Strauss Esmay is pleased to announce our annual School Law and Policy Seminar will be held at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, NJ on Friday, May 31, 2024. Two members of district/school staff are invited to attend free of charge. Additional representatives are welcome at a charge of $50.00 per person. Registration forms can be found under the "EVENTS" tab on this website. In order to reserve your space, please return the registration form by Wednesday, May 15, 2024.  

Strauss Esmay is in the process of researching and developing an Acceptable Use of Artificial Intelligence Policy Guide. A Memorandum explaining the proposed Policy Guide and the issues districts will need to consider when developing their Acceptable Use Policy is available for download on our website www.straussesmay.com under the policy alerts tab “Other Downloads” section.  

Strauss Esmay Associates received a prompt response and clarification from the NJDOE that there is not a conflict between the new bilingual administrative code section, N.J.A.C. 6A:15-1.9(c), and an existing bilingual statute, N.J.S.A. 18A:35-19. The existing bilingual statute indicates every student participating in a program “shall be entitled to continue participation for a period of three years” while the new bilingual administrative code section indicates a student remains in a program until they have demonstrated readiness to exit the program based on NJDOE criteria. The NJDOE has indicated they are operating as if the existing statute, N.J.S.A. 18A:35-19, “provides a minimum floor of entitlement to bilingual programs” for three years and is not a maximum entitlement for a student. Strauss Esmay’s recently updated Policy and Regulation Guides 2423 – Bilingual Education to include the statutory language of N.J.S.A. 18A:35-19. Therefore, Policy and Regulation Guides 2423 as presented to school districts in Policy Alert 232 are in compliance with the new bilingual administrative code and the existing N.J.S.A. 18A:35-19.  

The last sentence in the 7th paragraph under Section D. of Policy Guide 8500 that was recently mailed to districts has a correction. The word “shall” needs to be replaced with “cannot” as noted below.

The district shall cannot notify the household of adverse action by phone only.

This adjustment has been made on all versions of Policy Guide 8500 on Strauss Esmay’s website at www.straussesmay.com. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.  

Legislation signed on July 3, 2023 revised two sick leave statute sections (N.J.S.A. 18A:30-1 and N.J.S.A. 18A:30-4) that address sick leave for school district employees. These revisions became effective on July 3, 2023 and required the development of new Policy and Regulation Guides 1642.01 to address these new provisions. In addition, the NJDOE Guidance for School Threat Assessment Teams was published on July 19, 2023 to be effective September 1, 2023 and required a revision to Policy Guide 2419 and development of a new Regulation Guide 2419. Policy and Regulation Guides 2419 are very important and due to their effective date, Strauss Esmay wanted to make these Guides available to school districts in advance of the next Policy Alert. Therefore, Policy and Regulation Guides 1642.01 and a revised Policy Guide 2419 and a new Regulation Guide 2419 with a Summary are available for download on our website www.straussesmay.com under the Policy Alert tab – “Other Downloads” section. A Board has the option to suspend Bylaw 0131 that requires two meetings to adopt a new policy and/or regulation and adopt these documents at one meeting with a motion such as “Move the Board of Education suspend Bylaw 0131 and adopt new Policy 1642.01 and new Regulation 1642.01 and revised Policy 2419 and new Regulation 2419 with one reading based on recently approved sick leave legislation that is effective immediately and recent New Jersey Department of Education guidance provided to school districts that is effective September 1, 2023.” Strauss Esmay has also developed a new AlertCast video which is now available for download on www.straussesmay.com under the Policy Alert tab – “Other Downloads” section.  

The NJDOE released a Broadcast dated July 19, 2023 with new HIB 338 Forms to be used effective September 1, 2023 – One for LEA Personnel and one for Families and/Caregivers. The Forms are available through the NJDOE – HIB website and Strauss Esmay’s website under the Policy Alerts tab “Other Downloads” section. The Forms have been revised to be more instructive to provide better guidance and direction to the reporter. These new Forms do not require any revisions to Strauss Esmay’s current HIB Policy Guide 5512.  

Our office received inquiries from several school districts regarding school district policy and regulation implications as a result of the use of recreational marijuana by employees and students. In summary, the procedures outlined in N.J.A.C. 6A:16-4.1 et seq. and Strauss Esmay’s Policy and Regulation Guides 5530 are consistent with the new law as a student under the age of 21 years old should not legally use, possess, or be under the influence of marijuana while at school, unless the student is prescribed medical cannabis as permitted by N.J.S.A. 24:6I-1 and Policy and Regulation 5330.01. The procedures used by district officials when a staff member is suspected to be under the influence as outlined in Policies and Regulations 3218 and 4218 should continue to be followed as the current process is consistent with the new law. However, the issue is how a school district makes a determination a staff member with any level of THC in their system was impaired during work hours. This is the same issue confronting all employers with their employees and with law enforcement and drivers suspected operating a vehicle while under the influence of the use of recreational marijuana. Strauss Esmay prepared a Memorandum that provides additional details regarding this issue. The Memorandum is available on our website www.straussesmay.com under the policy alerts tab “other downloads section.”  

A March 23, 2022 NJDOE Broadcast indicates a Board of Education and Charter School Board of Trustees has the option to extend the implementation of their 2019-2022 CEP through the 2022-2023 school year by submitting a Statement of Assurance (SOA) to the Executive County Superintendent by June 30, 2022. Submission of this SOA will satisfy the Board of Education and Charter School Board of Trustees requirement for the 2022-2023 school year to develop a CEP. A Board of Education or Charter School Board of Trustees is not required to extend implementation, which would require a complete submission of the CEP to the Executive County Superintendent by June 30, 2022. A Memorandum providing additional details, the Needs Assessment, and the SOA are available for download on our website, www.straussesmay.com, under the “policy Alerts” tab, “Other Downloads” section.  

Strauss Esmay Associates is pleased to announce our website, www.straussesmay.com, has been upgraded to improve accessibility to individuals with disabilities in compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Board Policy 1511. This upgrade makes Strauss Esmay’s website accessible to visually impaired individuals while not changing any functionality for all users. Some of the changes include minor modifications to web page colors, font size, and page layout. All public school districts, including charter schools, and their third party vendors, including vendors that provide web-based services to the school district that are accessible to the public, are required to have websites accessible to visually impaired individuals. This upgraded version of our website will be live as of December 6, 2021.  

Below are the email addresses for Strauss Esmay staff members.

All PASS school districts should be sure to register one person to Strauss Esmay’s new E-LERT system. This new system will provide important school policy and regulation information via e-mail to one person designated by the school district. If your district has not registered an E-LERT contact person, the E-LERT Registration Form may be downloaded from the Policy Alerts Tab tab and returned by fax to 732-255-1502.