Thought Leadership

The Illinois Appellate Court recently affirmed the dismissal of a tenured fifth-grade teacher accused of intentionally breaking the seals on standardized test booklets to help students cheat on the test. This case is certainly not the first time that a tenured teacher’s cheating on standardized testing has been found to be irremediable conduct allowing dismissal […]

In its fourth binding opinion of 2020, the Illinois Public Access Counselor found that a Chicago Public School’s Local School Council violated Section 2(a) of the Open Meetings Act by improperly discussing the timing and process used to evaluate the […]

As you may have heard already, as part of the legislation (HB2455) signed by Governor Pritzker on June 5, 2020, certain non-instructional, non-administrative school term employees (commonly referred to as 10-month employees) may now be eligible for unemployment this summer.  […]

On Friday, June 12, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Public Act 101-640, which, among other things, amends the Open Meetings Act to allow public bodies to hold virtual board meetings without the physical presence of a majority of a quorum of members during a disaster declaration relating to public health […]

Originally posted on our Title IX Insights Blog. For anyone taking the ostrich approach to the Department of Education’s Title IX regulations—sticking their heads in the sand and hoping that a lawsuit will come along to blow these pesky regulations away—there may be […]

Jennifer Smith was quoted in an article published by RealClearInvestigations regarding the legal representation in investigations of sexual misconduct involving school children. In addressing the new Title IX rules and regulations, particularly the narrowing definition of inappropriate sexual behavior, Jennifer […]

As discussed in previous alerts posted on March 16 and March 18, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker passed an Executive Order suspending certain Open Meetings Act (OMA) requirements in the wake of COVID-19. Since the issuance of the Executive Order, the […]

By executive order on June 4, 2020, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker authorized all public and nonpublic preK-12 schools the state to reopen after the completion of the 2019-2020 school term for limited educational purposes such as summer school. With that […]