On-Demand Webcasts

Stay ahead of the curve with our 2025 Legislative Update On-Demand Webinar Series, designed specifically for Texas school districts. Each session offers clear, plain-language explanations of newly enacted laws and practical action plans your district can implement right away. Whether you’re a superintendent, administrator, or board member, these updates help ensure compliance and informed decision-making. Watch anytime and share with your team.

Included in this package are four webinars on the following topics:

• Districts of Innovation
• Open Government
• Personnel
• Safety and Security

Several bills passed during the 89th Legislative Session have introduced significant updates to safety and security requirements across Texas. This webinar will provide an overview of the most impactful legislative changes affecting public school districts and offer insights into how these updates may influence your district’s safety policies, procedures, and compliance efforts.

Many of the bills that passed during the 89^th Legislative Session impact your personnel policies and practices in various ways. Tune in to this webinar to hear about these changes and their practical implications.

The 89th Texas Legislature made several key changes to the Open Meetings Act and the Public Information Act, and compliance just got trickier. From business-day posting requirements to mandatory meeting recordings and longer retention timelines, school officials have new rules to navigate. This webinar will break down what changed, what it means for your district, and how to avoid common pitfalls. Bring your calendar (and maybe a calculator).

This session focuses on the current options for Districts of Innovation with suggestions on using DOI to your advantage. It includes the latest legislative changes to DOI.

Understanding the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP) placement process is critical to maintaining lawful and effective student discipline systems. This webinar provides administrators with a clear, practical overview of the statutory framework governing DAEP removals, including both foundational requirements and recent legislative changes affecting placement decisions.

Participants will review discretionary and mandatory placements, procedural requirements, and key compliance considerations to help ensure that district decisions remain legally sound while supporting campus safety and student services.

Topics Covered:

• Overview of Texas DAEP statutory framework
• Discretionary vs. mandatory placement requirements
• Due process and documentation expectations
• Placement decision-making and administrator responsibilities
• Expulsion vs. DAEP placement distinctions
• Special considerations for students receiving special education services
• Key updates from the 89th Texas Legislature
• Practical strategies for consistent district decision-making

Student searches remain one of the most frequent—and legally sensitive—discipline issues school administrators face. This webinar provides a practical, legally grounded overview of the constitutional standards governing student searches, including how the “reasonable suspicion” standard applies in the school setting and the limits districts must observe.

Special focus will be placed on two areas generating the most current questions: student cell phones and vaping-related incidents. Participants will learn when and how electronic devices may be searched, how to respond when prohibited content is discovered, and how to properly address vaping paraphernalia and related discipline decisions under current Texas law.

Topics Covered:

• Constitutional foundations of student search and seizure in schools
• Reasonable suspicion: how to determine when a search is justified
• Searches of lockers, backpacks, vehicles, and student persons
• Legal considerations for searching student cell phones
• Handling discovery of prohibited digital content
• Identifying vaping devices and paraphernalia
• Legislative and policy developments affecting cell phones and vaping
• Discipline considerations following search results
• Documentation and risk-reduction best practices

This training clarifies the procedures that schools must take to effectively protect Student privacy when using artificial intelligence. We discuss artificial intelligence’s complex relationship with FERPA, how to legally use pictures and videos generated by artificial intelligence, and how to prevent students from using artificial intelligence on examinations. We also identify key indicators that suggest a student has used artificial intelligence in their coursework.

Topics:

• Types of AI to Use
• How to Not Violate FERPA
• Copyright and AI
• Preventing AI Abuse by Students

Presented by Regan G. Wilkins.

Ever since the 84th Texas Legislature adopted the District of Innovation concept in 2015, Texas school districts have been opting out of the statutory teacher certification requirements, and more and more districts have utilized uncertified teachers to varying degrees to battle the ongoing shortage of certified teachers. But with the passage of HB2 in the 89th Regular Legislative Session, effective June of last year, the pendulum has begun to swing in the other direction. That bill added a new section of the Texas Education Code that essentially phases out districts’ ability to use uncertified teachers in certain areas. In this session, we will explain the new requirements and provide you with tools to comply.

Presented by Jennifer A. Powell.

This training is focused on construction procurement and geared towards school district general counsel. Most of the legal content will also be useful to any local government entity subject to the procurement requirements of Texas Government Code Chapters 2269 (Contracting and Delivery Procedures for Construction Projects) and 2254 (The Professional Services Procurement Act).

The focus is on the proper assembly of the construction team and handling the negotiations with design professionals and contractors who are often unrepresented. To that end there is a discussion of the ethical duties and pitfalls of engaging in negotiations with such parties. The material covers ethical negotiation of arms-length agreements regardless of representation status.

CLE credit: 1 hour (includes 1 hour ethics)

Presented by David P. Hansen.

If your district wants to build, you need to start out with the right foundation. Obtain valuable construction insight without leaving your office. Each webinar session is one hour. Enjoy them from the comfort of your desk or conference room. You can participate by yourself or share the sessions with others in your district.

• 10 Things You Need to Know Before You Build
• What Can I Expect From My Architect?
• What Can I Expect From My Contractor?
• Listen Up Contractor! I’ve Got Something to Say

This training outlines how school districts can effectively use trademark law to prevent unauthorized exploitation of their schools’ image. We discuss the importance of registering school logos and steps to take when someone is infringing upon district registrations. We also discuss how to license school logos to community vendors, register school logos for future trademark enforcement, and protect image cohesivity.

Topics:

• Whether a Trademark is Worth Pursuing
• Trademarks and the First Amendment
• How to Properly License Logos
• Trademarks as a “Tool”‌

Presented by Regan G. Wilkins.