Jersey Education Law » Student Discipline

Changes to the New Jersey Bullying Law

victormedina — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:55:29 +0000

On January 14, 2008, Gov. Jon Corzine signed into law amendments to the NJ Bullying law that expanded the scope of the protected classes to include gender expression and identification. The amendments also relate infractions of the bullying law back to the Bias Intimidation Act and expand the set of penalties that can be imposed to include completing classes, counseling programs, or making payments to organizations that provide services to victims of bias intimidation.

The law also created a Commission on Bullying in Schools to review, among other things, the success of the anti-bullying law and to review the training given to teachers, school administrators, and law enforcement. The Commission is also charged with making recommendations on the creation of additional laws and regulations, as it deems necessary.

Here is a link to the law.

Posted by Victor J. Medina – Medina, Martinez & Castroll, LLC

Quick Decisive Action

victormedina — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Quick action by officials in Gloucester Twp. may have prevented violence in that District. This story tells of a 14-year old girl who has been charged with making terroristic threats.

Instances like this demonstrate the need for a crisis response policy that administrators understand and can follow without much guidance from above. Affirmative action laws dictate the importance of following up with this young girl if her actions stem from being harassed or bullied.

Launch – Part II

victormedina — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:00:00 +0000

I don’t believe anyone is reading this blog on a regular basis, mostly because I haven’t posted anything new in the last 4 months. Based on an updated survey of the blogosphere, I still believe that there is a need for a blog on education and school law, so I’ve recommitted myself to producing quality posts and letting the readership develop as it will.

That said, it’s also right and proper that I give this a new launch because of the launch of my new law firm, Medina, Martinez & Castroll. That could be the most inartful sentence I’ve written in months but I’m leaving it there because it’s unlikely that anyone but me will read this entire post.

By way of description, MMC is a law firm based in Pennington, New Jersey, which serves as legal counsel to about a half dozen school districts. In many cases, we serve as outside general counsel for these school districts, providing legal advice in the area of financial matters, commercial transactions, student discipline, special education, labor relations and policy (to name just a few). If you’re interested in learning more about my law firm, I encourage you to visit our website and look around.

As is my policy with our other blog, comments are welcome and appreciated. It’s my intention to provide the basis for discussion and discourse. I hope to hear from you soon.

Now, onto the substantive posts…..

- Victor