COSA

Kentucky Council of School Board Attorneys membership: a wise investment

by John Fogle, KSBA Legal Services

One of the most important decisions a board of education can make is the employment of the board attorney. Board attorneys, in turn, need access to resources which help keep them up to speed on school law issues.

The Kentucky Council of School Board Attorneys (CSBA), an association of attorneys who represent and defend Kentucky school boards, speaks to this need through continuing legal education programming, publications, and legal staff available to respond to general inquiries.

CSBA sponsors continuing legal education programs twice a year in conjunction with KSBA summer and winter conferences. These programs feature authoritative speakers on national and Kentucky school law topics.

For example, within the past two years council members received continuing legal education credit for attending sessions on:

1) compliance with Title IX by the Commissioner of the Kentucky High School Athletics Association;

2) current topics by a staff attorney for the Kentucky Department of Education;

3) revamping of Kentucky’s school utility tax;

4) the leading Kentucky case on school employee drug testing;

5) rules covering student health services in Kentucky;

6) the impact of e-mail and electronic discovery on litigation;

7) disciplining students for inappropriate Internet activities;

8) the Education Professional Standards Board's reporting requirements and practices, and

9) case law and legislative developments by by council presidents and KSBA legal and governmental relations staff.

This is only a partial list of topics covered.

The council also receives a quarterly Legal Update newsletter with commentary and summaries of cases of interest to Kentucky school board attorneys. In addition, council members receive access to various publications and Web-based services through the group’s affiliation with the National Council of School Board Attorneys.

Given the responsibility to protect the interests of the district, students, staff and the community, it is a wise investment for a school board to pick up payment of the approximately $300 annual fee for Kentucky Council of School Board Attorneys membership as part of its agreement with counsel. This gives board counsel access to all of these resources. The cost stands to be recouped many times over, should board counsel utilize just one of the many current awareness services to assist with compliance issues or to help a school district steer clear of liability.

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For more information on the Council for School Board Attorneys, contact John Fogle at KSBA at 800-372-2962 or john.fogle@ksba.org.

Kentucky School Boards Association

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