As with most issues relating to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), expectations regarding the holding of public meetings have been evolving rapidly over the past few days. On March 16, 2020, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker issued an executive order suspending […]
Category: Higher Education
Do Virtual Sticks and Stones Also Break Bones? Addressing Cyberbullying Under Title IX
March 6, 2020
Originally posted on our Title IX Insights Blog Cyberbullying is nothing new. A majority of teens have experienced the phenomenon and college campuses certainly are not immune. Just because something is common does not make it simple to deal with, however. And this is especially true […]
Coronavirus, Fear, and Racial Harassment: OCR Warns Educational Institutions It Is Watching
March 5, 2020
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a statement yesterday reminding schools, colleges, and universities of their responsibilities to address discrimination and harassment based on race and national origin during the outbreak of coronavirus, or COVID-19. […]
In the past month, we have issued a number of resources on coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19, as applicable to schools, colleges, and universities, from education-focused recommendations to issues implicating all employers, including educational ones (on workplace guidance, business continuity, […]
From federal guidance addressing FERPA and the School Safety Commission Report and DOE withdrawal of discipline guidance to Illinois law requiring threat assessment teams and the creation of the Illinois Educational Safety and Security Center (ESSC), the educational legal world […]
Learn From These Three Confidentiality Mistakes Before Your Next Title IX Investigation
February 25, 2020
Originally posted on our Title IX Insights Blog As an Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigator, I was surprised by the number of times I saw the same issues again and again in Title IX sexual misconduct investigations. Nowhere was this more evident […]
The White House recently announced two initiatives aimed at addressing perceived discrimination in education against students and institutions based on religion. We address the first of those initiatives, relating to prayer in K-12 public schools, in a separate Franczek alert. […]
A large and growing source of property tax refunds in Cook County are generated when a Court reverses or vacates the sale of delinquent taxes. A recent Appellate Court decision provides a good overview of the tax sale process and […]