This paper--part of a collection of 54 papers from the 48th annual conference of the Education Law Association held in November 2002--is an outline of a presentation on monitoring the activities of students and school personnel. The dilemma, according to this paper, is that public schools are obliged to prevent persons under their supervision from…

This study investigates how informed New York State middle school teachers (N=190) in public schools are about school law and case law which impacts on them in their professional roles. The study focuses on four areas: teacher rights and responsibilities, student rights, instruction, and health and safety. In addition to assessing subjects'…

A study was conducted to see if differences in attitudes and definitions exist between faculty and administrators toward the concept of academic freedom. The purpose was to gain a better understanding of their attitudes toward, and the perceptions of, academic freedom and compare those perceptions to the academic freedom general taxonomy. Academic…

A bill was introduced in the Colorado House of Representatives dealing with provisions for a written employment performance evaluation requirement in conjunction with a teacher dismissal provision based on performance evaluation. This paper reviews the major evaluation concepts introduced into the legislative process (which were based on the…

This paper reports on a study that focused on teacher participation in decision making, part of a larger study that looked at management styles in Czech basic schools. There was particular interest in areas of school functioning that went beyond the level of common teachers' work in the classroom. Questionnaires were submitted to school heads and…

This paper reports on a study to determine what management styles are being used at Czech schools and the possible reasons for these styles. The study also looked at participatory management in Czech schools and the possible hindrances to its wider adoption and development. Five basic questions were formulated: What management style is typically…

This paper shares some of Shoreline Community College's (Washington) means for bringing faculty and administrators together and creating successful, collaborative interactions. A political model of decision-making is included to help resolve conflicts before they become unmanageable. This model has four elements within it that together impact the…

Targeted by the "California Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Affairs" in 1946, Frances Eisenberg subsequently was dismissed from the Los Angeles Public School System after 20 years of teaching. In 1947, the "Tenney Committee" introduced eight bills in the California legislature to prevent the teaching of controversial…

School board members from 50 states have in common the United States Constitution and the legal principles announced by the federal courts in response to that Constitution. New board members are usually concerned with the rights of teachers, parents, and students. Starting with student rights, student conduct that involves freedom of expression…

This paper is part of a collection of 54 papers from the 48th annual conference of the Education Law Association held in November 2002. It discusses teachers' rights to private and public speech. Specifically, it examines the rights of special-education teachers and other special-education professionals to advocate, privately or publicly, on…

A discussion of ethical standards for the employment of international graduate students as teaching assistants (ITAs) in higher education institutions outlines 10 basic ITA rights and highlights how these rights protect the ITA population. ITAs have, or should have, the right to: (1) maintain their own languages and cultures and, consequently, to…

This paper is a summary of a comprehensive work on the legal, social, educational, and political history of lesbian and gay teachers in U.S. society from colonial times to the present. Case law on homosexual educators is discussed, as are three major political campaigns that sought to prohibit homosexual conduct, activity or advocacy by 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…

Except in matters of obvious race and/or sex discrimination, teachers in Catholic and other private schools have fewer Constitutional rights than public school teachers have. Contract law, rather than Constitutional law, governs most teacher employment situations in Catholic schools. An awareness of its implications, together with pastoral (moral…

This publication consists of papers delivered at a 1986 preconference workshop of the Canadian Education Association. "Recent Legislation and Emerging Trends," by Duncan Green, identifies common themes in three recent pieces of school legislation in Ontario. The second paper, by Judith Anderson, assesses "Trends and Implications for…