The Oldest Blog
A first amendment blog for school administrators and attorneys.
OCR’s About to Get More Aggressive: The New OCR Case Processing Manual
On July 18, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a revised Case Processing Manual (CPM), which is the internal document OCR uses to manage its cases. The revised CPM came only a few weeks after we received proposed Title IX regulations and the day before OCR issued discipline guidance for students with disabilities.
In continuing the theme of “whiplash” that has become all too common from OCR during the past five years, the CPM reverts in some important ways to practices from the Obama administration’s OCR. And like the proposed Title IX regs and discipline guidance, the content of the revised CPM signals OCR will more vigorously enforce federal civil rights laws against schools, community colleges, colleges, and universities.
With all the other things going on, it’s no surprise that most education attorneys and administrators are unaware of the significant changes in the CPM. In this webinar Jackie Gharapour Wernz, a former OCR attorney who has represented educational institutions in numerous OCR cases, discusses the ins and outs of the changes to the CPM and, more importantly, the practical considerations that you need to know to protect your educational institution now.
