School Law

In the more than 40 years that Riker Danzig has practiced school law, we have helped our clients solve just about every problem a board of education or school could face. Our general approach is simple: litigate skillfully and effectively when necessary, but be proactive and provide preventive legal advice before problems arise. Our experience is that counseling often can prevent litigation, saving a school district or school the tremendous expense and turmoil which often results once a lawsuit is commenced.

We offer our clients the extensive resources of a large firm while at the same time providing personal and experienced representation by attorneys who specialize in school law. We believe that the breadth of our firm's practice, coupled with our decades of experience representing schools and boards of education, makes us uniquely qualified. We pride ourselves on delivering only the highest quality legal services, tailored to the needs of our diverse clients, their schools and districts. We attend board meetings when requested, either regularly or on an as-needed basis. We render advice daily and are available to our clients at all times. While an administrator or board may select a particular member of our school law group to handle its matters, the resources of the entire firm are always available.

We have successfully represented schools and school boards in state and federal courts, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, United States District Court, New Jersey Supreme Court, and trial and appellate divisions of the Superior Court of New Jersey. We also have experience in many administrative forums, including the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law, State Board of Examiners, School Ethics Commission, Public Employee Relations Commission, and the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, as well as the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and U. S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. We have represented boards in grievance hearings and arbitration proceedings and in collective bargaining.

The breadth of our experience covers all areas of school law, including:

• Student disciplinary proceedings
• Employee performance and discipline matters, including increment withholdings and tenure cases
• Other personnel disputes, including allegations of discrimination and harassment
• Negotiation and administration of contracts and collective bargaining agreements
• Special education matters
• Accomodation of students’ and employees’ disabilities
• Public contracts issues
• School district governance, including issues involving regional school districts and sending-receiving arrangements
• Corporate governance in school-related entities
• Ethics issues
• Accountability and regulatory compliance

Riker Danzig’s school law group serves as general counsel to boards of education and charter schools, and has acted as special counsel to boards and other education organizations in major school law matters. We currently or recently have represented the following boards:

• Newark (State-operated School District)
• North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional
• Livingston Township
• Clinton Town
• Henry Hudson Regional
• West Morris Regional
• Holland Township

Our charter school clients include:

• Paterson Charter School for Science & Technology
• Bergen Arts & Science Charter School
• Central Jersey College Prep Charter School
• Newark Educators Community Charter School

Our private school clients include:

• Deron Schools
• Gramon School
• The Peck School

We also have served as special counsel to the following entities and groups:

• Morris Union Jointure Commission
• Council of Private Schools for Children with Special Needs
• The Sending District Coalition (Boards of Education of Bedminster, Bloomingdale, Boonton Township, Fairview, Great Meadows, Lincoln Park and Millstone)
• Four constituent districts in the former Union County Regional School District (Berkeley Heights, Kenilworth, Mountainside and Springfield)
• 20 Essex County boards of education in a major dispute with the Teachers Pension and Annuity Fund
• More than 100 boards of education in asbestos litigation filed by the NJEA
• Council of Private Schools for Children with Special Needs

We also have been appointed to represent individual members of boards of education in contested school ethics matters.

Representative Cases

• Garfield Bd. of Ed. v. Bergen Arts & Science Charter School, in which an administrative law judge held that a board of education has no right to file a request for due process to challenge a charter school's placement decision.


• Marlboro Township vs. Freehold Reg. Bd. of Ed., in which the United States District Court held that New Jersey's formula for apportioning seats on regional boards of education violated the U.S. Constitution. This was one of the most significant victories for regional school districts in the State in the past 30 years.


• Bd. of Ed. Twp. of Branchburg v. Bd. of Ed. Twp. of Livingston, in which the court tested the scope of the "one person, one vote" rule as applied to sending-receiving districts.


• In re Tenure Hearing of Alan Tighe, Bd. of Ed. Old Bridge Twp., one of the first cases in the State in which a board of education prevailed by summary decision in a tenure matter against a custodian charged with unbecoming conduct.


• Livingston Bd. of Ed. v. Monawar, the first case in the state in which a school district recovered attorneys’ fees as well as back tuition in a residency dispute.


• In re Tenure Hearing of Lenore Allen, Bd. of Ed. Old Bridge Twp., in which the State Board of Education overturned a Commissioner's decision to disapprove a settlement of tenure charges because the teacher did not agree to forfeit her certificate.


• Bd. of Ed. Borough of Englewood Cliffs v. Bd. of Ed. City of Englewood, 132 N.J. 327 (1993), in which the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected a plea for regionalization by the Englewood Board of Education.

Other Areas of Expertise

We are among the few law firms in the State to represent both public and private schools, and to have expertise not only in general school law, special education, and labor and employment law, but also in more specialized aspects of the practice, such as:

Construction: Working with our construction law group, our school law group has overseen more than $100 million of school construction projects.

Real Estate: We have experience in matters ranging from acquisition and financing, construction, closing and disposition of school buildings and properties, and construction litigation.

Municipal Finance: Our municipal finance department serves as counsel to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Health Care Facilities Financing Authority, Essex County, and several municipalities.

Governmental Relations: Our government relations department, resident in our Trenton office, has assisted several boards of education and other education organizations in regulatory and legislative work.

References

Dr. Charles Michael Shaddow
Superintendent of Schools
North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District
1445 State Rt. 31
Annandale, NJ 08801
(908) 735-2846

Arsen Zartarian, Esq.
Deputy General Counsel
The Newark Public Schools
2 Cedar Street
Newark, NJ 07102
(973) 733-8343

Mr. John Kowalik
Headmaster
The Peck School
247 South Street
Morristown, NJ 07960

Mr. Irfan Evcil
Board Secretary
Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology
276 Wabash Avenue
Paterson, NJ 07503
(973) 247-0600