The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 stresses procedural safeguards regarding special education identification, placement, or services. Reviewed a sample of Illinois due process appeal decisions and concluded that the system appears to be serving Illinois educators and parents reasonably well. (20 references) (MLF)

A majority of federal courts have dismissed lawsuits involving children injured at school and have held that the Constitution does not mandate that affirmative steps should be taken to protect a child. Deals with both the legal and practical issues involved with such a decision. Argues that public school officials have an affirmative…

When the Supreme Court decided that the Constitution requires public school principals to follow procedural due process in suspension and expulsion cases, the Justices recognized a link between procedural due process and the fairness of effective discipline. This report reviews the constitutional due process required when public school officials…

This chapter's discussion of student discipline stresses a student's right to due process when he or she is faced with suspension or expulsion from school. To determine procedural requirements, the paper states, a school must examine both the statutes of the state and the requirements imposed by state and federal constitutions. The major topic of…

Major legal issues confront urban schools today, among them: (1) equal access of racial groups to quality education; (2) students' rights to due process; (3) teachers' rights to due process, academic freedom, collective bargaining, and promotion to administrative positions; (4) equal opportunity for those needing special education; (5) equal…

This report reviews legel problems related to students' rights by discussing the results of legal disputes involving primary and secondary student challenges to school district rules, regulations, and policies. The study is concerned solely with controversies involving Federal issues that have been heard by Federal courts. A summary of apparent…

Reviews how plaintiffs who legally challenge tenure denial, citing the legal theories most commonly used, have fared in several such lawsuits. Addresses the Supreme Court's recent pronouncement on the confidentiality issue. (105 references) (MLF)

The Supreme Court has ruled in several cases that schools must formulate rules and regulations that do not infringe on a student's right to free and unrestricted expression as guaranteed to them under the First Amendment. In two separate cases, the Court decided that students may wear buttons or armbands that express a particular position on an…

Court cases involving student discipline, especially in regard to student publications and dress and appearance, is the subject of this chapter. The introduction discusses the doctrine of in locus parentis, the celebrated Supreme Court case of Tinker, and the minimum essentials for enforcing rules of student conduct. The first half of the chapter…

Providing explanatory information regarding the legal principles and issues affecting Catholic school educators, this handbook summarizes student rights, contractual arrangements, and state and federal requirements as they apply to parochial schools. The legal issues involved in torts of negligence, including establishment and violation of…

Reviews four recent cases decided in state and federal courts. The cases focused on due process in student suspensions, the use of unlawfully obtained evidence in disciplinary hearings, unacceptable methods for handling personnel conflicts, and the application of voluntary affirmative action policies during periods of staff reduction. (PGD)

The Supreme Court's opinion and concurring opinion in a case limiting the right of courts to overturn academic decisions, based on the case of university's dismissal of a student after his failure of an important examination, are presented. (MSE)

Examines the general concept of judicial activism, then looks at three specific areas where charges of usurpation of policy-making power have been leveled at the courts: (1) racial desegregation; (2) due process for students; and (3) religion in public education. Concludes that judicial involvement in school policy occurs when explicit…

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…

In this chapter the author notes that only one conclusion concerning the litigation covered is warranted: the extremely large number of cases dealing with employment issued continued unabated in 1980. The main areas of litigation are discrimination (primarily on the basis of race and sex); substantive constitutional rights; due process; immunity…