Legal Issues Facing Students and Educators

Matt Wood Matt Wood

Immigration Enforcement: A Guide for School Officials

One of the most important responsibilities of school administrators is to ensure the safety and well-being of students. Due to recent immigration policy changes, many educators are concerned with how they will respond if forced to deal with immigration enforcement on their campuses.

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Matt Wood Matt Wood

AI & IEP’s

In a recent 6th Circuit decision, the Court cautioned districts to avoid using technology to mask disabilities rather than using technology to assist in direct instruction. William A v. Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, 6th Cir. (2025).

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Matt Wood Matt Wood

Bullies - Part II - Is Everything Bullying?

Second, T.C.A. 49-6-4502, the portion of the law in Tennessee which defines bullying does not include the terms listed above, terms that most people associate with bullying.  In fact, following the law verbatim would likely lead many educators and parents to assume almost all conflict would qualify as bullying. As a result, the law creates a burden on school officials, confusion for parents and possibly harmful consequences for students.

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Matt Wood Matt Wood

Bullies - Facing Scot Farkus Today

Prior to receiving his Red Rider BB Gun, Ralphie had to deal with Scot Farkus. It was Johnny and his friends that motivated Daniel LaRusso to learn karate from Mr. Miyagi. Undoubtedly, each of us have a name or face in mind when we hear the word bully.

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Matt Wood Matt Wood

Amish Exception

There is a large Amish community where I live. When traveling in that portion of our county, you need to look out for horse drawn buggies and the occasional horse manure. The Amish community provide a variety of goods to county residents from produce to furniture and the community at large is thankful for their contributions.

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Matt Wood Matt Wood

Parent Banned For Texting Coach

Mr. McElhaney, a father of a softball player, texted the coach after his daughter was benched midway through the season. The text messages criticized his coaching ability and decisions. The coach, believing Mr. McElhaney had violated team policy which prohibited parents from talking to coaches about playing time, forwarded the messages to the principal.

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Matt Wood Matt Wood

Instagram Discipline

This past week, the 6th Circuit released a ruling affirming a districts court holding that a school did not violate a student’s 1st Amendment Rights when they suspended them for comments made off-campus on a personal Instagram account. Kutchinski v. Freeland Community School District, 6th Circuit 2023.

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Matt Wood Matt Wood

Perez v. Sturgis

This past March the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling that dramatically changed the avenues that parents can seek for a disabled student.

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Matt Wood Matt Wood

Viewing School Video Footage

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), schools have a duty to protect the privacy of all students. However, more often than not, parent request to view video footage is denied citing FERPA. The law is for the protection of the student and but such protections were not intended to keep information from the parents of child in certain circumstances.

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Matt Wood Matt Wood

Open Records- Part III

There are two types of methods by which a citizen may request records. The first type, a request to “inspect” (view) records, does not have to be in writing. Such a request may be in person, by phone, mail, email or portal if available. However, an entity may require a request to be in writing if the requestor is seeking copies of government records.

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