EDUCATION

The Education Practice Group at Lewis, King, Krieg & Waldrop, P.C., represents 74 of Tennessee’s 136 boards of education as well as a private medical school.  Education law is a very different practice from the usual defense practice.  We often use the following analogy:  when most lawyers in our firm receive a defense file, the car is already in the ditch, the wheels are off, someone is injured, hospital bills have accrued, and a lawsuit has been filed.  In education law, we serve our clients by directing traffic and trying to prevent crashes.  Often we are called as a situation unfolds at a school and we are asked to provide legal guidance that will prevent future litigation or, at least, make sure our clients have a good defense.

The practice covers the scope of subjects from A-Z – literally: attendance to zoning.  A representative sample of matters handled in normal weeks includes:

• Employment of licensed and classified employees

• Employee contracts

• Employee and student discipline

• Employee and student rights

• Special Education issues as governed by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

• Disability accommodations as governed by the ADA and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

• First Amendment Issues – student and employee speech

• Sexual harassment

• Civil rights matters

• Desegregation

• Tort Liability

• School finance and taxation

• School construction

In addition to advising school boards and superintendents on legal matters involving the day-to-day operation of schools, the education practice group also drafts and lobbies for legislation in the Tennessee State Legislature, composes and revises board policies and administrative rules and regulations (and defends them in state and federal courts and before committees of the general assembly), and develops and delivers school board and school employee training seminars throughout the state.