This site will periodically highlight major new legal developments, with a focus on student issues under the IDEA and Sec. 504/ADA. To sign up for email notifications of these updates, please scroll all the way down the page (if viewing on a mobile device) or scroll right (if viewing on a desktop computer). Thanks!
Special Supplement: Section 504 Eligibility Form
In my interaction with participants at my various presentations around the country, the request for my Sec. 504 eligibility form has become more and more frequent. The form, which may be customized with due acknowledgment, is attached here for your convenience.
May 2018 Legal Update
This month’s legal alert summarizes two recent articles, one that is an updated outcomes analysis of the aftermath of Endrew F. upon its first anniversary (“The Aftermath of Endrew F. One Year Later: An Updated Outcomes Analysis”) and the other that is a case law analysis of the obligations to students with disabilities in private schools (“Legal Obligations to Students with Disabilities in Private Schools”).
April 2018 Legal Update
This monthly legal alert summarizes two recent cases that are officially published federal appeals court decisions. Mr. P. v. West Hartford Board of Education (2018) illustrates various basic issues under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Pollack v. Regional School Unit (2018) identifies a potentially significant additional obligation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
March 2018 Legal Update
This month’s legal alert focuses on two recent cases with costly consequences, one arising from a student’s concussion (Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School District v. Mr. and Mrs. W. (2018)), and the other, the failure to have the IEP ready at the start of the school year (School District of Philadelphia v. Kirsch (2018)).
February 2018 Legal Update
This legal alert focuses on two recent cases, one including the intersection of child find and RTI under the IDEA (M.G. v. Williamson County Schools (2018)), and the other concerning the IDEA remedies for stay-put violations (Doe v. East Lyme Board of Education (2015, 2017)).
Special Annual Supplement: Trumping Educational Policy
As a special supplement to the monthly updates, here’s a look-back for the year that reveals a shift in the federal education policy as part of President Trump’s overall agenda. Although you may well have noticed one or two of these events, the cumulative consistent effect is rather dramatic in terms of the reversal of direction. It portends significant changes not only for the immediate future but also the longer range in terms of the role of the U.S. Department of Education and its regulatory enforcement but also judicial interpretations of the IDEA and other key legislation in special and general education.
Click here to download “Shift in Educational Policy under the Trump Administration”
January 2018 Legal Update
This monthly legal alert, as a wider view to start the new year, provides two over-arching legal developments: (a) a six-month look at the lower court progeny of the Supreme Court’s Endrew F. decision, and (b) the latest data on the incidence of students on 504 plans.
