No small legal matter - Fine Point Communications

We’ve mentioned before in Refill a federal court ruling in 2022 that, for the first time, would make independent schools responsible for tracking and following Title IX rules. That ruling is under appeal, and oral arguments were heard Jan. 25 in Richmond, Va.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals quizzed lawyers closely about the legal foundations of their assertions and, at one point, the case’s novelty.

The issue at center is whether private schools’ nonprofit status amounts to “federal financial assistance.” Such assistance determines whether a school is subject to Title IX and its prohibitions on sex discrimination.

Independent schools typically reject any direct federal funding, in part to avoid government entanglements. But a district judge in Maryland ruled that the tax exemption they enjoy as nonprofit organizations amounts to indirect federal financial assistance, and therefore Title IX applies.

All three appellate judges voiced skepticism that the Maryland court got the law right. Judge Pamela Harris pointed out that the U.S. government has never taken the position, in the 50-year history of Title IX, that nonprofit status is a form of federal financial assistance. And Judge Stephanie Thacker expressed her surprise that this argument had never come before a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals previously.

The plainest doubts came from Judge Allison Jones Rushing, who repeatedly pressed lawyers supporting the Maryland court to specify the legal provisions behind their conclusions, rather than to rely on inferences.

Thacker followed that line as well, although more gently. But she also chided Josh Richards, who represented the National Association of Independent Schools and other independent schools as a friend of the court in opposing the Maryland ruling, for submitting a brief that suggested “the sky is falling if you have to comply with Title IX.”

The brief said the ruling “threatens the very existence of independent schools and other nonprofits.”

Richards elaborated in court that the cost of ensuring compliance would amount to an enormous hit for independent schools across the country. Title IX “requires a highly prescriptive legalistic process, and that process now changes every four to eight years, every time we get a new administration,” he said.

Richards and the lawyer representing Concordia Preparatory School, Gregg Viola, were less effective at batting away a complication for their side: The 4th Circuit said more than 40 years ago, “The grant of tax-exempt status to any institution necessarily confers upon it a kind of monetary benefit and constitutes a form of government support.”

As Harris noted, that description still stands as the circuit’s opinion on tax exemption, and both attorneys struggled to clearly state how “a form of government support” differs from “federal financial assistance.”

Fine Point has created and published a transcript of the 40-minute oral argument, for those who want to keep tracking the case, Buettner-Hartsoe, et al., v. Baltimore Lutheran High School Association, d/b/a Concordia Preparatory School.

Report from a sold-out CASE-NAIS

Also last week, the annual CASE-NAIS Independent Schools Conference took place in Austin, Texas. A thousand registrants, including more than 100 marketing and communications professionals, gathered at the JW Marriott hotel for three days.

A welcome trend in recent years has been a program with more and more communications topics. This time, a dozen of the 82 sessions featured communications leaders.

Unfortunately, the schedule made it impossible to catch them all — four were in the same time block Monday afternoon. But we attended several and heard speakers encourage steps we’ve discussed in Refill: Survey your community regularly; trumpet what your school does better than anybody; be a good neighbor; prepare ahead of time for inevitable crises.

CASE-NAIS is about community-building as much as professional development, and it was great to reconnect with familiar faces and make new friends. We were thrilled to host a Sunday-night dinner and to connect with so many people at the Fine Point Communications booth.

Those walking the Marketplace for swag from sponsors and exhibitors came away with a wide variety of goodies, including:

“Cow chips” (chocolate-covered potato chips) from Prince Edward Island
Insomnia Cookies
Fanny packs and pencil pouches
First-aid kits
Notebooks and pens
Hand sanitizer bottles
Power banks
Gift cards

Barista stands at a coffee station.

The clear hit of the Marketplace (besides our booth, of course) was Boost My School’s swag offering: a freelance barista who made eight different drinks to order. As people queued for a pick-me-up, company officials worked the line to chat with people about their product. Very clever!

Plan now to attend CASE-NAIS next January, when it’ll be in Washington, D.C. And make a point of booking your registration early; for the second straight year, this conference sold out about a month ahead of time.

Brilliant magazine writing

Each fall, we enjoy the privilege of helping judge InspirED School Marketers’ Brilliance Awards. The entries, from schools around the world, always showcase the many interesting ways to reach and satisfy an audience.

The 2023 Brilliance winners were announced this month. This time, we helped judge the Magazine Writing category, whose gold award went to a first-time recipient, Wesleyan School from outside Atlanta.

School life, athletics and academics — the topics in this unbylined, three-story entry — are common materials in school magazines. Wesleyan’s distinction came, though, in its bold writing approach. Daring choices made the articles take flight.

For instance, a piece describing a typical week in the school relied on liturgy as its frame. An uncommon choice but, on reflection, a profound one: Wesleyan’s identity as a Christian school is central to its mission, and liturgy fits perfectly within that identity. As a common point of connection, the writer highlighted psalms and Bible verses that come up repeatedly in the school’s traditions. Yet the writing also took care not to strain the framing, never belaboring the point.

The sports story examined not win-loss records or personal bests. Rather, it focused on team-building and camaraderie in Wesleyan’s sports — the aim of “being a part of something bigger than yourself.”

All three stories were uniquely about Wesleyan, including aspects of school culture and values that an insider would know and appreciate. But, critically, the articles remained accessible: A newcomer to the school could also connect with them.

And they featured journalistic skill. Deep reporting empowered the writers to convey knowledge and authority, as well as to introduce plenty of voices from their interviews. These were not first-person essays or research papers. The verbs leaned toward activity and creativity.

With an impressive collection of work, Wesleyan easily earned the top score on our score sheet.