"Research says…" a lot. But how does research come to say anything? One way is by having teachers open their classroom doors to a researcher. In this article, we share the stories of two teachers who opened their doors to the authors' research and were glad they did. The teachers contrast this experience to other research experiences in…

Public employees have the right to engage in political activity on issues of public concern--even those issues that relate to education. Advocacy for a particular candidate on a ballot or taking a side on a referendum clearly are issues of public concern and therefore protected. Conversely, speech that involves a purely personal matter is not…

A teacher describes the four-year bureaucratic maze she went through to rectify a problem with the lack of proper toilet paper dispensers in the women teachers' bathroom of a brand new school. (MD)

A federal district court reinstated a competent volleyball coach when her Utah district reassigned her after discovering her gayness. The case seems a clear-cut lesson for school officials. Closer examination reveals the line drawn (between private behavior and public expression) that administrators and judges face when addressing homosexuality.…

Describes facts and law leading to Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision to remand for trial a middle-school teacher's claim that suburban Philadelphia school district retaliated against her for advocating the raising of multicultural awareness, thus violating her First Amendment rights of free speech. Discusses implications for teachers and…

Peeping software takes several forms and can be used on a network or to monitor a certain computer. E-Mail Plus, for example, hides inside a computer and sends exact copies of incoming or outgoing e-mail anywhere. School staff with monitored computers should demand e-mail privacy. (MLH)

School boards may permit incumbent teacher unions access to mailboxes while prohibiting rival unions such access. Dissenting justices argued that exclusive access is discrimination and amounts to censorship and infringement of the First Amendment. School boards should consider carefully before granting exclusive access to incumbent unions. (PB)

Analyzes Massachusetts case involving Salem State College decision to prevent a student from continuing his student teaching at an elementary school because of his continued expression of strongly held religious views in the classroom. First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the college's decision rejecting the student's claim that his 1st and 14th…

The 11th Circuit Court upheld a Georgia district's termination of an exemplary teacher who refused an immediate drug test after a police dog sniffed out a marijuana cigarette in her unlocked car. This case illustrates application of zero-tolerance policies to teachers and other personnel despite employees' signed contracts. (MLH)

Discusses a federal district court decision ordering a trial to determine if the New York City Public Schools created a "hostile work environment" in violation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act by not protecting a Sri Lankan-born teacher from repeated ridicule and harassment by students. (Contains 10 references.) (PKP)

Formulating and enforcing a code of ethics are characteristics of professional occupations. Such a code has not emerged, and never will, so long as collective bargaining is the dominant employment relations form in education. Unions formed to protect their members cannot accept the "management" responsibility for disciplining unethical…

A review of court decisions about teacher testing programs shows that tests must be equitable and fair, must not be used to discriminate by race or sex, and that adequate notice to teachers is required. (MLF)

Discusses an unsuccessful lawsuit brought by Margaret Boring, an acclaimed high school drama teacher in Buncombe County, North Carolina. She was transferred to a middle school for allegedly violating the school's "controversial materials" policy after students performed an expurgated version of Lee Blessing's "Independence."…

Discusses a 2000 federal trial court decision upholding a Kentucky district's termination of a tenured teacher who presented a curricular segment on industrial hemp as part of a "save-the-trees" unit. The decision underscores teachers' severely limited constitutional rights in the curricular context. (MLH)

Discusses a 1984 United States Supreme Court ruling against 20 faculty members not belonging to the Minnesota Community College Faculty Association (MCCFA) who alleged that their right to meet and confer with their employers over employment terms and conditions was violated by MCCFA representation excluding nonunion members. (JBM)