As you recover from another whirlwind of a school year, we hope you can take some time to relax and enjoy your summer break. The next few months will be the perfect time to – at your leisure – catch up on this past year’s biggest developments and trends in education and workplace law. We’ve put together a packed summer reading list so that your educational institution can be primed and ready to tackle the upcoming academic year.
Governance Practices, School Policies, and Key Contracts
Big Picture
To prepare for the 2024-2025 school year, you’ll need to reflect on this past year and consider how legal changes, current events, and shifting priorities impact your policies and practices. Check out this six-step guide to refreshing your employee and student policies and five ways independent school boards can strengthen their governance practices. Click here and here for things to consider when updating your school’s bylaws. And if you’re looking for more evergreen advice, you can browse last year’s summer reading list.
Important Details
This year we covered a wide range of specific topics you should consider addressing in your policies and procedures. Here’s some of the biggest issues to consider:
Employment Agreements & Enrollment Contracts
Every single provision in your employment agreements should be designed to be purposeful, powerful, or protective of your school. Learn how your agreements can fulfill the three P’s. And because enrollment contracts form the basis of your school’s relationships with the families you admit, you’ll want to look at these five tips for strengthening those contracts.
Biggest Developments
New Federal Overtime Rule and Title IX Regulations
By the time the 2024-2025 school year begins, two significant federal rules will have already taken effect – unless they are blocked by court action.
SCOTUS Affirmative Action Ruling
Last summer, the Supreme Court severely limited affirmative action admissions in education. The U.S. Department of Education subsequently released diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) guidance. Read these Insights to catch up on:
Trending Topics
Campus Protests & Political Discourse
The past academic year saw a rise in campus protests, political discourse, and even hate crimes. Here are a few resources to help you navigate these issues:
Title IX Coverage in Private Schools
Courts across the country have been split on whether a private school’s tax-exempt status triggers Title IX coverage. But earlier this year, two federal courts each independently ruled that it does not – serving as a big win for private and independent schools in those jurisdictions. Check out the Insights below for more details and stay tuned to see if similar litigation pops up in other states.
Due Process Rights
Another recent hot topic looks at what schools must do to satisfy their due process obligations. A California jury hit a private school with a $1 million verdict for expelling high school students without due process. But a federal appeals court sided with a medical school by holding that it did not violate a resident’s due process rights when it dismissed her from its residency program.
Discrimination Claims & Disability Accommodations
Last August, the New Jersey Supreme Court sided with a Catholic school that fired an unwed pregnant teacher and held that the termination decision did not violate the state’s workplace anti-discrimination law. Here are six key takeaways for religious schools.
In the fall, a lawsuit against a private school served as a good reminder about a lesser-known aspect of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Here are five answers for employers about association-based bias.
Just before winter break, we covered five ways to mitigate the impact of anxiety disorders on student success. And as spring arrived, we asked: are your school’s websites and apps ADA compliant?
Student-Athletes and Employment Status: A Potential Turning Point
This question has been a contentious issue for nearly a decade. Here’s the latest:
- In February, a National Labor Relations Board regional director declared that non-scholarship college basketball players are “employees” under federal labor law. Read more here.
- In May, the National Collegiate Athletic Association moved forward with a $2.7 billion settlement, representing a watershed moment in the ongoing debate on compensating student-athletes. Here’s what you need to know.