Special Education

Extension of Certain RTO Rules, Threat Assessment Teams to Special Education Cooperatives

Among the various changes contained in PA 103-175, the statute makes specific changes which extend certain requirements related to restraint/time out and threat assessment teams to special education cooperatives. 

School Response to a Pandemic Disease Such as Coronavirus

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This page is now archived.  It remains available for informational purposes.  If you have questions about what was learned during the pandemic, please contact our attorneys for more information. 
 
As anyone who worked in or near schools during the pandemic knows, the target was constantly moving and the information coming at schools was tremendously complex.  Miller, Tracy, Braun, Funk & Miller, Ltd. tried to be useful as a resource to schools, providing real-time distillation of complicated information.  Everything you will find below is now out of date.  However, we hope that review of its contents during a school crisis in the future may be instructive to future educators about management of a crisis.
 
And, of course, we hope management of such a crisis will never be needed again.
 
 
TRO Vacated by the Supreme Court:
 
The Supreme Court of Illinois has vacated the February 4, 2022 Temporary Restraining Order issued by Judge Grischow in both the student and employment cases before the Sangamon County Circuit Court.
 
 
The Court denied the Attorney General's appeal, but ruled that because the Appellate Court found the TRO to be moot, the TRO must therefore be vacated: "In the exercise of this Court’s supervisory authority, the February 4, 2022, temporary restraining order is vacated. (See, e.g., Felzak v. Hruby, 226 Ill.2d 382, 394 (2007) (when an appeal is rendered moot through happenstance, the judgments of the courts below are vacated).) The matter is remanded to the Circuit Court of Sangamon County."
 
The underlying case remains before Judge Grischow in Sangamon County.
 
Attorneys at Miller, Tracy, Braun, Funk & Miller, Ltd. are available to discuss questions as may arise.
 
 
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Judge Grischow issued a Temporary Restraining Order against all defendants including the named school districts, ISBE, IDPH, and Governor Pritzker in both the student and employment cases before the Sangamon County Circuit Court.
 
 
Attorneys at Miller, Tracy, Braun, Funk & Miller, Ltd. are available for client-specific counsel on the matters.
 
The state has already moved to appeal the TRO and has asked the Court for a stay in the meantime.  No ruling has occurred yet as of 10:30 a.m. February 7, 2022.  
 
 

Some Thoughts on Recent Isolated Time-Out and Restraint Publication

I am sure that many or most of you have seen the ProPublica/Chicago Tribune publication regarding the use of physical restraint and isolated timeout.  I’m not going to link it here, because I think it is so clearly one-sided and void of context, that I am not sure it is anything close to an accurate picture of what occurs in schools.  The reporters involved apparently have made arbitrary decisions about when they view documented situations to be a valid sa

Bills Waiting for Gubernatorial Veto, Signature, or Amendment

There are also several bills worth watching which passed the General Assembly this spring, but still await the Governor's signature. Please take careful note that none of these provisions become law until or unless the Governor signs them, and the Governor has the power to veto, sign, ignore, or amend any of the following bills:
 

Department of Justice and Department of Education Issue New Guidance

The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, together with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, recently issued joint guidance about the rights of public elementary and secondary students with hearing, vision or speech disabilities under Section 504 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Special Education Update: Title II Requirements for Students with Hearing Impairments

A recent Ninth Circuit decision has made a distinction between a school district's provision of a "basic floor of opportunity" to students with disabilities under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and the satisfactory requirements of Title II of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).  Title II requires districts to take appropriate steps to ensure that communications with individuals with disabilities are "as effective as communications with othe