lawprofessors

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 Have you filed a complaint alleging discrimination or improper retaliation with the United States Department of Education (USDOE) and their Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and received a negative ruling?  Did they say the clear wrongful acts (to you) were not really bad or not really discriminatory?  If so, you may have an appeal right  if you act fast. Per the  USDOE website , within 60 days of the date of the letter issued by OCR, an appeal must be filed with the "Director of the Enforcement Office (Office Director)."   The bases for appeal listed are: AT LEAST ONE OF THE FOLLOWING 1)  Factual information was incomplete, and/or 2)  Factual analysis was not correct, and/or 3)  Wrong legal standard was applied  AND a)  The outcome would be changed due to #1-3 above. The appeal must be filed timely, and if it isn't, the parent/student/claimant, must show a good reason t...

By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 Earlier this week, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals found that a transvaginal ultrasound requested of college students at Valencia College in Florida was a search for Fourth Amendment purposes.   California is within the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals , but often sister jurisdiction decisions impact and influence decisions here.  The decision is noteworthy for its facts, which college students may want to be aware of, and for the definitive ruling that this conduct did involve a search for purposes of Fourth Amendment analysis. The basics are that students who entered the state run Valencia College Sonography program were allegedly asked to "volunteer" for transvaginal ultrasounds to be performed on them by other students in the program (male and female).  Three students refused.  Two were allegedly thereafter badgered into allowing this invasive procedure to be done on them.  The thi...