EAST LANSING: 517.484.8000 | NOVI: 248.533.0741 | WEST MICHIGAN: 616.588.7700
With high school graduation fast approaching, school officials should be aware of the following graduation-related legal issues.
Diplomas and “Walking” at Graduation
The end of the school year may usher in “senioritis” along with senior pranks, tempting school officials to withhold a student’s diploma as a disciplinary action. School officials who do so risk legal exposure because withholding an earned diploma deprives an individual of a...
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a college board of trustees did not violate a board member’s free speech rights by censuring him and temporarily barring him from board officer positions. Houston Community College System v Wilson, Docket No. 20-804 (March 24, 2022).
David Wilson was an elected official on the Houston Community College System’s Board of Trustees. He was not, however, popular with his fellow trustees. Wilson frequently disagreed with them,...
As part of our service to our retainer clients, Thrun Law Firm will conduct a series of 1-hour webinars on four Tuesdays this spring. The “Tuesdays with Thrun - Back to Basics” webinar series is offered at no charge to our retainer clients.
Webinars will be held on the following dates and times and will cover the following topics:
Prom season is fast approaching – along with myriad related legal issues. Student conduct at prom can be both novel and unpredictable, offering few clear-cut rules. This article nevertheless provides some best practices to assist school officials in navigating common issues that may be associated with the big day.
Attendance
Attending prom is not a constitutional right. Prom attendance is a privilege, subject to revocation should a student fail to...
Recently, many school districts received Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from a for-profit business seeking the disclosure of student directory information. Responding to FOIA requests for student directory information requires school officials to navigate legal requirements that include the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and other Michigan privacy statutes. This article describes considerations and FOIA exemptions that apply to such requests.
...
As our retainer clients were notified in our February 8 E-Blast, Michigan Attorney General Nessel recently issued OAG No. 7318, in which she opined that the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504) may require state and local boards to provide virtual access to public meetings as a reasonable accommodation for qualified persons with disabilities.
Although the opinion is not binding on local boards (e.g., school boards), it...
On March 23, Governor Whitmer signed into law Public Act 48 of 2022, which is immediately effective and amends Section 1d of the Construction of School Buildings Act (the Act) to change certain requirements related to temporary door locking devices and systems (e.g., the Boot) in schools.
The Act defines “temporary door locking device or system” (lockdown device) as an “anchoring mechanism or system installed on the interior side of a door that, when engaged, secures the door against...
As part of our service to retainer clients, Thrun Law Firm will conduct a series of 1-hour webinars on four Tuesdays this spring. The “Tuesdays with Thrun - Back to Basics” webinar series will be offered at no charge to our retainer clients.
Webinars will be held on the following dates and times and will cover the following topics:
We previously notified our retainer clients through E-Blasts and School Law Notes about a California lawsuit against Juul Labs and other vaping product manufacturers. The lawsuit alleges that those manufacturers fraudulently and intentionally marketed their products to children.
The lawsuit seeks not only money damages for costs schools have already incurred related to vaping, but also funding for future vaping-related costs. Vaping costs include reduced state aid due to...
RSC Section 1229 sets timelines and procedural requirements for nonrenewing an administrator’s expiring employment contract. Because the statutory nonrenewal timeline requires at least 90 days’ lead time before the employment contract’s termination date (i.e., April 1 for a contract ending June 30), we recommend starting the nonrenewal process no later than March 15 for contracts that expire on June 30. Failure to follow the statutory nonrenewal process will result in an automatically...