School Law

The school law attorneys at Schenck, Price, Smith & King have over thirty years’ experience representing Boards of Education in all facets of school operations. The firm serves as general counsel to Boards of Education throughout New Jersey. In addition, the firm often acts as special counsel to many school districts and other educational entities. Our school law attorneys’ depth of experience ensures our Board clients of expert service in a prompt manner.

From our wealth of experience working closely with Boards and their Superintendents and other Administrators, we are intimately familiar with both practical and legal issues faced by school districts. This familiarity enhances our firm’s ability to provide legal services in the most efficient fashion.

As experienced Board counsel, we have the ability to assist Board members and the administration in all aspects of Board operations. We bring to our clients a wide range of experience, having dealt with, among other things, bidding requirements and disputes, shared services agreements, construction specification development and construction oversight and litigation, facilities issues, bond referenda and budget appeals.

Student issues also constitute a substantial part of our practice, including special education, equal access matters, student discipline, residency disputes, Section 504 determinations, discrimination claims under Title VI, Title IX and the Americans with Disabilities Act. With regard to student matters, we offer substantial experience in handling matters before the United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights and the New Jersey Department of Education. In the special education area, we have handled the full spectrum of program and placement issues.

The firm's work regularly includes counsel related to employment matters such as reorganizations, hiring, seniority determinations, RIFs, employee discipline, discrimination issues, tenure hearings, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and termination. In this context, we regularly represent Boards of Education in proceedings before the Commissioner of Education at the Office of Administrative Law and the Public Employment Relations Commission. We also handle matters before the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Our attorneys are active members of the New Jersey Association of School Attorneys. Our school law attorneys have lectured on many issues including student discipline, seniority, bidding, staff evaluations, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, sexual harassment, school funding, law of the Internet, and special education issues.

We are often called on to serve as labor counsel for our public sector clients. We represent the Board's interest in grievance arbitrations, scope of negotiations petitions and unfair practice charge proceedings. In addition, we provide labor negotiation services to our Board clients.

Since our law firm has multiple practice areas, we can offer our clients immediate legal advice regarding issues that are not ordinarily thought of as school law issues but which do arise in the school district context. For instance, environmental issues, municipal zoning, insurance coverage, Internet policies, ERISA, and personal injury defense matters are all matters faced by Boards at one time or another. We have the in-house resources to address the entire scope of legal issues faced by Boards of Education.

For Additional Information Contact Monica E. Peck