The Legal Ledger

We wanted to direct your attention to two new legal resources that can be used by school attorneys, board members, and the districts they serve.

• Academic Distress Commissions
  House bill 70, which was signed by Gov. John Kasich on July 16, made significant changes to state academic distress commissions. Under the new law, which will become effective on October 15, the superintendent of public instruction is required to establish an academic distress commission for any school district that: 1) receives an overall grade of “F” for three consecutive years…

OSBA’s legal division recently received a question from a member who asked whether a board could adopt a policy requiring proof of vaccinations for service animals accompanying students in the district’s buildings.  The board’s purpose in asking for such proof was to confirm that the animal was not a health risk to students in the building.

A federal court case earlier this year examined the issue in-depth.  In Alboniga v. School Board of Broward County, Florida…

On July 6, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published its much-anticipated proposed changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). These proposed regulations are the response to President Obama’s March 2014 directive to the Secretary of Labor to “update and modernize” the overtime exemption rules under the FLSA. If adopted, the changes will have a significant impact on employers’ abilities to treat certain employees as exempt from receiving overtime compensation.

Current regulations

The FLSA is a federal law that sets forth minimum wage, overtime,…

It’s that time of year again to attend the Ohio School Boards Association’s annual Attendance, Tuition and Custody Law Workshop. The workshop will take place on August 7, 2015, at the Nationwide Hotel & Conference Center. The workshop will include the following sessions:

• Registering and placing of immigrant students
• Making sense of court orders and custody documents
• The top 10 EMIS coding mistakes
• Views from the bench and the trench: attendance challenges
• Open enrollment policies and procedures

We hope you will join us! To…

Employees and volunteers that direct, supervise, or coach a student activity program that involves athletics, routine or regular physical activity, or activities with health and safety considerations must obtain a pupil activity permit.  The Ohio Department of Education issued a recent reminder to begin the process for the application of pupil activity permits for coaches. The application process is completed online through ODE’s…

House Bill 153, which was passed on May 27, 2015, amended certain election dates. Under current law, presidential primaries are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March, unless otherwise noted by a municipal charter or county charter. HB 153 shifts the primary to the second Tuesday after the first Monday of the month. For 2016, this means that the presidential primary that was scheduled for March 8 will now take place on March 15.

The move to March 15 allows Ohio to take advantage of rules adopted by the Republican National Committee requiring states…

In a victory for Ohio schools, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned the Ohio Supreme Court in Ohio v. Clark, finding that the admission of a teacher’s testimony regarding a pre-school student’s answers to her inquiries about suspicious injuries is not a violation of the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. OSBA’s Legal Assistance Fund joined the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National School Boards Association, and submitted an amicus brief arguing that the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision needed to be overturned.

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A new program for the 2015-16 school year, College Credit Plus (CC+) replaces the Post-Secondary Enrollment Options program and most other existing dual enrollment programs.  While the first round of notice and application deadlines have passed for CC+, school responsibilities under the program span the entire school year.  School district administrators should be aware of the following:

• Students can provide their school districts with notice of their intent to participate in the program beyond the April 1 deadline.  Pursuant to Ohio Revised…

With less than a month remaining in the current term, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered an opinion on Monday that could have potential employment implications for Ohio school districts.

In EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, a clothing store declined to hire Samantha Elauf, a 17-year-old Muslim, because a religious headscarf that she wore to her interview conflicted with Abercrombie’s employee dress code policy.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit on…

Students aged sixteen and seventeen, who are employed during the summer months after the last day of spring classes and before fall classes begin, are not required to provide their employer with an age and schooling certificate as a condition of employment (RC 4109.02). This exception applies if the student is employed in an area that is nonagricultural and nonhazardous as well as any other area of employment that is not prohibited to persons aged sixteen and seventeen.

Students that fit into the above category must provide their employer with proof of age in the same manner as…