Lozano Smith's Student Practice Group is recognized statewide for its steadfast, proactive and creative assistance to school districts and expertise on a broad range of student issues, due to the large number of school districts that we represent and the fact that we have represented schools for more than 35 years.
Areas of Practice
To best serve the needs and promote the success of its clients, the firm's Student Practice Group has broad expertise in:
Title IX
Lozano Smith’s Title IX Practice Area is comprised of specialists dedicated to the pressing issues faced clients. From athletics to sexual violence, this team advises, trains, and educates clients on the various components of Title IX – from prevention and mitigation to investigations resulting in disciplinary action. Areas in which the group provides advice and training include:
- Athletics, including audits of athletic programs
- Sex-based discrimination
- Pregnant and parenting students
- Single-sex education
- Issues relating to transgender and students
- Developing and auditing complaint grievance procedures and policies
- Responding to reports of sexual misconduct and harassment
- Investigating complaints of sexual misconduct and harassment
- Title IX Coordinator roles and responsibilities
- District and employee liability
- Reporting obligations
- Interaction with law enforcement agencies
- Discipline of students
- Litigation
- VAWA/Clery Act
- Trainings
Real World Applications
The Student Practice Group at Lozano Smith understands the hurdles and opportunities facing its clients, and has an unsurpassed level of experience and
expertise to protect the interests and promote the success of school districts, their staff and students. Of particular significance is the firm's
leadership in student discipline matters. Lozano Smith regularly helps districts to develop comprehensive policies and regulations aimed at preventing
student discipline problems, as well as all other policy issues impacting student rights, including student speech, student clubs, student transfers, and
student fees, to name only a few. When discipline problems do surface, the firm provides practical advice and assistance as to all aspects of suspensions,
expulsions, involuntary transfers and alternative forms of discipline.
2024 Updates: Annual Notice of Parental Rights and Responsibilities
June 2024Number 30As a reminder, school districts and county offices of education should update their parental annual notice (Annual Notice) for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year. The following is a summary of required Annual Notice updates.2024 Updates(1) Cancer Prevention Act - Human Papillomavirus (HPV) ImmunizationEffective January 1, 2024, Assembly Bill (AB) 659, known as the Cancer Prevention Act, added Education Code section 48980.4, which requires the Annual Notice to include a state...
Communication is Everything: Ninth Circuit Declines to Award Private School Tuition to Parents who Failed to Respond to School District’s Offer to Hold IEP Meeting
May 2024Number 26In Newport-Mesa Unified School District v. D.A. (9th Cir. 2024, No. 23-55351), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held in an unpublished decision that the school district had no obligation to convene an annual individualized education plan (IEP) meeting when the parents of a parentally-placed private school (PPPS) student who had previously received special education and related services from the school district failed to indicate any interest in a current offer of a free app...
Approaching July 1, 2024 Deadline for Workplace Violence Prevention Program
May 2024Number 25As the July 1, 2024 deadline quickly approaches, this is a reminder of the obligations related to preventing and responding to workplace violence placed on all employers, both public and private, by Senate Bill (SB) 553. “Workplace Violence” is defined as “any act of violence or threat of violence that occurs in a place of employment.” The law was established in response to concerns about workplace violence, which can impact employees and expose them t...
Ninth Circuit Upholds District's Manifestation Determination
April 2024Number 19In C.D. v. Atascadero Unified School District (9th Cir. April 9, 2024, No. 23-55563) __F.3d __ [2024 WL 1526748], a panel of Ninth Circuit judges agreed with findings from the District Court and Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) that a high school student plaintiff had failed to establish (1) that his conduct was caused by or had a direct and substantial relationship to his disability, or (2) that his conduct was a direct result of the Atascadero Unified School Distri...
New Laws Make It Easier for LEAs to Provide Emergency Medical Aid to Students
April 2024Number 16On October 8, 2023, Governor Newsom signed three new bills into law, making it easier for local educational agencies, including charter schools (LEAs) to provide certain forms of emergency aid to individuals in medical distress related to anaphylactic reactions (AB 1651), respiratory distress (AB 1283), and opioid overdoses (SB 234). All three bills, which went into effect January 1, 2024, are summarized below.Assembly Bill (AB) 1651 – Pupil health: Emergency Medical ...
New Legislation Expands "School of Origin" to Include Nonpublic Schools for Foster Students with IEPs
February 2024Number 9On October 13, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 723, which expands the definition of “school of origin” to include nonpublic, nonsectarian schools for foster children with exceptional needs. A “nonpublic, nonsectarian school,” or NPS, means a private, nonsectarian school that is certified by the California Department of Education and enrolls individuals with exceptional needs pursuant to their individualized education programs ...
Recent Bills Focus on Preventing Opioid Overdoses
January 2024Number 5Governor Newsom recently signed Assembly Bill (AB) 889, Senate Bill (SB) 10, and SB 234, which focus on preventing opioid overdoses in California public schools.AB 889 – Annual Notice to Parents and Guardians Regarding Synthetic DrugsAB 889 requires local educational agencies (LEAs) to notify parents or guardians regarding the dangers associated with using unprescribed synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl, through updates to the annual notice. As a reminder, the annual ...
