Pool Counsel Quarterly Lookback, February 2025: See what you missed!
A roundup of topics covered recently as part of the firm’s subscriber-based service.
Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams LLP is proud to offer a unique subscription-based service entitled "Pool Counsel" to school entities.
With this service, any member of the Pool Counsel service can email on-demand questions anytime on various operational issues related to Special Education or Technology, and all subscribers are "pooled" on the email distribution of the responses.
Here are some topics covered recently:
Audio Recordings: Phones and Public Cameras
A school asked how it could comply with PA's Wiretap Act when streaming or recording a sporting event and voices of fans sitting near the broadcasting devices are picked up. Also, with a new iPhone feature providing users with an easy way to record calls, a school asks for help navigating how to approach recording of phone conversations with parents and/or educational partners.
COPPA
The FTC has finalized a long-awaited update to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. What has changed in the new regulations?
Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Education Program
Pool Counsel shares details of a mediated settlement on the (now optional) adoption of CR-SE Program guidelines.
DEI
A district asked whether maintaining an equity policy would affect its federal funding.
Functional Behavioral Assessments
New, non-binding procedural guidance from the United States Department of Education on FBAs is explained in both initial and follow up questions from subscribers.
ICE Detention Policies
Pool Counsel shared information on new Department of Homeland Security directives concerning enforcement of immigration laws.
Parental Consent
If parents withhold consent for initial placement, is it acceptable for a school to reissue with terms that the parents have indicated they will accept? What if a parent signs a permission to reevaluate and then decides against it? How should this be documented by a school?
PowerSchool Data Breach
Available information and suggestions for further action are provided regarding a recent PowerSchool data breach.
Presidential Order
Pool Counsel provided an overview of the presidential order issued on January 29, 2025: "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling."
Section 504 or IDEA?
Subscribers asked when a problem is best considered within the parameters of Section 504 (Rehabilitation Act) and when it should be addressed using the processes associated with the IDEA.
Title IX
What implications does the recent federal court action on Title IX regulations have for schools?
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Pool Counsel fielded lots of questions about accessibility and the soon to be required WCAG 2.0 standards, including questions on compliance (including that of 3rd party software providers), how the requirements affect preexisting content, whether the WCAGs affect online/cloud documents or those used by the school board, and if video streams will need to add closed-captioning.
Work Experience that Disrupts Instruction
How to word job training experiences in IEPs that may displace time in the classroom for transition-age students?
Benefits of the Pool Counsel service include not only the ability to ask questions 24/7, but also an electronic "Resource Room," where members can log in to access the full library of all past Pool Counsel answers, searchable by topic and archived by year
To learn more, contact Andy Faust (Special Education) or Mark Cheramie Walz (Technology) or call 215-345-9111.