This paper examines the practice of search and seizure from a legal perspective. All issues concerning lawful or unlawful search and seizure, whether in a public school or otherwise, are predicated upon the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The terms "search,""seizure,""probable…

Although schools cannot actively promote religiously-oriented activity, neither can they prohibit such activity. The 98th Congress passed the Equal Access Act in an attempt to ground students' rights to practice religion in the schools in well-established constitutional principles requiring equal treatment, protecting student-initiated meetings,…

This paper examines the relationship between constitutional courts and educational policy in Australia, the United States, and West Germany in an attempt to formulate a statement describing the relative impact of state and federal governments on educational policy in countries with a federal system of government. Much of the paper discusses the…

From a legal perspective, teacher evaluations can be a school's most valuable tool when administrators need to pursue or defend personnel actions. The first step in a practical evaluation process is to determine the evaluation's purpose, and the second is to determine what is to be evaluated. Evaluations should focus on factors that actually…

Areas of liability that relate to the daily practice of continuing education professionals are summarized. Areas of the law with the greatest potential for litigation involving the institution and its employees are identified, along with 16 preventive measures that protect the educational practitioner and institution from frivolous litigation yet…

Significant changes in United States culture during the past 25 years and court decisions resulting from legal suits challenging traditional educational procedures have made the future course of education very unpredictable. The social unrest of the 1960s brought about innovations such as open classrooms and nongrading systems in the wake of…

This paper is a presentation, in outline form, of the development of the "quasi-nonpublic forum," where cases involving student free speech push the envelope of what is acceptable under Constitutional law and what is appropriate/acceptable student behavior under constraints set by school regulations. Context is set by presenting court…

Although most parents want school officials to enforce rules for a drug-free school environment, they often feel differently when their own children are the objects of student searches. This paper argues that as long as searches are directed at "others,"--those who are known or assumed to be guilty of school rule violations or criminal…

This paper discusses the role of the courts in public policy formation, with particular attention to the impact of the New Jersey Supreme Court's decision in Robinson v. Cahill. The author explores the implications of judicial involvement in policy controversies by examining the responses of the New Jersey legislature and Department of Education…

The scenario: Pictures of children in various states of nudity are discovered in an elementary teacher's desk. What does one do? This paper offers guidance, much of it based on common sense, for administrators who may find themselves in a situation fraught with serious consequences if a mistake is made in determining the truth. Court decisions are…

A student's right to freedom of expression was well-protected by twenty years of legal history until the United States Supreme Court in its 1988 decision Hazelwood School District, et al. v. Kuhlmeier, et al. sharply limited this right by approving a school district's censorship of a high school newspaper. Prior to the Kuhlmeier decision courts…

Using recent establishment clause decisions concerning vocal prayer, silent meditation, and prayer groups in the public schools, this article suggests that courts have applied the seemingly consistent doctrine of the tripartite test to arrive at quite different results, based in part on extralegal sources. Two such sources are the attitudinal…

Policy is developed at many levels in the educational bureaucracy and is influenced by many agencies and groups. Few policies or deliberations, however, are related to any other policies or agencies, and most policies are developed to speak only to a particular goal or problem in a particular educational setting. There is no agreement on the…

A survey of court litigation traces the development of case law regarding the substantive rights of elementary and high school students in relation to school board rules and regulations. The survey reveals the gradual "judicialization" (conversion of conflicts into court cases) of educational governance and the delimiting of the school…

This paper argues that courts have tended to identify and enforce individual rights at the expense, in many instances, of the ability of school boards and legislatures to carry out what they perceive to be the will of the majority of voters in their jurisdictions. The trend emphasizing individual rights began in 1954 with the Supreme Court…