The Legal Ledger

Recently, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) published guidance entitled “Clarification on Accessibility and Accommodations for New State Tests.” As noted by ODE, the guidance document provides answers to these questions:

• What are accessibility features and accommodations and how have these changed in the 2014-2015 school year?
• What are the federal IDEA rules and how does Ohio ensure compliance?
• How do the new changes impact an IEP team’s decisions?

A copy of this guidance document may be found on ODE’s website at…

Each board of education is required by law to adopt a “school safety plan” for each building in the district. Recently, the laws have changed regarding the creation and submission of these plans.  Changes to RC 3313.536 became effective last fall, and ODE’s accompanying administrative rule (OAC 3301-5-01) became effective in January.  Changes include:

Name change.  Previously, the law referred to these plans as “school safety plans.”  The new laws change the name of the plans to “emergency management plans.”

More schools must adopt plans.…

It’s that time of year to start gearing up for Capital Conference. Capital Conference will take place November 8-11 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Nominate a speaker or propose a topic online here.

Also, take a look here for possible session topics. The deadline to submit proposals is Monday, March 16 and proposals will only be accepted in an electronic format. If you have additional questions, please contact OSBA…

In many school districts in Ohio and across the country, families are attempting to "opt out" of mandated state assessments, particularly those aligned to the Common Core. Opt-out requests can take several forms. In some cases, parents choose to keep their children home from school on test and make-up days. In others, the student comes to school on test day, but refuses to take the test. Other parents will send a letter to school on test day or in advance, stating that their child should not be required to take the test. In light of these opt-out requests, the Ohio Department of Education…

Voting on matters of business that come before the board is an important duty for school board members. Whenever possible, board members are encouraged to take a stand and cast a vote. An abstention is considered as a “not voting,” which means that it’s neither a vote in favor nor a vote against the motion being made. Sometimes, an abstention makes the difference in whether a motion receives the required number of votes to pass. 

There may be times when an abstention is required by law. For…

Did you know that the online Ohio Sex Offender Registry has some newer features that can help you and your staff keep track of offenders added to the database in your area via email alerts and a "reverse lookup" that can link unidentified phone numbers or email addresses with registered sex offenders?  

To register for email alerts, visit the OAG website and click on the "Register for email alerts" tab and add your…

As a result of House Bill (HB) 487, community (AKA charter) school and STEM school students may now participate in extracurricular activities in certain school districts under RC 3313.537. The changes became effective on September 17, 2014. 

What are the changes?

A student enrolled in a community or STEM school must be given, by the superintendent of the district in which the student is entitled to attend school, the opportunity to participate in an extracurricular activity at the district school in which the student would otherwise be assigned to attend under RC…

Homeless students may attend school in the school of origin or the new school of residence. The school of origin is defined as the district in which the student attended prior to becoming homeless. The school of residence is defined as the district where the homeless student has temporary shelter. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires the districts to make a best interest determination of where a homeless student should attend school.

The U.S. Department of Education has advised that, to the extent feasible, a homeless child should be kept in the "school of origin"…

Recently, the Ohio Attorney General’s office (OAG) was asked to provide clarification regarding a district’s tuition obligation for adult students who “support themselves by their own labor.”  Since this phrase is not currently defined by law, the OAG was asked for an opinion on its meaning.  But before we delve too far into the opinion, some additional background information may be in order.

In general, under Ohio law, children are entitled to attend school in the district of their parents’ residence without an obligation to pay tuition.  There are exceptions to this…

Recently, OSBA made an inquiry to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) to determine whether the costs for criminal background checks on school employees, conducted by the appointing or hiring officer of a board of education, would increase beginning July 1, 2014. The answer is no.

Currently, the fee for the BCI background check is $22, and the fee for the FBI background check is $24. As of now there are no plans for BCI to increase those fees. However, there is a possibility that webcheck agencies located in Ohio are raising the fees that they charge for submitting…