Refresh your memory or learn anew about the law surrounding the conduct of school boards meetings. Topics will include the Open Meetings Law, public comment requirements, common parliamentary procedure issues, and other legal matters that can trip you up if you aren’t careful. Get your questions answered, and learn things that may surprise you!
Presenter: Allison Schafer, Legal Counsel/Director of Policy
This session is designed to fulfill the legal requirement that all school board members receive two hours of ethics education within 12 months of being elected or re-elected or appointed or reappointed to office. The session will cover the laws and principles that govern conflicts of interest and ethical standards of conduct for board members in North Carolina. Ms. Schafer will include practical scenarios to illustrate how the law applies to the duties and responsibilities of North Carolina school board members.
Presenter: Allison Schafer, Director of Policy/Legal Counsel, NCSBA
Draft Agenda – click here
Registration Link – click here
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Suggested Hotel:
Hampton Inn
| 3621 Spring Forest Road
| Raleigh, NC 27616 | Phone:
919.872.7111
Registration now open.
School personnel are under increasing pressure to proactively share information about students with law enforcement officials, mental health providers, and others in the hope of preventing the next school shooting or similar tragedy. This webinar examines the limits FERPA places on the release of student information to law enforcement and other third parties and provides general guidance as to what information can be shared, with whom, and under what circumstances.
Presenter: Kathy Boyd, NCSBA Senior Staff Attorney
This webinar will include discussion of the federal and state laws that local school boards should consider when developing board policies related to: (1) allowing visitors access to students and school buildings during the school day, (2) circumstances when school officials are permitted to ban individuals from school grounds and activities, and (3) school facility rental.
Presenter: Janine Murphy, NCSBA Assistant Legal Counsel
This webinar will present an overview of the federal and state laws regulating guns in schools and on school property, including the Gun-Free School Zones Act, the Gun-Free Schools Act, and applicable North Carolina criminal law and its limited exceptions. This webinar will also discuss the student disciplinary consequences mandated under federal and state law for violations, as well as the corresponding reporting requirements for these offences.
Presenter: Jim O’Rourke, NCSBA Staff Attorney
Threat assessment is a proven method of early intervention that can help prevent acts of violence in school environments. This presentation will discuss evidence-based and/or evidence-informed methods for establishing an effective student threat assessment process.
Presenter: Sam Thorp, NCSBA Staff Attorney
If you’re looking for affordable staff development opportunities for your administrators and teachers, NCSBA has the solution. We will offer five webinars in August to help keep your staff at the top of their game. Click the links below to register for each webinar.
Monday, August 19 – Suspension? Placement at an Alternative School? Expulsion? An Overview of the Law on Student Discipline
This webinar will address the U.S. constitutional provisions and the North Carolina laws that determine when students may be subject to removal from school for disciplinary reasons. The webinar will also include a discussion of the amount of due process a student is entitled to receive before various disciplinary penalties are imposed.
Tuesday, August 20 – Religion in the Schools: Curriculum, Holiday Celebrations, and Students’ Right to the Free Exercise of Religion
At times school systems are sued when parents or others object to classroom assignments or school programs that address religious topics or ideas. This webinar will examine court cases that illustrate the types of situations that have stirred controversy in the past. It will also provide general guidance as to what is generally acceptable, what is not, and when to seek guidance from legal counsel.
Wednesday, August 21 – Bullying and Sexual Harassment of Students: The Classroom Teacher’s Role in Prevention and Response
Classroom teachers play a pivotal role in preventing and responding to bullying and sexual harassment of students. Often overlooked is the teacher’s role in preventing sexual misconduct between employees and students. After a brief refresher on student-on-student bullying and sexual harassment, this webinar will focus on the teacher’s role in protecting students from sexual misconduct by adults in the school environment, including the warning signs of boundary invasions and other grooming behaviors that may progress to sexual misconduct.
Thursday, August 22 – Teachers’ Legal Duties and Responsibilities on School Trips
In this presentation we will take a look at legal and practical considerations for teachers before and during field trips. Good planning, communication, and knowing your duties and responsibilities will go a long way towards making your adventures in learning with students a success.
Friday, August 23 – Child Abuse and Neglect: Reports and Investigations
This presentation will discuss mandatory reporting requirements for school system employees regarding abuse, neglect, dependency, and maltreatment of children. Also, this presentation will explain two relatively recent changes to North Carolina law — specifically, the expanded definition of child abuse and neglect to include child trafficking and new reporting requirements for child maltreatment in licensed child care facilities.
Each webinar is $250 per school system, and board member training credit is $10 per person.
This webinar will define crowdfunding, highlight the growing usage of crowdfunding by school employees, and address the positives of and issues surrounding crowdfunding in schools. It will also examine different approaches LEAs have taken to address crowdfunding, as well as explain the policy NCSBA has drafted to regulate crowdfunding in schools and the issues that were considered in developing the policy.
Presented by: Justice Warren, Staff Attorney, NCSBA
This webinar will address a variety of issues involving political speech and related activities in the schools. Do students have a right to express their political opinions on their clothing, to distribute political literature, or to comment on their political beliefs at school? Do employees have a right to engage in political speech while on the job, especially in the classroom? When may school facilities be used by outside groups for election or political purposes? The webinar will also address a state law that forbids school boards from using public funds to endorse or oppose a referendum, election, or a particular candidate for elective office.
Presented by: Janine Murphy, Assistant Legal Counsel, NCSBA