Under Federal law, State and local educational agencies (hereinafter "districts") are required to provide all children with equal access to public education at the elementary and secondary level. Thie Dear Colleague letter was written to remind school districts of the Federal obligation to provide equal educational opportunities to all…

Most Americans are keenly aware of the African American civil rights movement. However, few know about the comparable struggle of Mexican Americans to enjoin the practice of segregated public schools in the Southwest. This article analyzes "Mendez v. Westminster School District," a 1946 federal court case that ruled that separate but…

A case involving a strip-search of two second-grade girls in Talledega, Alabama, was dismissed with an eight-to-three vote by the 11th Circuit Court. The court issued an opinion on only one question in the case: whether the employees involved were entitled to "qualified immunity." Advises administrators to be cautious and permit strip…

Asserts that, contrary to the still persisting views of William Graham Sumner, stateways can make folkways. Notes that, despite evasive reactions, a surprising amount of court-ordered desegregation has occurred in Southern and border States, although public colleges and universities have lagged behind. (Author/JM)

This paper presents court cases for the purpose of updating current knowledge on search and seizure of students in the school setting. These cases focus on the balance and interplay between students' Fourth Amendment rights and school administrators' obligations to maintain order and discipline in the schools. Part of this obligation implies…

Filing a lawsuit against a school district often means challenging the core values of a community. Cases discussed include a suit to prevent the broadcasting of morning prayers in school ("Herdahl"), a suit over the singing of a religious song ("Bauchman"), and drug-use testing for student athletes ("Acton"). (MLF)

In Boston a number of factors contributed to the prolonged community resistance to school desegregation and busing to achieve it. First, for ten years prior to 1974, Boston residents had been assured that their children had a right to attend neighborhood schools and that this right would never be abridged. Thus, the court order to utilize bus…

Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 was designed as a flexible and broadly scoped statute to restrict a wide variety of actions of state officials. During the past 15 years the number of court cases in which provisions of the 1871 act have been applied to school-related issues has increased geometrically. In 1961 the provisions of the act…

Traces legal balance in "Tinker" between Constitutional rights of students and caveat that these rights were secure only as exercise did not "interfere" with disciplinary processes of school. Cites changing political landscape; free exercise and establishment of religion; and search and seizure. Concludes that students appear…

Summarizes the Supreme Court's 1988-89 term in five sections: (1) civil rights in the context of employment and other liability-related issues; (2) special education; (3) freedom of speech and religion issues; (4) school desegregation; and (5) school finance-related issues. A list of all cases discussed, including case citations, is included at…

Classroom speech of public-school teachers is a messy subject with regard to the tension between various societal demands and basic rights of students, teachers, and others at school sites. The demands are not always consistent, and rights are subject to different interpretations depending on which court decision forms the underlying basis for a…

Public school principals and teachers have a compelling need to understand student rights when teaching constitutional principles that apply to students. This book seeks to help both students and educators understand those rights. The work concerns itself with the fundamental federal constitutional rights of public school students. A study of the…

This first chapter of "The Yearbook of School Law, 1986" summarizes and analyzes over 250 state and federal court decisions handed down in 1985 affecting the legal rights of employees of public schools and state education agencies. Among the topics examined are discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, age, and handicap;…