Intended as a practical legal guide for Texas educators and lawyers, this book contains three major sections dealing with several chapters on various school law topics, each prepared by Texas attorneys. Section 1, "School Boards and Superintendents," includes chapters on school board members authority and relationship with staff, the…

Reviews court cases in which parents challenged school practices on religious grounds. Puts particular emphasis on recent attempts to make the curriculum conform to religious views. (Author/JM)

Provides a model reflective inquiry strategy to educate students about the controversy surrounding the proposed ban on tobacco advertising. Presents a 15-day lesson sequence which explores implications for clashes between individual rights and state power, and includes a list of resources for classroom use. (LS)

This Missouri law-related education (LRE) guidebook for judges visiting classrooms and class visits to courtrooms is premised upon the belief that partnerships between judges and teachers will foster civic competence in students, help students avoid legal problems, enhance higher level skills such as analytical thinking, and increase students'…

Asserting that fear and misunderstanding about religion in public education precludes reflection and compromise needed to promote societal well-being, this paper examines the current status of religion in U.S. public education and considers implications for policy making and practice. A brief history of religion in public education and two recent…

America's legal-educational history is filled with scores of cases of alleged radical teachers who have been legally excluded or removed from public school positions. Only a few of these cases have involved the First Amendment issue of inclass utterances by radicals. Such cases are significant because they highlight the established society's…

Censorship has become a significant problem for public school libraries and has been addressed in several court cases, including Pico v. Island Trees Board of Education, the first such case to be heard by the Supreme Court. In this case, to be decided in the summer of 1982, the school board voted to remove a group of books from school libraries,…

Provides a review of school library media research published from 2000-2002. Includes reports from ERIC and dissertations and thesis papers that discuss media specialists, information literacy, student achievement, electronic resources, first amendment rights, Internet use, standards, teacher collaboration, job competencies, mentoring, principals'…

Sketches recent struggles over censorship and student publications, beginning with the Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier case. Argues the flurry of litigation concerning First Amendment rights necessitates including these concerns in social studies courses. (CH)

Describes the facts and legal basis of federal court decisions in "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris," a case before the U.S. Supreme Court to determine if Cleveland's school voucher program violates the Establish Clause. Discusses the possible educational, legal, and political consequences of the Court's decision. (On June 27, 2002, the Supreme…

Cases arguing about the use of school facilities by religious groups continued to increase in number in 1990; however cases involving home instruction and student searches declined. In the school desegregation section, the financing of desegregation plans occupied the attention in most cases. Increasingly, desegregation cases focus less on…

Court decisions in 1988 expanded the power of school boards to set policies regarding the operation of the public schools. Cases are discussed under the following sections: (1) public school assignment, tuition, transportation, home instruction, and compulsory attendance; (2) private and parochial schools; (3) substantive rights of students,…

Attempts at censorship of books and periodicals used or made available in public schools have been increasing in recent years. Parents are raising a higher proportion of the complaints than ever before, and the percentage of complaints that are successful in having books removed from shelves is also on the rise. Three of seven federal court…

This unit is designed to encourage the students to discover the relevancy of American democratic ideals to their daily lives. It concentrates on the meaning of the fundamental freedoms expressed in the First Amendment: freedom of speech, press, assembly, petition, and religion. In addition, the student should receive some concrete insights into…

This article reviews some of the First Amendment issues that school boards and their legal counsel often encounter during a school board meeting. The discussion necessarily begins with a brief review of the public forum doctrine, under which is included the traditional public forum, the designated public forum, and the nonpublic forum. The article…