Its been a while but I felt compelled to blog about the piece in Seven Days that came out yesterday regarding the relaxation of homeschooling requirements in Vermont – – ostensibly because the Agency of Education (AOE) doesn’t have the resources to monitor compliance. In my opinion, this reduction of oversight came as a particular
Monaghan Safar Ducham PLLC Blogs
Blog Authors
Latest from Monaghan Safar Ducham PLLC
Through the Loudermill
To say that public service isn’t all sunshine and roses, would be – – well a bit of an understatement. Especially for one at the top of the so called food chain (like a President, Governor or Mayor) and the next level of subordinates (Secretaries, Commissioners, Directors and Department Heads) the media has always been…
“A Very Different Conversation”
It’s been a while. No blogging since the pandemic started (other then my last piece offering to assist licensed professions with pro bono help during COVID). It occurs to me that I haven’t been blogging in this strange new world of public meetings being held on Zoom and similar platforms. It was the last…
Climbing the Mountain: A Call to Volunteer During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Governor Phil Scott of Vermont just issued this call for volunteers for folks from a wide range of health care professions to volunteer their services during this time of need. I’m not a health care professional, but I’ve worked with health care professionals for most of my legal career on licensure issues. I am offering…
When in Doubt………
A few weeks ago the Vermont Secretary of State, Jim Condos, made a mistake. He posted… and then deleted an “offer” regarding a $75 coupon from Costco…. that turned out to be a scam.
Fellow blogger John Walters covered the story but from more of a political bent. As I’ve explained in the past, this…
SCHOOL LAW – Statutes and Regulations and Rules and Guides OH MY!: And the Reproductive Cycle of the Seahorse
Most of my readership is in Vermont (at least according to Google Analytics) but even those of you outside Vermont, even outside of the U.S. may have heard about the most recent news coming from our little corner of the world. No I’m not talking about Bernie Sanders or Howard Dean, but rather the Burlington…
Professional Prosecutors – Part 3
We last left off after a review of the Grey Areas of Professional Licensing in Vermont and the Burden of Proof in Professional Licensing cases. In part three of this series, we will be reviewing who has the authority to “charge” unprofessional conduct. In Vermont, as previously discussed, we have four separate entities that…
Notaries Beware!
Yesterday I received a notice from the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office, Office of Professional Regulation (OPR), informing me (and presumably every other person who is registered as a public notary in Vermont) that there is a new sheriff in town involved in the oversight and regulation of notaries public. Here’s a copy of the…
Professional Licensing – Burden of Proof – Part 2
We last left off with a broad comparative analysis between the four different professional regulatory systems in Vermont. Educators, attorneys, physicians and everyone else. I don’t plan on spending too much time, if any, in this series discussing attorney discipline. Namely because Bar Counsel Mike Kennedy is far more versed in this area and has…
The Grey Areas of Professional Licensing – Part One
As recently reported by the Burlington Free Press, one of the Burlington High School guidance counselors was charged with six counts of unprofessional conduct. The initial charges ranged from what I would characterize as employment or personnel issues that on their face do not appear to rise to the level of unprofessional conduct, to…