Self-Audit Checklists and Best Practices

School districts have been more reliant than ever upon internet-based communication with students and, given social distancing, students are more dependent upon social media than ever. We thought it timely to provide direction to districts concerning their polices with regard to student use of social media and electronic communication.

To assist districts address the dilemma they face balancing freedom of speech against the efficient operation of the schools (and the obligations to address cyber-bullying, harassment, and discrimination), we have prepared the attached checklist, “Social Media and Electronic Communication; Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices for School Districts with regard to their Students.” This is an update of the checklist published in October of 2013.

School Leaders Risk Management Association Members:

As traditional methods of learning increasingly give way to social distancing and remote learning in the COVID-19 era, schools need reliable, cost-effective, and safe solutions to connect with students and facilitate learning under these challenging new conditions. As third-party IT vendors offer these necessary solutions - from Learning Management Systems and cutting-edge EdTech applications to general purpose video conferencing tools - schools have more choices than ever. However, because these vendors often have access to personal information (PI) of students, districts must retain vendors and IT services that align with districts’ legal and regulatory obligations to protect students’ PI.

In May 2020, the U.S. Department of Education (“DOE”) issued new regulations and for the first time addressed sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. § 1681) (“Title IX”). Due to heightened attention to sexual harassment in elementary and secondary schools and Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) investigations involving districts’ handling of sexual harassment allegations, districts should take steps to protect their students and themselves by appropriately implementing new procedures prescribed by the regulations. The new regulations are effective August 14, 2020.

Sexual harassment and sexual assault statistics generally are difficult to track at the elementary and secondary level.  In April 2018, OCR issued data highlights of its 2015–16 Civil Rights Data Collection (“CRDC”), OCR’s most recent survey for districts and schools. The CRDC, compiling data from 17,000 districts comprising approximately 96,000 schools, indicated that:

• 5,535 incidents of sexual harassment or sex-based harassment or bullying were reported.
• 400 incidents of rape or attempted rape were reported.
• 9,300 incidents of sexual assault other than rape were reported.

One of the most important obligations of school districts is to ensure the health and safety of its students. In order to help you navigate the recent COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have created a “Health and Safety Plan for COVID-19 Self –Audit Checklist & Best Practices”. In addition to information about the disease, it guides districts regarding how to address the health concerns while keeping in mind the other legal obligations districts must consider.

In September 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor revised its rules, making many employees previously classified as exempt from overtime requirements now eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA. This is one of many critical changes to know going into 2020. Want to know how your school district to help avoid running afoul of wage and hours rules?

Over the past 20 years, Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas have come into the American vernacular as reminders that gun violence happens in our schools. Federal and state laws and regulations do not provide significant guidance to school districts on developing safety and security plans. But school districts can take many pro-active steps to prevent, prepare for, and respond in the event of violent acts or threats. Because student security is paramount, SLRMA has pored through the most current and effective resources and created a new resource – Protecting Students: Safety and Security in Schools Checklist and Best Practices.

Public school “hazing” incidents are on the rise according to recent studies. School districts need a roadmap to effectively stop hazing and address hazing when it occurs. SLRMA highlights the critical role that school districts play in hazing prevention and education through a new checklist: Hazing Prevention, Early Intervention and Response Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices.

Combating student-on-student bullying and harassment is an age-old challenge for school districts. However, in 2019, the #MeToo movement increased awareness of sexual harassment or violence in our schools – and arguably, increased potential exposure for mishandling such an incident. SLRMA seeks to support school districts to simultaneously protect student victims and minimize legal liability through the latest resource, Protecting Students in the Era of #MeToo Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices.

Homeless children enrolled in public schools have nearly doubled in less than a decade. School districts need to know how to meet the needs of these children by removing barriers to enrollment and adopting policies to promote student success under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. This updated checklist provides school districts with the current requirements in order to comply with McKinney–Vento.

In 2017, the Federal government significantly stepped up immigration enforcement and rescinded DACA. These actions have caused school leaders to question the current status of school district obligations to educate undocumented students. SLRMA created this updated checklist to help school districts navigate these recent developments in order to make sure policies and procedures are compliant with federal law.

Navigating the laws related to students with disabilities can be daunting. Does your school district know how to handle the myriad issues that can implicate students’ right under the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act? This updated checklist will greatly assist school districts to provide for student with disabilities and help avoid government agency investigations and private lawsuits brought by parents or guardians.

Transgender and gender non-conforming students’ rights came to the forefront several years ago, and since that time, many significant developments in the law and government policies have occurred. Are you certain that your school district is appropriately meeting the needs of transgender students in your schools? SLRMA has created this updated checklist for school districts to evaluate, review, and if necessary, change existing policies regarding transgender and gender non-conforming students to be in compliance with current policies and practices.

The First Amendment as applied to public school districts is as complex as the ways school districts interact with constituents.  How far does a school district’s ability to control speech of its employees go? Must a school district permit its football coach to take a knee during National Anthem?  What about if a teacher talks politics in biology class? What about a teacher’s speech outside of the classroom? This new self-evaluation checklist addresses one particular issue in the First Amendment kaleidoscope: freedom of speech when the school district is acting as an employer.

When a school initiates disciplinary proceedings against a student such as out-of-school suspension, a student’s right to due process is invoked. Not affording students appropriate due process can have significant legal consequences. To help school districts follow the right due process procedures, SLRMA presents a new tool for members: the Due Process Requirements for Out-of-School Suspension Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices. This new checklist provides a systematic approach for discipline incidents, as well as guidance on creating positive climates and avoiding behaviors that lead to disciplinary action.

The invention of cloud computing services significantly altered how organizations retain and access collected data. Like many organizations, school districts can put cloud computing services to powerful use. But school districts have legal obligations to protect data, and cloud computing poses specific challenges. To help school districts meet these obligations, SLRMA has created the Cybersecurity & Privacy Risk Management for Cloud Computing – Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices. Download and use this tool to help your school district minimize the risk that accompanies cloud computing.

School districts use exciting and helpful online and technology-based resources to teach students and to reach parents and the general public. However, failing to provide proper access to such resources for those with disabilities can cause legal problems for school districts. To address this growing compliance challenge, SLRMA presents a brand new tool for members: the Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices. Download this new, comprehensive checklist that provides practical guidance on how to approach accessibility issues and bring your school district up to current standards.

School districts, like most organizations, produce an overwhelming amount of electronic data. Knowing what to save and how to save it can be very challenging. To assist school districts get a handle on managing their electronically stored information, SLRMA presents the Electronic Data Self-Audit Checklist, 2016 Update. Part I of the Self-Audit Checklist focuses on inventory and retention policies. Part II addresses data management for potential litigation, during litigation, and after litigation has concluded. Download this Checklist and review alongside your current policies to ensure your district has clear and consistent practices and procedures in managing electronic data.

Schools are increasingly becoming entangled with potential intellectual property issues which may include the use of a mascots, the use of material obtained from the internet and the use of  outside vendors to create original works. All of these common activities can result in costly litigation over the ownership and use of that material. Given the difficulty of navigating these issues, SLRMA is pleased to provide its members with Addressing Intellectual Property Issues: Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices for School Districts.  This Checklist will provide your school district with an overview of the various intellectual property rights that schools can potentially trigger while serving their students and community.

This part of the SLRMA’s Self-Audit and Best Practices is intended to assist your school to assess special topics that may arise when complying with Title II and Section 504, such as service animals and athletics.

In light of OCR and DOJ’s recent enforcement activities and guidance addressing students with disabilities, school districts should reflect on their compliance with their legal obligations. Although both federal, state, and local laws may require districts to address the needs of students with disabilities, this checklist focuses on federal law, which provides the framework that the OCR and DOJ will use when determining whether a school district is in compliance with applicable federal law. This introduction briefly describes key federal laws addressing the protection of individuals with disabilities, the definition of a “disability” under federal law, and the scope of OCR and DOJ’s recent guidance addressing students with disabilities.

Navigating the laws that protect these students with disabilities presents a unique challenge. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice are increasing their efforts to enforce these laws and have initiated actions against schools throughout the nation. To help schools navigate these challenges, SLRMA is pleased to present Part 1 of its Compliance with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices for School Districts. Download today and review your policies and procedures to ensure you are in compliance.

SLRMA is pleased to present Part 2 of its English Language Learner Services and Education: Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices for School Districts. This part will assist your school district in assessing the efficacy of educating and evaluating the English Language Learner. We at SLRMA believe this checklist and best practices, when used in conjunction with Part 1, will enable your school district to maintain an effective ELL program consistent with the requirements of the applicable law.

The federal government is taking a closer look at districts’ ELL programs and their efficacy. By reviewing your school’s program now prior to the 2015-2016 school year, your district will be that much further ahead and your program will not get lost in the translation should an audit be undertaken.

With the increasing number of ELL students being enrolled in public schools, school districts must ensure students with limited English proficiency can meaningfully participate in their educational programs and services as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In January of this year, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights jointly issued a Guidance to assist school districts and public schools with meeting their legal obligations to ELL students.  It is clear these government watchdog groups are closely monitoring schools’ education of ELL students to ensure compliance with federal requirements. 

To assist your school, we are pleased to provide SLRMA’s English Language Learner Services and Education: Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices for School Districts.  The Checklist and Best Practices will be issued in two parts: Part 1 will address your school’s English language learner services and policies.  Part 2, addresses the requirements of educating and evaluating the English language learner. Download now and begin the review of your ELL policies before your school becomes the subject of an investigation.

In August 2013, the National Center for Education Statistics found that nearly a third of the students experienced some sort of bullying and almost 10% of the students experienced cyber-bulling.   The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) has taken notice and is stepping up its investigation of bullying and harassment at schools across the nation.  A school that fails to appropriately identify, investigate and remedy incidents of bullying or harassment may face consequences directly from the OCR and can be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for civil rights violations.   

Don’t let your school be a target.  Download SLRMA’s pdf Bullying and Harassment: Identification, Investigation and Remediation Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices for School Districts (172 KB) now to ensure your policies and procedures are in place to properly address bullying and harassment. 

On June 5, 2014, the Atherton High School in Louisville, Kentucky, passed an anti-discriminatory policy with respect to transgender students that was immediately challenged. The policy was upheld on appeal. On September 5, 2014, the Janesville (Wisconsin) School Board adopted a policy allowing transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room of the gender with which they identify if it's OK with their parents and principals. As reported in May of this year, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced that it will uphold Title IX applicable to transgender students.

SLRMA is pleased to provide Best Practices and Policies for Serving Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students – Extracurricular Activities to its members. In conjunction with the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Student Practice and Policy published this year in May, we at SLRMA hope you will use this tool to review your school’s own policies.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center has recently published a guide to online education services and indicated that it will be paying closer attention to schools’ use of cloud computing. The use of “the Cloud” and outside vendors to manage student data can run afoul of federal privacy law and a comprehensive review of your school district’s use of such services is necessary to protect the district from liability. To assist, SLRMA is pleased to provide its members with its School District Use of Cloud Computing Services: Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices.

How is your school managing your employees and administrators use of public and personal social media? Claims arising out of a school’s intentional and inadvertent use of social media is on the rise. In the second part of our District Social Media Policy: Administrator/Teacher Social Media Policies, SLRMA provides your district the tools to manage your district’s use of social media and help prevent liability when you need it most, before it starts. 

Click the download button to obtain your district’s copy of the District Social Media Policy, Part II: Administrator/Teacher Social Media Policies which provides the essential tools to create, assess and manage social media resources of the school and its employees while also providing a best practices guide for addressing social media issues.

Consider some real scenarios regarding students’ use of social media determine how your school would respond:

• A student makes several posts on his MySpace page that he will kill not only the people he hates, but a few more random; 
• A group of students create a website chronicling daily life at school that contains racist and offensive comments and makes sexually explicit comments about female classmates; and
• A high school student creates a fake profile of her principal, using the principal’s picture from the school website, which used crude content, disparaging remarks about the principal and his family and made allegations regarding his sexuality.

Today’s students have been raised with the ability to use computers from their birth. As a consequence of the growth of social media sites, the students’ technical sophistication more often than not outpaces their maturity and ability to use such tools responsibly. The statistics from 2012 are staggering: monthly active users on Facebook total nearly 850 million; there were 175 million tweets sent from Twitter every day in 2012; and more than 5 million photos are uploaded to Instagram everyday. Students’ personal use of social media has already begun to impact schools, through cyber-bullying, threats of violence, disrespect of teachers and administrators, which have resulted in suspensions but also has resulted in lawsuits for the school’s response to students’ use of social media. Districts are forced to walk a fine line between harnessing students’ use of social media to further the education mission while simultaneously not violating their rights to use such media.

To help schools address the students’ use of social media, SLRMA has prepared its District Social Media/Electronic Communication Practice and Policy: Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices on the Use of Social Media and Electronic Communication for School Districts. In this Part 1, immediately available for download, we address Student Social Media Policies. Coming later this year, in Part 2, we address Administrator Social Media Policies. The use of this checklist will immediately help your school contend with an already contentious issue. 

Since January 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor has collected over $3.6 million in back wages and penalties from employers who failed to track overtime, improperly classified non-exempt employees and failed to maintain the appropriate paperwork.  The Department of Labor’s time spent investigating and securing these awards has increased by over 56%. What is your school district doing to avoid becoming a target?  

Schools are using various methods to discipline students. However, improper and sometimes dangerous methods of discipline are leading to tragic results and liability. The U.S. Government Accounting office estimated that over 200 students have died as a result of school based seclusion and restraints between 1999 and 2009. As a consequence, school districts can face significant liability. To assist your district in avoiding such liability, download SLRMA’s Disciplining Students with Disabilities Self-Audit Checklist/Best Practices On the Use of Restraint and Seclusion right now and review your district’s procedures.

Don’t Aid and Abet Potential Discrimination Claims when Using Criminal Background Checks in Your Hiring Practices.

Criminal background checks are necessary to protect schools from becoming potential victims. However, improper and overzealous use of criminal background checks may result in inadvertent discriminatory hiring practices that can lead to liability under Title VII.

Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its guidelines for using criminal background checks in employment decisions. The guidelines highlighted the significant increase in the number of Americans who have been through some part of the criminal justice system. From 1991 to 2007, the percentage of Americans who have served time in prison has risen from 1.8% to 3.2%. Moreover, arrest rates for African American and Hispanic men are significantly. If the incarceration continue unabated, approximately 6.6% of all persons born in the United States in 2001 will serve some time in prison during their lifetime.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. §2000, et seq.) prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Given the statistics above, a school’s otherwise neutral policy or practice in using criminal background checks may result in disproportionately more Title VII-protected groups being refused employment simply based on their criminal background. Thus, schools need to evaluate their use of criminal background checks now to ensure they are not exposing themselves to liability under Title VII.

SLRMA is pleased to offer its Self-Audit Checklist for Avoiding Discrimination Claims When Using Criminal History in Employment Decisions. This Checklist provides your school with the means to evaluate its current practices and educate your districts on potential pitfalls in the use of criminal background when make employment decisions. In anticipation of the hiring season, your school district should immediately download and follow the Checklist to avoid any accusations under Title VII.

The OCR has made it clear it reads Title IX to equally apply to primary and secondary schools as it does at the collegiate level.  Given the OCR’s increased interest in Title IX compliance at the high school level, SLRMA is pleased to offer its Self-Audit Checklist for School Compliance with Title IX for Athletic Programs. SLRMA’s Self-Audit Checklist will help your school district’s athletic programs comply with Title IX and help avoid fines and penalties for “unsportsmanlike conduct" failing to offer equal opportunities to boys and girls who play high school sports.

Although most people are familiar with Title IX at the collegiate level, it applies to any school that receives federal funds, including public K-12. School districts violating Title IX can be subject to regulatory enforcement action and possibly costly private civil suits for damages. To help your school, SLRMA is pleased to offer the Self-Audit Checklist for School Compliance with Title IX for Athletics Programs to help your school make the right call.

The FLSA also governs how schools must handle their pay practices with respect to the hiring and use of substitute teachers. This checklist, “Avoiding FLSA Pay Violations Self-Audit Checklist for Substitute Teachers” should be used in conjunction with SLRMA’s popular FLSA Self Audit Checklist, will able to thoroughly assist your school district in avoiding FLSA pay violations and liability.

Is your school district prepared for dealing with the bullies in your schools? With bullying (including cyber bullying) incidents on the rise, school districts are becoming increasingly liable for these incidents. SLRMA’s Anti‐Bullying and Anti‐Harassment Checklist can help prevent your school from becoming a victim of bullies.

The federal government is investigating compliance with ELL requirements.  Use the new ELL checklist to determine your district’s compliance. 

Protecting your school district from hostile environment sexual harassment is critical to risk management. How well is your school district informed about these issues?

Determining whether or not a hostile environment based on sexual harassment is present is difficult. Use this self-checklist to determine your district’s potential exposure to such claims.

E-Discovery: School District Self-Audit, Part II - A Self-Audit Checklist for your School District, Part II of the audit addresses litigation hold issues.

SLRMA and FLIC's 2008 Special Report: E-Discovery Self-Audit Checklist, Part I. The E-Discovery checklist addresses important protocol which school districts must take with the storage of electronic information in order to protect themselves, including proper inventory of information, consistent retention and deletion policies, and the clear publication of such policies to district employees.

Schools play a critical role in promoting student health and should be committed to creating a school culture that promotes and protects children’s health. This checklist will help your district meet the challenges in providing the programs and policies necessary for a healthy student body.