Megan is a partner with Weston Hurd in the Education and Labor & Employment groups located in Columbus, Ohio. She focuses her practice on providing general counsel to public school districts in board governance, personnel, and student matters. Megan advises education law clients on complex issues including discipline, due process, public records, Title IX, board policies and procedures, collective bargaining, arbitration, parliamentary procedure, residency and custody disputes, social media, Constitutional rights, and discrimination concerns. Megan also assists districts with collective bargaining needs, including contract review, negotiation, and interpretation and enforcement of collective bargaining agreements. Megan has successfully represented clients in arbitrations and in unfair labor practice charges before the State Employment Relations Board (SERB). Megan has represented clients before the U.S. Department of Education office for civil rights in matters involving claims of discrimination involving students, and has defended employers against complaints of discrimination filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC). Megan frequently provides training to clients on a variety of employment and education related matters including human resources, Title IX, board governance, sunshine laws, and personnel-related matters.
Education
Press, Publications and Presentations
Representative Matters
EDUCATION – GENERAL COUNSEL SERVICES
-Counsels clients regarding a variety of board-governance related issues, including parliamentary procedure, board vacancies, Open Meeting Act compliance, and Ethics laws.
-Advises school districts regarding the impact of legislative changes on school district obligations and practices.
-Assists districts with policy review and development.
-Drafts, revises, and makes recommendations regarding school district handbooks.
-Advises school districts on issues related to staff First Amendment and other Constitutional rights. Advises school districts on a variety of day-to-day operational issues.
-Provides day-to-day advice to school districts regarding operational issues.
-Assists school districts with negotiating vendor contracts and interpretation of existing vendor contracts.
EDUCATION – COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
-Drafts collective bargaining agreement provisions for school districts.
-Assists school districts with all facets of the collective bargaining process, including drafting, negotiating, interpreting, and administering collective bargaining agreement provisions.
-Counsels school districts on the impact of technology and collective bargaining. Assists school district clients with avoidance of, processing and addressing ULPs and grievances.
-Represents school districts in mediations.
SUNSHINE LAW AND PUBLIC RECORDS
-Counsels school districts on all aspects of Ohio’s Open Meetings Act (OMA).
-Counsels school districts regarding Public Records Act, including responses to public records requests.
-Assist and counsels districts regarding records retention obligations and compliance.
LABOR & EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
-Represents districts in arbitrations of grievances arising under collective bargaining agreements ranging from disciplinary issues to contract interpretation issues.
-Defends employers against unfair labor practice charges filed with SERB.
-Advises districts in avoidance of unfair labor practice charges.
-Counsels school districts regarding matters of employee discipline and contractual obligations. Assists school districts with processing of matters of employee discipline and termination.
-Counsels clients regarding employee criminal records check obligations.
Assists and defends school districts in matters before the EEOC and OCRC with regard to claims of race, gender, age, disability discrimination..
STUDENT ISSUES
-Advises school districts on issues related to student First Amendment and other Constitutional rights.
-Counsels school districts on issues of student discipline, hazing and bullying, and social media.
-Counsels clients regarding compliance with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and related student privacy obligations and concerns.
-Assists school districts with matters before the Office of Civil Rights (OCR).
-Counsels school districts regarding a variety of attendance, tuition and custody law matters.
Professional Associations
Member
Former Chair
Fellow
Member
Member
Honors, Awards and Civic/Community Involvement
Bar Admissions