July 28, 2020 | Blog, COVID-19, Section 504, Special Education, Students
COVID-19 UPDATE
Below are today’s updates regarding COVID-19 and its impact on Texas public schools. For additional resources, please visit our COVID-19 page.
Attorney General Claims Local Orders Closing Schools Are Invalid. Tarrant County Abandoning Order?
Holly James, Senior Associate
Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion today regarding the legality of local public health orders that delay the start of in-person schooling, such as those entered in Dallas, Harris, Travis, and presumably Tarrant Counties. The Attorney General opined that “nothing in the law gives health authorities the power to indiscriminately close schools—public or private—as these local orders claim to do.” Specifically, the AG claims that the county orders impose a quarantine on property (the school buildings), which is not authorized under the Texas Health and Safety Code without evidence that the property is contaminated or that individuals within the building are actually infected with a communicable disease. The AG’s opinion does not address the authority of local health authorities to implement restrictions on individuals within the county.
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FAPE and Transportation
Rhonda Crass, Shareholder
In these ever-changing times during the pandemic, some Districts are discussing staggering students’ arrival and departure times during the 2020-21 school year to prevent the spread of COVID-19. If your District is considering this option, you should be mindful of how this may affect students with disabilities.
The law is clear that a District cannot shorten the school day for students with disabilities solely for transportation purposes.
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