Three recent federal court decisions dealt with the use of public university and public school facilities by student groups for religious activities. In "Widmar v. Vincent," the United States Supreme Court decided that the University of Missouri at Kansas City was not justified in its denial of permission to a registered student…

Examines a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the Bethel, Washington, school district in disciplining a student for giving a sexually provocative speech. Cautions against a possible trend toward renewed school emphasis on dress codes and other issues of decorum. (IW)

The Supreme Court's "T.L.O." decision and its application by the lower courts provide school administrators with considerable guidance in dealing with search and seizure situations. A nationwide survey of 238 high school principals indicates the status of search and seizure practices in public secondary schools. (MLF)

Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell's interest in balancing the rights of the individual with those of the community through a flexible, pragmatic, case-by-case approach is revealed in his opinions in education cases involving racial integration, equal protection, the separation of church and state, and educational management. (PGD)

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…

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)

Analyzes the history, values, and legal issues involved in the inclusion controversy. Opponents of full inclusion of all students with disabilities in the classroom contend that it is a simplistic answer to complex problems. The Community Engagement Dialogic Model is an approach for dealing with judicial intervention in many special-education…

Responses from 157 principals (65 percent of a national sample) showed strong support for dress codes. Research focuses on the perception of school principals regarding dress codes, analyzes dress codes for common features, and proposes a constitutional standard of review for contested dress codes. (58 footnotes) (MLF)

In "Boring vs. Buncombe County Board of Education," the 4th U.S. Circuit Court reversed decision involving a school board's control over curriculum in a North Carolina high school. Controversy was over a play chosen for an advanced acting class that had been approved by principal. Decision says public school teachers have absolutely no right of…

This monograph, the fifth in a series, contains summaries and discussion of selected state and federal court decisions handed down during the Supreme Court's 1981-82 term. The cases were selected on the basis of their relevance to contemporary problems in public school settings, their definitiveness as articulations of existing law, and their…

The educational beliefs of Supreme Court Justices in the 1980s are examined, i.e., the explicitly stated beliefs, rather than any inferred beliefs based on legal decisions. In particular, the focus is on beliefs expressed only in the major Court opinions rendered in the 1980s. Issues discussed include the definition of education, its relation to…

This article outlines the significant legal decisions regarding collective bargaining in Catholic schools, identifies the governance structures employed in Catholic schools and the methods of translating these governance structures into documents required by civil law, and concludes with the citation of two recent court decisions that demonstrate…

This edition of the yearbook includes all state appellate and federal court cases relevant to elementary and secondary education decided during the 1977 calendar year and reported in the General Digest as of March 1978, as well as any 1976 cases that were not reported in the 1977 Yearbook. The book provides a comprehensive and objective summary…

Reviews a recent decision in "Littlefield" by the 5th Circuit upholding a school uniform policy. Advises board member who wish to adopt a school uniform policy to solicit input from parents and students, research the experiences of other school districts with uniform policies, and articulate the interests they wish to promote through uniform…

This paper offers administrators, teachers, and school boards an introduction to legal issues surrounding teacher dismissal and school desegregation and summarizes a study of all teacher dismissal cases heard from 1970 through 1981 in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Most of the report is devoted to an overview of the historical development of…