Legislative Changes Affecting School Districts
2011-12/5  Kevin J.T. Terry Printer Friendly PDF Version

Last week Governor Walker signed into law several pieces of legislation, all with strong bi‑partisan support.  School District employers specifically should take note of Senate Bill 86 which relates to refusing to employ or terminating an unpardoned felon from employment.

Senate Bill 86 exempts criminal history from the current definition of employment discrimination when the place of employment is an educational agency.  This Bill allows an educational agency to refuse to employ or to terminate from employment an individual who has been convicted of a felony, whether or not the circumstances of the crime substantially relate to the circumstances of the particular job. 

Under the bill, an “educational agency” is defined as a school district, a cooperative education service agency, a county children with disabilities education board, a state prison, a juvenile correction facility, a secured residential care center for children and youth, the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Wisconsin Educational Services Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Mendota Mental Health Institute, the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, a state center for the developmentally disabled, a private school, a charter school, an agency under contract with a school board to provide a program for children at risk, or a nonsectarian private school or agency under contract with the Milwaukee Public Schools board to provide education programs for children enrolled in the school district.

Other Legislation Signed

Much of the other legislation specifically deals with education:

• Senate Bill 42:  Requires all school employees to report suspected child abuse or neglect and protects the reporter from disciplinary action or threats of disciplinary action, or discharge from employment.  It also requires school district employees to receive training in identifying abuse or neglect in the first six months of employment, as well as once every five years after the initial training.

   

• Senate Bill 45:  Eliminates current state mandates on the administration of medications to pupils in the school setting.  Authorized individuals can now administer over the counter drugs as well as prescriptions drugs even if the parent did not supply the drug.

Authorized individuals are still defined as “any school, CCDEB, or CESA employee or volunteer authorized by a school district, CCDEB, or CESA administrator, or by a school principal.”  Written instruction from the pupil’s parent or guardian is still required prior to administration.

• Senate Bill 49: Provides that when the Department of Instruction revokes a license due to immoral conduct on the part of the licensee in order to complete a thorough investigation, the school administrator making the complaint must include a complete copy of the individual’s personnel file and all records related to any investigation conducted by or on behalf of the educational agency.  This new law also makes it clear that immoral conduct includes using the school’s computers to view, seek, or download pornographic material.

• Senate Bill 204: Permits a pupil to possess and use an epinephrine auto injector while in school, at school events, or under the supervision of a school authority if the pupil uses the injector to prevent the onset or alleviate the symptoms of an emergency situation.

A number of the other bills do not address public employers directly, but are useful to School Districts:

• Assembly Bill 30: Creates a procedure by which a parent may, without court involvement, delegate to another person, for a period not to exceed one year, most of his or her powers regarding the care and custody of their child.  This Bill will allow parents that suffer from personal problems or who serve in the military and are called to active duty to delegate their parental rights to another for a period of time without losing custody.

• Assembly Bill 102: Grants judges the ability to increase the maximum period of imprisonment by up to five years if a caregiver commits a sexual assault or commits other violent acts upon a child.

School District employers with questions regarding the impact of these new pieces of legislation or specific management decisions should consult with Kevin Terry, the author of this article, or any of the attorneys in the School Districts and Educational Institutions Focus Team of Ruder Ware: Dean Dietrich, Steve Immel, Steve Lipowski, Randi Osberg, Ron Rutlin, Mary Ellen Schill, or Bryan Symes.

© 2011 Ruder Ware, L.L.S.C. Accurate reproduction with acknowledgment granted. All rights reserved.
This document provides information of a general nature regarding legislative or other legal developments. None of the information contained herein is intended as legal advice or opinion relative to specific matters, facts, situations, or issues, and additional facts and information or future developments may affect the subjects addressed.