On February 20, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear TJ v. Fairfax County School Board. The case challenged admissions policies at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. In May 2023, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the school board. Plaintiffs in…
A Title IX lawsuit will be heard later this year by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from the nine federal district courts in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and from federal administrative agencies. The plaintiffs claim that North Carolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools…
On January 16, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) declined to consider a case on involving an Indiana school district’s policies banning transgender students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identities. It was hoped that SCOTUS would settle the ongoing controversy over the use of student restrooms by…
On January 8, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court declined hear a challenge to corporal punishment in schools as brought forth in the case of an 11-year-old Louisiana girl with nonverbal autism whose parents alleged that she was slapped on her hands three different times by school staff. Lower courts threw…
On October 24, 2023, forty-one states and the District of Columbia are suing Meta, accusing the parent company of Instagram and Facebook of concealing the adverse effects their platforms have on children and adolescents and deploying harmful contents that target those youth. In one filing in the U.S. District Court…
As the U.S. Supreme Court term began on October 2, 2023, there were no cases on the docket that directly involve pupil services. However, cases that have yet to reach the Court could have a profound impact on transgender issues in K-12 education. In fact conflicting ruling from the 7th…
A federal judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Virginia’s Fairfax County Public Schools and the Virginia Department of Education that claimed the district and state violated civil rights protections for students with disabilities and their families. Specifically, the lawsuit said hearing officers presiding over disputes between districts and parents…
On June 26, 2023 the U.S. Supreme Court (Court) decided not to hear Charter Day School, Inc. v. Peltier, a case that initially arose in 2016 after parents at a North Carolina charter school challenged a uniform policy preventing girls from wearing shorts or pants. They claimed the policy, which…
On March 21, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a rare unanimous decision, ruled that a deaf student can sue his school for its failure to provide him with a free appropriate public education (FAPE). In the case, Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools, instead of providing the student (Perez) with…
