Education Law

Law prof sees Title IX ‘collision course’ in federal directives on bathrooms and sexual violence

The Justice Department is citing Title IX to support its directive that public schools must allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. Some schools could respond by opening bathrooms to both genders. But that raises a new question, Harvard law professor Jeannie Suk…

May 26, 2016 7:39 AM CDT

11 states sue feds over new guidelines for restroom and locker room use by transgender individuals

It isn’t just in Illinois and North Carolina that new standards concerning restroom and locker room use by transgender students in schools that receive federal funding have sparked litigation. On Wednesday, a federal lawsuit was filed in Dallas by officials in 11 states against the Obama administration, contending that new…

May 25, 2016 4:48 PM CDT

Baylor denies rumored ouster of Ken Starr after report on school’s handling of campus sex assaults

Baylor University is denying reports that its board of regents has ousted Ken Starr from his job as school president. As of now, Starr is still at the helm as president and chancellor of the Waco, Texas-based school, university spokeswoman Lori Fogleman told the Associated Press in an email. “We…

May 25, 2016 12:35 PM CDT

SPLC sues Florida county for sending immigrant minors to ESL classes instead of high school

The Southern Poverty Law Center has sued a southeastern Florida county, alleging it is violating immigrant minors’ rights by shunting them into adult English courses when they try to register for high school, the Naples Daily News reported. In Fort Myers federal court, the SPLC accused Collier County, Florida, of…

May 20, 2016 3:55 PM CDT

It’s official: George Mason’s law school to take name of the late Justice Scalia

Sidestepping a controversy over whether the law school at George Mason University should be renamed in honor of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in a move linked to $30 million in donations, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia on Tuesday voted unanimously to leave the…

May 17, 2016 3:15 PM CDT

US tells schools to allow transgender students to use facilities matching their gender identity

The United States is sending letters to public schools across the country that says transgender students must be allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. The letter “contains an implicit threat” that schools that don’t comply could face lawsuits or a loss of federal funding,…

May 13, 2016 7:16 AM CDT

ACLU will seek to intervene in lawsuit over transgender student access to high school locker room

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois plans to move to intervene in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed last week by a group of parents and students who are unhappy about a suburban Chicago high school district’s settlement of a complaint by a transgender student. Under the school district’s…

May 10, 2016 3:05 PM CDT

School’s pact with feds over transgender locker room access sparks new lawsuit

A settlement by a suburban Chicago school district of a transgender high school student’s federal civil rights complaint over locker room access has now sparked new litigation. In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in Chicago, a group of about 50 parents and students at Township High School in Palatine allege…

May 5, 2016 7:15 AM CDT

BigLaw firm seeks $3.7M from attorney’s estate, says he intentionally filed ‘bogus case’

A powerhouse litigation firm and two of its attorneys are seeking a total of nearly $3.7 million from the estate of a deceased Los Angeles lawyer, contending that he intentionally pursued a “bogus case” before his death that cost them a lucrative client. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan says that…

Apr 28, 2016 11:00 AM CDT

Transgender teen may sue over school’s restroom restriction, 4th Circuit says

A federal appeals court has reinstated a Title IX claim by a transgender teen who sued over his school’s refusal to allow him to use the boys’ restroom. In a 2-1 decision (PDF) on Tuesday, the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the trial judge’s Title IX…

Apr 19, 2016 2:03 PM CDT

1st Circuit urges discharge of former executive’s $246K in student loan debt

After years of pro se legal battle and the pro bono help of a Brown Rudnick lawyer who took his case while it was pending before a federal appeals court, Robert Murphy may be on the verge of seeing more than $246,000 in student loan debt discharged in bankruptcy on…

Apr 15, 2016 4:05 PM CDT

Teacher tenure law doesn’t violate equal-protection guarantee, California appeals court says

A California appeals court has upheld the state’s teacher tenure law in a challenge under the state’s constitutional guarantee of equal protection. The decision (PDF) on Thursday reverses a 2014 trial court decision finding the law violates students’ right to equality of education, report the Recorder (sub. req.), the Washington…

Apr 15, 2016 7:09 AM CDT

Bullied student’s suit against school fails for lack of ‘deliberate indifference,’ 6th Circuit says

A federal appeals court has upheld dismissal of a lawsuit filed on behalf of a bullied middle-school student in Tennessee. The case was among a handful of suits filed in 2013 that sought to hold schools accountable for failing to stop bullying, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. With the March…

Apr 15, 2016 5:45 AM CDT

Did mom violate wiretap law by recording coach’s locker-room speech? Top Texas court to decide

A Texas mom who secretly recorded a coach’s locker-room comments to students is asking Texas’ top criminal court to rule she didn’t violate the state’s wiretap law. The mom, Wendee Long, had suspected the girls’ basketball coach at Argyle High School north of Fort Worth was verbally abusing students, the…

Apr 7, 2016 9:28 AM CDT

Feds set up fake university, charge 21 brokers, recruiters and employers in visa-fraud sting

In what is being billed as a first-of-a-kind sting operation, a fake university set up by the feds resulted in criminal charges against 21 brokers, recruiters and employers in an alleged student and foreign worker visa fraud conspiracy. The University of Northern New Jersey purportedly operated out of an office…

Apr 6, 2016 3:20 PM CDT