As our Franczek colleagues previously reported, under Illinois law, Illinois employers—including schools, colleges, and universities—must train all employees on sexual harassment in employment by December 31, 2020. We also recommend training for all staff by year-end on changes required by the new Title IX regulations. (Yes, despite the recent election, we expect the new regs to remain part of our lives for some time.) If your school, college, or university has not trained employees already, it’s not too late to comply! We offer a training package that can quickly, easily, and—most importantly—effectively train your staff on required and recommended topics. Contact us to obtain training resources from the team you know and trust for Title IX compliance.
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Is OCR’s New Approach to Trans Rights in Schools Really Inconsistent? Here’s Why It’s Not
On September 8, 2020, an Education Dive article quoted me about two recent letters from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on the impact on Title IX of this year’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision on sexual orientation discrimination in employment. OCR’s position: Title IX, like Title VII, now protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. But that does not mean that schools can grant transgender students equal access to sex-segregated facilities or sports teams, says OCR. Media reports suggest the Department’s stated approaches are “totally at odds”–but are they? Here is a summary of the letters and why they seem pretty consistent, after all.
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Six Weeks to the New Title IX: Here’s How Your Institution Can Meet the Deadline
When I was studying for the bar many, many years ago, I remember waking up about six weeks before the exam with a sinking feeling in my stomach, wondering “How am I ever going get this all finished in time?!” I can imagine many educational leaders are feeling the same dread looking at the calendar this week, wondering how in the world their institution is going to come into compliance with the new Title IX regulations by the August 14, 2020 implementation date. It’s not a matter of lack of effort–just like I did that summer before the bar, I know that you all have been working diligently to get everything done. But the sheer amount of work there is to do can be overwhelming. That morning, during my bar summer, after I woke up I sat down and came up with a plan for how to get everything done by the date of the exam, and began checking things off the list one by one. That, too, is the approach I recommend you take right now to help your educational institution down the path to compliance by August 14. Here’s how to do it.
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IASPA Annual Conference: Title IX Fundamentals for K-12 Personnel Administrators
I was honored to speak recently at the Illinois Association of School Personnel Administrators (IASPA) Thirteenth Annual Conference on January 23, 2020. Franczek P.C. is a longtime, proud sponsor of IASPA and was a Silver Sponsor of this year’s conference. I saw many familiar faces in the room and throughout the conference center. My topic–Title IX Fundamentals for Personnel Administrators–is always a hot one, because for many in human resources Title IX is an afterthought until something goes wrong. The key takeaway from my presentation? “It shouldn’t be!”
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Title IX and Employee Rights: What Every K-12 and Higher Ed Title IX Coordinator Needs to Know
Readers of the blog know that I recently presented at the ATIXA West Coast Conference in San Francisco, California. My presentation was on Title IX and employee rights—an issue I realized when I worked at OCR that many institutions were not thinking about as much as they should. It was a great experience to share my thoughts on the subject with a room full of engaged Title IX and HR administrators from K-12 and higher education institutions. Among other topics, we discussed policy issues, tenure and academic freedom concerns, and unique retaliation issues in cases involving employees. I know not everyone was able to make it out to San Francisco, so I wanted to share some highlights of the presentation here. My colleague Emily Tulloch and I will also present a complimentary 30-minute webinar on this topic on December 10, during which we will address these issues more thoroughly. We hope you will join in on the conversation then! For now, keep reading for some of the key points.
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ATIXA West Coast Conference Here We Come! Franczek Title IX Attorneys Featured Speakers at Upcoming Title IX Conference
My Partner Bill Pokorny and I are getting excited about our upcoming trip to the Bay Area for the 2019 ATIXA West Coast Annual Conference. We are particularly thrilled to have been asked to be featured speakers at the conference! We will present on Title IX Employee Rights: The Hidden Risks Every Administrator Should Know. Here is a summary of our presentation:
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