The Internet is a valuable educational tool being utilized in many classrooms today. However, Internet and computer policies restrict and limit how the Internet and computer can be used in a school. An Internet and computer policy typically limits students to use the Internet and computer for educational purposes. If a student violates this policy…

Discusses U.S. student rights under the First Amendment, explaining that many teachers lack understanding of the First Amendment, and many schools isolate civics to the classroom and do not practice what they teach. The First Amendment Schools Project seeks to develop schools that model and teach the rights and responsibilities undergirding the…

Examines First Amendment rights of students and illustrates points of contention and conflict as educators try to cope with interpretations that seem to be diametrically opposed, as are those of the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District and the Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeir court cases. (SLD)

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in "Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier" established that a public high school newspaper, produced by students in a journalism class, is not a forum for public expression. The Court said that although school board policy specified that student free speech would not be restricted, other factors…

Examines a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the Bethel, Washington, school district in disciplining a student for giving a sexually provocative speech. Cautions against a possible trend toward renewed school emphasis on dress codes and other issues of decorum. (IW)

Assesses the use of language prohibiting hate crimes in campus conduct codes and determines whether such language unlawfully regulates speech, or behavior, or both. Examined senior student affairs officers' familiarity with two pertinent court decisions, along with the perceived applicability and use of the decisions in revising conduct codes.…

Disagreements over teachers' First Amendment, academic-freedom rights in curricular contexts are again receiving judicial attention. Two federal cases involving termination of exemplary high-school drama and creative-writing teachers have upheld school boards' authority to control curriculum context in disagreements over permissable subject matter…

As public agencies created by State legislative mandate, school districts and the officers thereof are obligated to abide by several provisions of the United States Constitution. School boards can reduce many of the sources of current student unrest by complying with these provisions. Courts have held that under the Fourteenth Amendment school…

Focusing on current United States Supreme Court decisions affecting the searching of students in school, this report also briefly examines the evolution of the right to education and student freedom of speech. Regarding search and seizure, since 1985 the Court has maintained that school officials are not exempt from the restrictions of the Fourth…

This twenty-one chapter book deals with important, timely topics in school law. Topics include home instruction in place of public school attendance; judicial review of labor arbitration awards; procedures for nonrenewal of nontenured teachers that avoid constitutional problems; discipline by grade reduction and grade denial based on attendance;…