If you are a board member and are interested in this webinar, please connect with your board assistant in order to avoid duplicate registrations.
This webinar will examine the state laws that govern the role local school boards play in financial oversight. It will also discuss warning signs and strategies to prevent the misuse of funds, as well as how to address issues should they arise and possible consequences for not taking action.
Presented by: Allison Schafer, Legal Counsel/Director of Policy, NCSBA
These previously recorded webinars are perfect for board members, administrators, and staff. They will be available Tuesday, May 19, through Friday, May 22, at 5 p.m.
You may register for one or all of the webinars. Each webinar is $250 per school system, and board member credit is $10 per person. If you are a board member and are interested in these webinars, please connect with your board assistant in order to avoid duplicate registrations.
School Violence Prevention: Establishing an Effective Student Threat Assessment Process
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.
Student Free Speech: Legal Review and Emerging Issues
This webinar will discuss the basic legal framework for students’ First Amendment free speech rights applicable in North Carolina’s public schools, including case law based on U.S. Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decisions. This webinar, designed for teachers and school administrators, will also discuss emerging issues related to student free speech, including student protests and student discipline when student conduct involves free speech or expression.
Challenges to the Educational Program and Instructional Materials
This webinar will explore the current federal and state legal patchwork governing challenges to the educational program and instructional materials by parents and other stakeholders. The webinar will include a discussion of recent developments and trends, an in-depth analysis of current federal and state law and policy, and an overview of NCSBA’s policy tools for navigating curriculum and textbook challenges. Additionally, the webinar will cover several policy and other recommendations for handling such challenges within your school system.
Legally Compliant School Board Meetings — Most relevant for school board members and senior administrators
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.
This session will include a discussion of the May 8, 2020, revisions to Policy 2302, Remote Participation at Board Meetings, and legal issues related to conducting legally compliant school board meetings when the board meeting is fully remote, including public access to the meeting, public comment, quorum, voting, quasi-judicial hearings, and closed session.
Allison Schafer, Legal Counsel/Director of Policy, NCSBA
Registration Information:
Your registration fee includes access to a recorded version of the webinar. Registration pricing is per person.
Training Platform:
NCSBA’s live webinars will be done through Zoom. Be sure you are using the latest version of Zoom. You can click here to download Zoom 5.0.
This session will include discussion of three new policies that have been issued by NCSBA Legal/Policy attorneys in the past year.
- Policy 2127, Board Member Technology Use, and Policy 3228/7323, Use of Personal Technology to Conduct School Business, address issues related to responsible, legally compliant use of personal and school system technology devices when conducting school system business.
- Policy 7503, Teleworking, provides a basic policy for local school boards to use to authorize teleworking and to structure the circumstances in which school employees will be allowed to
Janine Murphy, Assistant Legal Counsel, NCSBA
McKenna Osborn, Staff Attorney, NCSBA
Registration Information:
Your registration fee includes access to a recorded version of the webinar. Registration pricing is per person.
Training Platform:
NCSBA’s live webinars will be done through Zoom. Be sure you are using the latest version of Zoom. You can click here to download Zoom 5.0.
On May 6, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education issued its long-awaited final regulations addressing sexual harassment and discrimination under Title IX at educational institutions that are recipients of federal funding. This session will provide an overview of the impact the new Title IX regulations will have on your school system. The session will also highlight some of the revisions that your board will be required to make to your Prohibition Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying policy and other related policies, in order to have legally compliant policies in place by August 14, 2020, the effective date of the new regulations.
Kathy Boyd, Senior Staff Attorney, NCSBA
Registration Information:
Your registration fee includes access to a recorded version of the webinar. Registration pricing is per person.
Training Platform:
NCSBA’s live webinars will be done through Zoom. Be sure you are using the latest version of Zoom. You can click here to download Zoom 5.0.
The session will include a discussion of NCSBA’s March 31, 2020, revision of Policy 4230, Communicable Diseases – Students, which includes provisions addressing the school system’s duty to report communicable disease, to maintain the confidentiality of health information, and to provide notice of exposure to infectious agents under certain circumstances.
The session will also include a general discussion of some of the health-related legal and policy issues that your board will need to consider while planning for the reopening of school in the fall, such as compliance with federal, state, and local health protocols, addressing increased absenteeism among staff and students, and preventing stigma, harassment, and/or bullying due to perceived race, national origin, or recent travel.
Jim O’Rourke, Staff Attorney, NCSBA
Sam Thorp, Staff Attorney, NCSBA
Registration Information:
Your registration fee includes access to a recorded version of the webinar. Registration pricing is per person.
Training Platform:
NCSBA’s live webinars will be done through Zoom. Be sure you are using the latest version of Zoom. You can click here to download Zoom 5.0.
After the Department of Education issued new regulations on Title IX sexual harassment in May 2020, school systems across the country were left scrambling to put policies and procedures in place to implement the new requirements. This webinar explains why NCSBA issued six new policies on discrimination, harassment, and bullying in July 2020 and what’s included in those new policies. Most importantly, the webinar will give you a working knowledge of the two new Title IX sexual harassment policies and what happens next after your school system receives a report or complaint of sexual harassment.
Presented by: Justice Warren, Staff Attorney
This webinar will discuss how LEAs in North Carolina can address the mental health needs of students through compliance with the State Board of Education’s recently adopted School-Based Mental Health Initiative policy.
Presented by: Sam Thorp, Staff Attorney
Compliance with the Open Meetings Law provides for transparency and accountability and is vital to good school board governance. This webinar will provide an overview of the North Carolina Open Meetings Law as it applies to local school board members and official school board meetings. Topics will include types of meetings, notice requirements, open versus closed sessions, meeting minutes, public access and attendance, electronic and remote meetings, and other current and emerging issues related to legally compliant school board meetings.
Presented by: Jim O’Rourke, Assistant Legal Counsel for Superintendent Searches
One-Hour Webinar
In this two-hour webinar, we will discuss the ethical standards established by state law for school board members. The webinar will also include a discussion of state and federal laws related to conflicts of interest pertaining to making and administering contracts and possible legal consequences when these laws are violated. Finally, this webinar will review other well-established legal duties and responsibilities of school board members.
Webinar access is for the entire board and school district.
There will be an ethics sessions for individual school boards members available in May.