Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a final rule to update and revise various provisions of the regulations implementing the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  The final rule increases the general salary level threshold for exempt employees from $684/week to $844/week (effective July 1, 2024) and then to $1,128/week (effective January 1, 2025), but there are important exceptions applicable to teachers and school administrators. School districts and independent schools should review their payroll practices and determine which employees will be impacted by these signi ..read more

Earlier this morning, and almost a year after its expected release in May 2023, the U.S. Department of Education issued the 2024 Title IX Final Rule on sex-based harassment and discrimination (the “Final Rule”). The implementation day for the Final Rule is August 1, 2024, leaving public schools and other covered entities just over 100 days to comply with these new changes. Of note, the Final Rule redefines sex-based harassment and broadens the scope of sex discrimination to include sex stereotyping, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation and gender identi ..read more

Best Lawyers® recognized Tom Mooney as Connecticut’s “Lawyer of the Year” in Education Law for 2024 and published an article outlining just a few of Tom’s many accomplishments as a leader in the field of education law. Special recognition is awarded by Best Lawyers to individual lawyers with the highest overall peer-feedback for a specific practice area and geographic region, and only one lawyer is recognized as the “Lawyer of the Year” for each specialty and location. Tom Mooney received particularly high ratings from his peers for his abilities, professionalism and integrity in the practice ..read more

Originally appeared in the CAS Weekly Newsletter Dear Legal Mailbag  As I was falling asleep last night, I awoke with a start, wondering whether we should be doing more to part company with a long term substitute.  I am the principal of an elementary school, and one of my teachers went out on leave last fall for an illness.  At the time, we thought that it would be a short absence, and we hired a warm body to cover the absence.  However, last December we learned from the teacher on leave that her recovery would be lengthy and that she will be out through the ..read more

Originally appeared in the CAS Weekly Newsletter Dear Legal Mailbag, As a new and enthusiastic administrator, I greatly appreciate how technology helps us do our jobs better in so many different ways.  Nowadays, we resolve many credibility disputes over student conduct by simply reviewing the surveillance videos.  However, as soon as we tell parents that their child was “caught on tape,” they immediately demand to see the video recording. Just last week, I faced the following conundrum.  Students reported to us that two boys had been fighting in the hallway l ..read more

As with school districts throughout Connecticut, the Nutmeg Board of Education has been struggling to adopt a budget because certain federal grants are ending this year.  As the Board members have considered options, they have told Mr. Superintendent that the district must operate more efficiently to save money. After undertaking a comprehensive review of district practices, Mr. Superintendent discovered that the district employs a number of paraeducators in the elementary schools to accompany students to lunch and special classes, relieving teachers of the responsibility to do so.&n ..read more

In a well-reasoned opinion, a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has reaffirmed that an independent school’s 501(c)(3) status as a tax-exempt organization does not make the school a recipient of federal financial assistance subject to Title IX or similar federal laws. See Buettner-Hartsoe; N.H. v. Baltimore Lutheran High School Assoc. et al, (4th Cir. March 27, 2024). The Court reversed the decision of the federal district court, which had ruled that the defendant, an independent school, needed to comply with Title IX because of its tax ..read more

Dear Legal Mailbag, In our behavioral child study team meetings, we are often confused about when an FBA and BIP should be created and put into place. Ideally, we would do this after tier 2 supports have been unsuccessful and before going to PPT. If the FBA and BIP are successful, we can avoid the PPT process and avoid unnecessary evaluations. Our director of special education is a maven on procedures, who is telling our team that you need consent to do an FBA and the PPT is the place to get that consent. Can’t we get consent another way and use the FBA and BIP as a tiered intervention? Signe ..read more

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court considered whether James Freed, a city manager who maintained a “mixed use” Facebook account on which he posted information about his personal life and his job, violated the First Amendment and was subject to liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (“Section 1983”) when he deleted comments with which he disagreed and eventually blocked a member of the public from commenting on his Facebook posts at all.  A unanimous Court held that a public official who posts about job-related issues on his social media page engages in state action (and can be held liab ..read more

Dear Legal Mailbag: As a middle school principal and faithful reader of Legal Mailbag, I appreciated learning about the status of text messages between teachers in the Newsblast a couple weeks ago (March 7, 2024 Legal Mailbag).  But Legal Mailbag got me thinking, and now I am anxious to know the answers to some related questions that I hope Legal Mailbag can answer.  In essence, I wonder if using personal devices for school district business could open up those personal devices for public inspection.   For example, if a staff member sends messages f ..read more