Education Law Insights

Department of Education Office for Civil Rights Issues Guidance on Pregnant and Parenting Students

Posted by Brian Crowley on July 3, 2013

As reported by Franczek Radelet attorney Scott Warner and FR LEADS Fellow Kent Sparks (a law student at the Michigan State University College of Law) in a recent FR Alert, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague Letter last week for secondary schools about how Title IX relates to pregnant and parenting students. OCR reminded schools that Title IX protects pregnant and parenting students from sex discrimination. In an accompanying pamphlet, OCR outlined the various requirements that public schools must respect with respect to pregnant and parenting students. For more information on the DCL, you can access the FR Alert here.

The Impact of Fisher v. Texas on Race-Conscious Assignment Decisions in K-12 Schools

Posted by Brian Crowley on July 1, 2013

The big news this week in education is the U.S. Supreme Court’s 7-1 decision in Fisher v. University of Texas. In Fisher, the Court held that the lower court should not have taken at face value the University’s claim that it needed to use race in admissions decisions. The Court remanded the decision to the lower court to decide whether the University can establish that its consideration of race is narrowly tailored. Specifically, the University must show that it adequately considered race-neutral alternatives before deciding to consider race in admissions. The decision was a higher education decision, but there are important takeaways for primary and secondary schools, as well.

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