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On Friday April 4, 2020, the Small Business Association (SBA) issued guidance regarding the availability of the Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) loans authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and. Economic Security (CARES) Act to faith-based organizations. That frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) sheet offers us some guidance and can be found here. The FAQ clarifies that religious entities […]
Of particular relevance to our public and private educational institutional clients, Washington State is closer to amending its child-pornography laws to consider the impact that technology and child development have on teens and the prosecution of such cases. HB 1742 would decriminalize or lower the penalties for certain types of transmission of teen sexual imagery, […]
By and large, independent schools are not subject to Title IX and its guidance regarding sexual misconduct complaints. However, often our parents have Title IX-like expectations. Under the Obama administration, more aggressive enforcement was the norm and the parent expectation. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rescinded those guidelines in 2017. On Friday, November 16, 2018, the […]
Recently, a 15 year old high school sophomore, fatally shot another student, Sam Strahan and wounded three others at Freeman High School in Rockford, Washington. The shooter brought a handgun and an assault rifle to school in a duffel bag he carried on to the school bus. The assault rifle jammed when he tried to […]
The Washington State Supreme Court has invalidated the Charter Schools Act because its funding provisions violate the Washington State Constitution. The Court found that the unconstitutional funding provisions of the Act cannot be segregated from the rest of the Act, so that the entire Act is invalid.
Last week at the 59th ELA Annual Conference, I spoke on the looming challenges of meeting the civil rights of student athletes with disabilities. Earlier this year I blogged about this topic and its potential ramifications.
The US Supreme Court accepted for argument next term the age discrimination case Madigan v. Levin. This case considers the question of whether a plaintiff claiming age discrimination can proceed under section 1983 as an Equal Protection violation, or is restricted to proceeding under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
On January 25, 2013, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued important guidance to schools receiving federal funding. This guidance clarifies schools’ existing legal obligations to provide equal opportunities in athletics to students with disabilities as part of the wider effort to avoid such discrimination.
Religious and education issue litigators take note: the Beckett Fund and Professor Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School have filed a petition for certiori in the US Supreme Court