In a previous alert, we announced that the Illinois State Police (ISP) would be transitioning to accepting clear and present danger reports from school officials through its online Law Enforcement Portal. To make reports on that portal, the ISP is […]
Category: Education
Hiring for the 2023-24 School Year: New Faith’s Law Employment History Review Requirements to Significantly Impact Onboarding Process
February 21, 2023
While public school districts have been aware of the fingerprint-based criminal background check requirements for new employees for some time, the hiring process for the 2023-2024 school year is going to look different for both public and non-public schools with […]
Clear and Present Danger Law Enforcement Portal Administrator Agreement
February 14, 2023
The Illinois State Police (“ISP”) has rolled out its new Law Enforcement Portal where school administrators can submit reports of individuals who pose a clear and present danger. In order to use the portal, the ISP has shared a proposed […]
PAC Issues Binding Opinion Regarding the Applicability of Predecisional Exemption to Employee Survey Results
February 10, 2023
Recently, the Public Access Counselor (PAC) issued a binding opinion concerning the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In the decision, the PAC upholds a school’s decision to utilize the Section 7(1)(f) (predecisional) exemption under the FOIA to withhold written responses […]
OCR Releases Fact Sheet on DEI Activities
February 3, 2023
On January 31, 2023, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) released a fact sheet clarifying that diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) training and similar activities are generally consistent with civil rights laws, including Title VI of the […]
Nonpublic School Legislative Update
February 1, 2023
We previously shared our School Law Legislative Update, focused on new Illinois school-related laws that became effective January 1, 2023. From that update, our team at Franczek P.C. has compiled a narrower list of those laws applicable to nonpublic schools […]
School District’s Discipline of Students for Off-Campus Speech Affirmed by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
January 18, 2023
A recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision held that school officials did not violate students’ First Amendment rights when disciplining them for off-campus social media posts that amounted to severe harassment targeting particular classmates. Though the Supreme Court recently […]
Title IX Updates: Key Wins—and a Loss—in Federal Courts for Transgender Students and Athletes
January 10, 2023
Originally posted to our Title IX Insights Blog. Happy New Year from the Title IX team at Franczek! Over the next several posts, we will be providing Title IX updates from the end of 2022 that you might have missed, […]