With the first half of the school year ending, school officials should turn their attention to midyear progress reports for certain teachers. Section 1249 of the Revised School Code requires that teacher evaluations include a midyear progress report for two groups of teachers: (1) all first year probationary teachers; and (...
As reported in last month’s edition of School Law Notes, PA 173 of 2015 recently amended the teacher evaluation requirements in Section 1249 of the Revised School Code to better assure that they align with the teacher recall requirements of Section 1248 of the Revised School Code. School officials should ensure that their...
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights recently found that an Illinois school district violated Title IX when it prohibited a transgender high school student from using the girls’ locker room. Twp High Sch Dist 211, OCR Case No. 05-14-1055 (November 2, 2015).
The student, who was born male,...
Public Act 173 of 2015, effective November 5, 2015, amended the Revised School Code by adding and revising language for teacher and school administrator performance evaluations.
Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, schools may adopt and implement their own evaluation tool for both teachers and school administrators rather...
School officials must file the Municipal Finance Qualifying Statement form with the Michigan Department of Treasury by Thursday, December 31, 2015 to avoid late fees and other negative consequences.
The annual filing of the form is required to obtain “qualified status” for 2016. Obtaining qualified status...
We are pleased to announce that Philip G. Clark has joined Thrun Law Firm as an associate attorney in the East Lansing office. Phil graduated from the University of Michigan (B.A., 2012) and Michigan State University College of Law (J.D., 2015, cum laude), where he was an articles editor for Michigan State...
With the holidays fast approaching, our gift to school officials is guidance on how to acknowledge the holidays without violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The only thing worse than coal in your stocking is a federal lawsuit!
Because public schools may not sponsor religious practices, such as prayer or devotional Bible readings, it is important that your school’s holiday celebrations have an educational purpose. This does not mean that all religious overtones...
A federal court in Virginia recently dismissed a transgender student’s Title IX claim that the school board’s sex-segregated restroom policy amounted to sex discrimination. GG v Gloucester Sch Bd, Docket No. 4:15-cv-54 (ED Va, 2015). The court declined to require the school to allow the student’s use of the restroom that...
The importance of obtaining “qualified status” each year from the Michigan Department of Treasury cannot be overemphasized. School districts, intermediate school districts, and public school academies that obtain qualified status are able to issue new bonds and notes more swiftly and pay lower filing fees to the State of Michigan. Schools that do not obtain qualified status may experience significant delays in issuing bonds and notes during calendar year 2016. Those delays may be especially...
In a matter handled by Thrun, the Michigan Employment Relations Commission recently offered additional guidance on the treatment of prohibited bargaining subjects contained in section 15 of the Public Employment Relations Act. Ionia Pub Schs and Ionia Ed Ass’n, MERC Case Nos. C12 E-094, CU12 C-013 (December 18, 2014)...