This volume of seminar presentations covers a broad range of legal issues affecting public schools. The first chapter summarizes employee free speech developments since "Connick v. Myers" (1983), a United States Supreme Court decision upholding a district attorney's right to dismiss a transferred assistant for circulating a controversial…

Today more than ever before, lay persons are being asked to share in the catechetical ministry of the Catholic Church by serving as catechetical leaders, catechists, and religious education board members. This handbook is designed to provide catechetical leaders and others involved in parish religious education with essential information about…

The standards and commentary in this volume are part of a series designed to cover the juvenile justice system and its relationship to the rights and responsibilities of juveniles. This volume on public education is addressed to legislators, courts, lawyers, educators, parents, students, and the general public. The volume proposes standards…

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)

This paper--part of a collection of 54 papers from the 48th annual conference of the Education Law Association held in November 2002-- addresses juvenile justice. Its central issue is how to protect children of color in elementary and secondary schools with constitutional due process where attendance is compulsory and, at the same time, maintain a…

Focuses on judicial reception of schools' attempts to curb violence, particularly predatory violence and psychopathological violence. School responses have been to create violence-prevention policies based on punitive measures or punish offending behavior after it has occurred. Such reactions may result in finding that schools have abridged…

School administrators are challenged to maintain the delicate balance between protecting individuals' rights and ensuring the general welfare by maintaining a safe, secure learning environment. Legal principles and precedents governing restrictions on student appearance, privacy and procedural rights, harassment and hate crimes, and suicide are…

In "Acton," the Supreme Court upheld a local school board policy calling for the random, suspicionless drug testing of interscholastic student athletes. The Supreme Court reasoned that student athletes have a low expectation of privacy; the scope of the search was relatively unobtrusive; and the program served an important government…

The recent decision of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in "Miller," based on the school district's interest in preventing possible abuse, gave legal support for random, suspiciousless drug testing of students. Contends this is a "slippery slope" argument, that the key factor in deciding whether to adopt a policy of random drug testing should…

Cases arguing about the use of school facilities by religious groups continued to increase in number in 1990; however cases involving home instruction and student searches declined. In the school desegregation section, the financing of desegregation plans occupied the attention in most cases. Increasingly, desegregation cases focus less on…

Designed to tap the rich collection of instructional techniques in the ERIC database, this compilation of lesson plans focuses on teaching high school students their Constitutional rights and responsibilities. The 40 lesson plans in the book cover the courts and basic rights, the rights of criminal suspects, the rights of minors and education law,…

Cases involving searches of public school pupils in order to obtain evidence of drug sales or use, and litigation challenging the punishments meted out to students found with drugs, continued to occupy the attention of courts in 1989. Also continuing a trend seen in previous years, religion-based challenges to state regulation of both home…

Court decisions in 1988 expanded the power of school boards to set policies regarding the operation of the public schools. Cases are discussed under the following sections: (1) public school assignment, tuition, transportation, home instruction, and compulsory attendance; (2) private and parochial schools; (3) substantive rights of students,…

This monograph attempts to provide clear understanding of the standards presented by the Supreme Court in "New Jersey v. T.L.O." relative to search and seizure in public schools, and suggests practical ways of applying search and seizure law to situations in the school setting. ("T.L.O." are the initials of the anonymous…

The increased presence of drugs and weapons in schools has forced school officials to step up searches of students, lockers, and school property. The landmark case of "New Jersey vs. TLO" set standards concerning reasonable suspicion and reasonable searches. School officials must be familiar with recent court opinions on student…