The School District Attorney: Hiring to Meet the Needs of the Sociopolitical Climate

The law sets the bounds of school district discretion for critically important issues in education such as authority over the curriculum, special education, student discipline, discrimination, employee rights and freedoms, etc. As such, the law and education are intricately linked, requiring ongoing interdisciplinary analysis of everyday issues in schools. On one side of the law and education nexus, research and professional standards highlight the need for educational leaders to acquire the knowledge and skills to promote legal and ethical decision-making. A key and often overlooked stakeholder in the law and education nexus is the attorney advising educational institutions. This role is particularly noteworthy in the current sociopolitical climate, wherein school districts have served sites for politically charged debates to flourish in ways that implicate both the law and undermine school district commitments to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Systemic change requires multi-stakeholder engagement. While the literature notes the important role of system level actors such as principals, superintendents, or school boards, these individuals’ actions and the collective school district approach is circumscribed by advice from attorneys. The current context reveals the need for nuanced and complex knowledge and expertise to navigate the political climate. In this article, we aim to better understand the skills, knowledge, and experiences that school districts or law firms are seeking in their hiring of legal counsel for Pk-12 educational institutions.