A federal district court in Illinois recently upheld a hearing officer’s finding that a school district’s failure to implement agreed-upon compensatory services in a timely manner denied the student a free appropriate public education (FAPE). In Board of Educ. of City […]
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) recently issued a Q&A guidance document that addresses a number of questions that school districts often face regarding transportation of students with special education needs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). […]
The Illinois General Assembly is poised to consider sweeping and potentially controversial educational reform legislation. Both Houses announced new bipartisan working groups that will address education reform issues over the coming weeks. Proposals by education advocacy groups such as Stand for […]
An Illinois Appellate Court recently held that because a group of citizens were “participating in government” when they demanded the local school district remove a basketball coach from his position, they were protected from being sued for making defamatory statements […]
The Illinois Senate voted yesterday to join the House of Representatives in overriding Governor Quinn’s amendatory veto of House Bill 5154. The bill, effective immediately upon becoming law, amends the Personnel Record Review Act, 820 ILCS 40/11, to prohibit disclosure of […]
In a recent Dear Colleague Letter, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) warned that school districts may violate federal law if they fail to determine whether seemingly isolated incidents of bullying are actually sufficiently serious to constitute […]
In Thornton Fractional High Sch. Dist. No. 215 v. IELRB, the Illinois Appellate Court recently held that a high school district did not engage in any unfair labor practices when it did not assign 12-month secretarial positions on the basis of […]
Last week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Illinois’ Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act. The Court’s opinion finds that the Act does not violate the First Amendment’s prohibition on laws respecting an establishment of a religion and also finds that […]
