Guidance counselor sues Roncalli, Indianapolis archdiocese
A second teacher is suing the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, claiming she was subjected to a hostile work environment and discrimination because she is a lesbian and married to another woman.
School and Education Law
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Payments from $208M NCAA settlement begin in August
More than 50,000 former college athletes next month will begin collecting portions of a $208 million class-action settlement paid by Indianapolis-based NCAA in a case that challenged its caps on compensation.
LSAT tossing the pencil, saying hello to the tablet
Half of the 24,000 registered to take the Law School Admission Test on Monday will not be required to use a pencil. The exam, which is a major hurdle to getting accepted into law school, is going digital.
Judgment for ex-Notre Dame prof who stole grant funds reversed
A fired Notre Dame professor convicted of a felony for theft of grant money and found to have possessed pornographic images on university computers lost on appeal a judgment in his favor of more than $500,000 in a breach of contract lawsuit against the university.
Fired Cathedral High School teacher sues archdiocese
The teacher fired from Cathedral High School for being in a same-sex marriage sued the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in Marion Superior Court on Wednesday, alleging the church leadership illegally interfered with his contractual and employment relationship with the high school, which led to his termination June 23.
Ex-prep diving coach gets 4 years for sex with teens
A former assistant diving coach at a northwest Indiana high school has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to having sex with two 15-year-old female students and keeping partially nude photographs of each girl on his cellphone.
AG Hill says extended stop arms are OK for school buses
Indiana’s attorney general says the state’s school districts are free to use extended stop arms to prevent other vehicles from passing school buses.
7th Circuit reinstates student case against Purdue in sexual assault case
Finding dismissal was premature, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated a lawsuit against Purdue University brought by a male student accused of sexual assault.
Many new Indiana laws take effect today
Several new state laws take effect Monday, from a required high school state government test to allowing wrongfully incarcerated individuals to collect $50,000 a year.
Divided Supreme Court upholds civil forfeiture reimbursement of law enforcement
The practice of diverting civil forfeiture proceeds away from the Common School Fund to reimburse law enforcement costs is constitutional under Article 8, Section 2 of the Indiana Constitution, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled, answering the longstanding question of whether the constitution requires all forfeiture proceeds to go to the Common School Fund.
Brebeuf, Cathedral take opposing stances over gay teachers
Leaders at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School say the school will no longer be recognized by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis as a Catholic school after Brebeuf refused to fire a “highly capable and qualified teacher” who is married to a same-sex partner. Meanwhile, Cathedral High School took the opposite position.
Lawsuit: School’s transgender policy violated teacher’s religious beliefs
A Brownsburg music teacher who claims he lost his job because he refused to address transgender students by the first names of their choice has filed a federal lawsuit against the Brownsburg Community School Corporation for violating his First Amendment religious freedom and free speech rights.
Ruling for IU in black student’s discrimination suit upheld
A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel affirmed the denial of a black student’s discrimination suit against Indiana University, finding no abuse of discretion in resolving discovery disputes regarding her classmate’s demographics.
IPS pays $600K to settle counselor sex abuse lawsuits
Indianapolis Public Schools paid almost $600,000 to settle three lawsuits in a case involving a former school counselor who was accused of having sex with students.
Judge: School district violated transgender students’ rights
A federal judge has found that an Indiana school district violated a transgender student’s civil rights by not allowing him to use male bathrooms at school.
Purdue Title IX sexual assault lawsuit still awaiting 7th Circuit decision
The campus sexual assault lawsuit brought by an unidentified male student against Purdue University, which was one of the first such cases to be heard by a federal appellate court since the U.S. Department of Education issued its “Dear Colleague” letter in 2011, is still awaiting a ruling from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals while the number of similar complaints being added to the dockets of circuit courts around the country continues to grow.
Restitution affirmed in Vigo school district kickback scheme
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a restitution calculation in the case of a former Vigo County School Corporation employee who received a share of more than $110,000 in kickbacks after steering government contracts to a favored bidder.
Indiana man sentenced to 100 years for molesting children
A Jeffersonville man who pleaded guilty to molesting children while working at a YMCA and at an elementary school has been sentenced to 100 years in prison.
State lawmakers pad DCS budget, hike school funding only slightly
State lawmakers are poised to increase school funding by 2.5 percent each year in a $34 billion final budget plan — just slightly more than the amount proposed last week by the Indiana Senate. Meanwhile, the Indiana Department of Child Services’ budget will jump by more than a half-billion dollars over the next two fiscal years.
COA rejects ex-teacher’s defamation claims against Elkhart Truth
A former Elkhart teacher who alleged a newspaper defamed him by writing an article about his federal lawsuit against the school that fired him failed to convince an appellate panel that the issue was not of public interest, or that the article was not written in good faith.