By Maureen A. Lemon Welcome, August! While your focus continues to be on public health guidance to reopen schools in the fall, several recent pieces of legislation out of Springfield, Illinois, will also affect your upcoming school year. Below, we have summarized several bills that became law in July and are effective immediately. On September 14, 2021, we will review …
by Maureen A. Lemon Last Friday, June 25, 2021, Governor Pritzker extended the option for Illinois public bodies to meet remotely or in a hybrid model for one more month, until July 24, 2021. Now that Illinois has entered Phase 5 of the State’s Restore Illinois Plan, the ability of public boards to convene a meeting without a quorum being …
by Maureen A. Lemon The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) recently issued new special education regulations governing who is qualified to interpret at Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings to assist a parent who has limited English proficiency. The amendments begin on page 1671 of https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/index/register/volume45/register_volume45_issue_6.pdf. These regulations were required by P.A. 101-124, effective January 1, 2020. That law, in turn, …
By Maureen A. Lemon Since drafting the first iteration of its Interim Exclusion Guidance Decision Tree (Decision Tree), last summer, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has repeatedly refined the Decision Tree to assist school districts to decide when and for how long employees and students must be excluded from work/school due to symptoms of COVID-19 or after being …
Shock waves sounded throughout the State on January 13th when the General Assembly hurriedly adopted House Bill 3653 minutes before the legislative session ended. The main focus of media coverage since then has been on the “big ticket” items in the bill: requiring body cameras, restricting use of force, and ending cash bail. However, tucked into the 764-page piece of …
By James G. Wargo Since August of 2009, Article 3 and 4 pension trustees have been required to complete certain training and education requirements under Sections 1-109.3 and 1-113.18 of the Illinois Pension Code (40 ILCS 5/1-109.3; 1-113.18). Following the Illinois General Assembly’s passage of Public Act 101-0610 (effective January 1, 2020), the training requirements for Article 3 and 4 …
The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized for emergency use by the FDA. In anticipation of future availability of the COVID-19 vaccine to the general public, the EEOC has issued guidance on whether an employer can make vaccination mandatory for employees, and how mandatory vaccinations would intersect with protections afforded under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and …
As November begins, Illinois schools have all been in session for at least two months in one form or another. Take a bow! Whether you have been in-person, conducted a hybrid model, or provided a fully remote program, take a moment to appreciate this accomplishment! All of the extremely difficult work that you did this summer to determine the “right” …
With election day quickly approaching, a new decision has come out of the Illinois Seventh Judicial Circuit, Sangamon County, declaring that local government offices are not required to shut down on November 3, 2020 for election day. Public Act 101-642 amended the election code by adding Section 2B-10, declaring November 3, 2020 (Election Day 2020) a State holiday. The Act …
School districts focused on how and when schools might re open in the fall must be prepared to comply with the Final Rule recently released by the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), amending Title IX regulations. For the first time since Title IX’s enactment in 1972, the regulations will now define “sexual harassment” and establish detailed procedures …
