM for the next webinar in our “Title IX: Top 10” series. Register Here This time, we will focus on the 2020 Title IX Regulations and the essentials of compliant investigations and […]
School Law Legislative Update: New Laws in Effect in 2026
January 6, 2026
Happy New Year! As always, the team here at Franczek has been tracking laws impacting schools that have passed in the Illinois legislature over the course of the past year. Below we provide our annual Legislative Update, which addresses those […]
ISBE Releases Revised RTO Guidance
January 6, 2026
The Illinois State Board of Education (“ISBE”) recently released revised guidance on physical restraint, time out, and isolated time out (“RTO”) in schools. The Permanent Regulations for the Use of Isolated Time Out, Time Out, and Physical Restraint: FAQ were […]
Redefining the Line of Title IX: Reminder About Change to Sexual Assault Definition
December 16, 2025
In August 2025, the definition of what constitutes sexual assault under the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) expanded, and as a result impacted the way Title IX Coordinators must evaluate certain incidents for Title IX applicability. NIBRS removed the category of […]