LK Education Bulletin

Recent articles in both USA today and the Knoxville News-Sentinel sound the alert on an emerging use of cell phones to capture and distribute nude or semi-nude photos.  While some participants consider this fun, the issue alarms parents, teachers and law enforcement who warn the images are appearing on the internet and worry about the long-term impact on the teens future.  The March 15th News-Sentinel article notes that in Knox County police are dealing with two "sexting" cases a week.  In some states juveniles involved in sharing these racy pictures are being charged with child pornography.  Lawmakers are debating penalties.  The Utah legislature recently reduced penalties for "sexting" from a felony to a misdemeanor.  All involved are sounding the alarm regarding the need to get the information out on the danger and legal ramifications of "sexting".

USA Today: More Teens Caught Up in "Sexting" by Wendy Koch, Mach 12, 2009

Knoxville News-Sentinel: Teens Play Show and Cell, March 15, 2009

School Board members concerned with the potential implications of the new School Support Organization Act (SSO Act) requested that the Tennessee Attorney General issue an opinion on whether the SSO Act creates any liability for the School Board or its members (professionally or personally), should a SSO experience a misappropriation of funds.

The Attorney General stated that as a general proposition, the SSO Act does not create liability on the part of school boards or their members when SSO funds are misappropriated. Further, a Tennessee statute specifically provides that the local board of education, director of schools, local school principal or any other school official shall not incur liability for the failure of a SSO to safeguard SSO funds.

The intent of the SSO Act was not to create liability on the part of the school board or a school board member. Rather, the intent of the Act was to place certain fiscal requirements upon the individual SSOs. The overall goal of the Act was to address concerns that parents and other persons who support these organizations have in ensuring that the money raised is safeguarded and used for its intended purposes.

The Act does place certain affirmative duties on school boards to adopt policies concerning cooperative agreements, SSOs, and other regulations. If these policies are followed, School Boards and their members should be insulated from any professional or personal liability.

Agenda

SPORTS LAW CONFERENCE

December 4, 2008

8:15 AM – 3:45 PM

Much is said and written about the need for a greater emphasis on science and math in our schools today. In East Tennessee the economic and business development leaders have created a 15 county alliance known as the Knoxville Oak Ridge Innovation Valley to promote the creation, development and funding for technology. In fulfilling their mission they have raised the bar for more science and math in our classrooms. 21st century jobs will be in such science rich areas as nano technology, biofuels and super computing.

The FIRST organization (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) www.usfirst.org has a program that we believe is part of the solution. A 501(c)(3) charity founded in 1989 their mission is to create a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes.

This is the organization that for high school students creates technology competition through the creation of robots that compete in a regional event and where the winning teams square off in a national championship. Teams of mentors and students design and assemble the robots over a six week period that starts prior to competition in one of 46 regions arcos the United States. Assembly is done using a kit of common parts purchased from FIRST costing $6,000. The parts kit does not include instructions on assembly that is for the mentors and students to determine. It does come with a challenge. The challenge is what the robot should be able to do at competition (ie. carry a ball 50 yards and place it on a table).

For the students the payoff is not just the learning that takes place in building the robot and securing funding for the parts kit but there is scholarship money available. For 2009 there are over 120 colleges and universities, professional associations, and corporations from the United States and Canada providing over 550 individual scholarship opportunities, valued at over $9.7 million, to FIRST high school students. This is an official recognition of the knowledge and technical and life skills these students have gained from participating in a FIRST competition. FIRST scholarships enable students to pursue majors and careers in engineering, computer science, science, math, design, aeronautics, and many other fields.

At Lewis King we are supporting this FIRST imitative. Staff volunteers served as mentors for a Knoxville high school team that competed for its first time in March of this year at the Peachtree Regional in Atlanta. We believe this program is part of the long term solution to creating more interest in science and technology. However, there is much work to be done. Last year there were only two East Tennessee teams that participated in a regional event. That is not enough for the Innovation Valley. Registration for 2008-09 has already started. We will again support a team that will compete in Atlanta and we hope to see you there.

This question arose in our consulting with members of an unincorporated non-profit entity that had previously filed with and obtained 501(c)(3) status with the IRS. Their issue being that IRS would require them to re-file for exempt status if their organizational structure changed to incorporated.

We discussed this issue with a staff member of the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office who indicated the following:

§ The act requires that these school support organizations be non-profit entities

§ The Secretary of State for Tennessee only recognizes corporations and limited liability companies (LLC) as non-profit entities

§ Legislative intent of the statute was for those support organizations subject to its domain to be corporations

While this advice is non-binding it does suggest that for this organization to be in compliance with the SSOFAA statute it will need to file and become a corporate entity as recognized by the Secretary of State and to re-file for exempt status with the IRS.