The Legal Ledger

The restriction on gatherings of ten or more people was first introduced in the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Director’s Mar. 22 “Stay at Home Order.” The ban on gatherings of ten or people has been extended through various orders and an exception was never given to boards of education.  

On Nov. 16, 2020, the ODH Director issued a new Order, “Revised Order to Limit and/or Prohibit Mass Gatherings in the State of Ohio, with Exceptions.” The Nov. 16 order states in Section 5 that the prohibition on gatherings of ten or more people does not apply to “governmental meetings,…

Last week, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued a decision in one of the cases supported by the Ohio School Boards Association Legal Assistance Fund (LAF). The case,  …

Many schools began the year using remote, hybrid, or blended models of instruction for the first time this year.  These new educational settings caused schools and districts to rethink educator evaluations. The …

It has been said many times: 2020 has been an extraordinary year. Given the multitude of unique challenges that schools have met since the beginning of the year, it is sometimes difficult to focus on those laws that were in place before March 2020 and still affect school board members and staff. For example, the Ethics Law and related statutes continue to apply to district officials and employees notwithstanding building closures, hybrid learning models, virtual parent-teacher meetings and all of the other unique…

At its Oct. 2 meeting, the Ohio Ethics Commission issued formal Advisory Opinion No. 2020-03, which addresses ethics…

We know it may be difficult to travel for professional development opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Don’t forget that OSBA has many resources that allow you to learn on your schedule, at your pace and from the comfort of your home. These include:

• Virtual Capital…

The Supreme Court of the United States Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Sept. 18, 2020. Appointed in 1993, Justice Ginsburg served on the court for 27 years. Justice Ginsburg will be remembered for her colorful dissents and ardent support of statutes to provide equal rights for women and men.

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Last week, the U.S. District Court concluded that the territory transfer law enacted in the 2019-2020 biennial budget bill violated the Ohio Constitution. As a result, six territory transfers enacted under the law were halted and two territory transfer matters that were to be on the ballot in November are now moot.

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On Aug. 27, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)  released additional questions and answers…

Yesterday, the interim director of the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) issued an order requiring reporting and notification of COVID-19 cases in k-12 schools…