Continuing concerns regarding COVID-19 have led Wisconsin’s public and private schools to implement a variety of different plans for the beginning of the new school year. These plans include in-person schooling five days per week to a fully virtual (remote) learning plan, or a hybrid approach combining in-person and remote learning approaches. Parents and their…

You realize that a neighboring property owner is encroaching upon District property.  Your first instinct is to confront the neighboring property owner with a claim of trespass.  However, there are necessary procedures to protect the District’s legal interest to the land in dispute before pursuing litigation on this matter.  According to Wisconsin Statute 943.13[1], trespass…

Governor Tony Evers issued an Emergency Order yesterday, July 30, 2020, requiring that every individual five years of age and older wear a face covering if they are indoors or in an enclosed space, and “[a]nother person or persons who are not members of individual’s household or living unit are present in the same room…

School districts across Wisconsin are contemplating how to begin school for the 2020-2021 school year with the current public health emergency caused by COVID-19. There are essential questions that school districts must answer concerning special education once the district determines whether to start school entirely virtual, entirely in-person, or with a hybrid model that blends…

Federal immigration law requires that all employers in the United States verify both the identity and the employment authorization status of all employees hired after November 1986. This requirement applies to all new hires and, where necessary, requires re-verification of employment authorization in the case of expiring temporary employment authorization (in the case of individuals…

At a time when technology and social media use among students is pervasive, school districts are often faced with issues regarding the contours of regulating off-campus student speech.  To date, the United States Supreme Court has not directly ruled on the limits of school districts’ authority to impose discipline for student speech that occurs outside…

On June 15, 2020, the United States Supreme Court (“Court”) decided three (3) cases filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) alleging sex discrimination based on the employees’ sexual orientation or transgender status. Bostock v. Clayton Cty., Georgia, No. 17-1618, 2020 WL 3146686. The Court concluded that discrimination because an…

On May 19, 2020, in a previous article, we reported on the U.S. Federal Department of Education’s new Title IX regulations, which were released on May 6. 2020, and which impose formal requirements on the investigation process and complaint adjudication starting on August 14, 2020. In an effort to halt implementation of the new regulations, Wisconsin Attorney…