Education Law

Lots of School Law Issues in Lexington

Posted on July 08, 2008
Since it became clear that I was moving to Lexington, I have added its paper to my daily reading list. As I have been reading it over the months, I have been noticing that Lexington has a lot of school law issues cropping up all the time. Today, for instance, a mother is suing a school over her daughter being bullied enough to send her to the hospital...

Heads Up: Post-X Generation

Posted on July 06, 2008
The Washington Post has saw fit to change generations on us, just so you know. Generation X is entering their 30-40's now and the Millennials are now coming of age. I have seen this language around before, but the Washington Post is trying to put a definitive stamp on things...

Friday Snippets - 4/07/08 - New Laws Taking Effect

Posted on July 04, 2008
Got to love July 1. The start of a new year, everything is fresh and hopeful ... at least in school terms. But, July 1 is frequently when all the new laws affecting schools take effect also (more). Not to spoil your optimism. We are not quite at the "just do whatever you want" point yet with NCLB, but we are getting closer...

School Law Professors & Technology

Posted on July 04, 2008
Since I teach educational leaders, I thought I would participate in Leadership Day 2008, which was started over at Dangerously Irrelevant last year and is happening again this year. Leadership Day 2008 is supposed to focus on ways to help school leaders become more technologically literate so that they can better lead schools in the 21st Century...

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School Standoff in Kansas City - Between School Districts

Posted on July 02, 2008
There is a standoff, literally, going on between Kansas City and Independence, Missouri School Districts. The Independence School District wants to take control of seven schools that were formally operated by the Kansas City School District. The KC School District seems to acknowledge that Independence has a right to take over the buildings, but because of an ongoing dispute between the districts over the cost of the school buildings owed to the Kansas City District and the lack of payment from Independence Schools, the doors were locked and security guards were posted to keep the Independence officials out of the buildings...

Ed. Law Professor Position - UIS

Posted on July 01, 2008
There is an Ed. Law assistant professor position at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Unlike some other Ed. Law professorship positions, this one does not necessarily require a Ph.D. - a J.D. and/or an Ed.D. may be enough so for any educational lawyers out there that have experience adjuncting at other universities, this may be an opportunity to get a full-time position at a growing university in the capital city of an important state...

The Changing Nature of Online Legal Research

Posted on July 01, 2008
I am working on a few different projects on educational law research. As mentioned before I am working on rebuilding the Edjurist. But, I am also working on a survey of educational law related folks and their online legal research needs with Kevin Brady, a professor at North Carolina State...

Friday Snippets: 06/27/08 - Sanding the Floors

Posted on June 26, 2008
An abbreviated, Thursday edition of the Snippets this week as I am going to spend the whole weekend refinishing my hardwood floors. A report on NCLB that showed some closing the the achievement gap made a lot of headlines this week. CEP's website where you can download the report...

Is Education Starting to "get" Myspace and Facebook

Posted on June 25, 2008
Can this be? Are educators starting to understand social networking a little? In today's Saint Louis Post-Dispatch they report on a fairly standard summer professional development meeting conducted by the teacher's union in Missouri. But, here is what is different: Shipma [director of legal services for the Missouri NEA] does not think a ban on teachers using such sites is the answer...

Midwestern Teacher Retirement Systems

Posted on June 24, 2008
Little bit of an odd post today, but I thought I would share a link to my latest report. The Indiana Department of Education asked a few of us at IU to examine the retirement benefits of school administrators and whether Indiana's benefit package could be affecting superintendent mobility out of the state...

Cert. Denied

Posted on June 23, 2008
Mark Walsh, who does an excellent job tracking these things, has 3 education cases being denied cert. by the Supreme Court. I was sort of hoping they would grant cert. in the corporal punishment case, but they didn't (and perhaps for the better, considering how conservative this court is, the last thing we need is a Supreme Court opinion validating physical punishments of kids by school authorities)...

This mess is going to trial ...

Posted on June 21, 2008
I really don't like this case. I have been following it for a while now and each time I think about it, it sort of annoys me more. Before, it was teacher v. school. Now, it is kids v. school & teacher. Here is Mr. Freshwater speaking for himself (pardon the ads)...

Friday Snippets: 6/20/08 - Summer Slowdown Begins

Posted on June 20, 2008
Arizona's Attorney General appeals the earlier unconstitutional vouchers ruling there. Virginia is reviewing the legality of their school fees. (These are always questionable under state constitutions).\ Quite a little fight shaping up in Florida this fall over the vouchers amendments...

Building a New Edjurist: What Would You Like to See?

Posted on June 19, 2008
During the rest of the summer I am working on building a new Edjurist website. I will still be posting here, but sometime in late July I will move over to a new, far more powerful platform. The new platform allows me to take the Edjurist beyond blogging and offer a range of different resources related to education law...

The Magic of Teachers and Fear

Posted on June 17, 2008
It annoys me when the mainstream media runs scary teacher stories. There are millions of teachers, but the press have an amazing ability to spot the few bad apples among them and use that as evidence that the entire system is corrupt. So, I enjoyed this story dripping with satire from the Colbert Report last night...

The Growing Education Law Blogosphere

Posted on June 16, 2008
Did some searching today for educational law blogs and wanted to pass along my findings. Our little community of educational law bloggers is growing. By my count, there are at least 15 specific educational law blogs that are active, give or take a couple...

Friday Snippets: 06/13/08 - Title IX & Sec. 1983 & Certiorari

Posted on June 13, 2008
Interesting case this week out of Florida on pre-release waivers for activities. The case is not related to schools directly, but may have school implications. I get asked a pre-release waivers a lot. My standard advice ... do them, but don't rely on them...

I Just Don't See How Single Gender Classes Are A Good Idea

Posted on June 12, 2008
I have been trying to be patient with this growing single-sex classroom idea. I have tried to withhold judgment and see the issue from all sides. I see the articles week after week from around the country touting how it is such a good idea. But, I just can't get on board with it...

What Can Educational Leadership Learn from the 2008 Election?

Posted on June 11, 2008
What can educational leadership learn from the 2008 election? That is the question I plan to base a upcoming paper on. I am going to wait until after the general to publish it (not even sure where yet) but I think there are a lot of valuable lessons that educational leadership can draw from this election and articulating those is worth something...

Friday Snippets: 6/6/08 - I'm an Anti-Dentite

Posted on June 06, 2008
The LA Teacher's walkout plan referenced a couple posts back, will be going forward as a judge denied an injunction trying to stop it.The Scopes Monkey Trial will not be reenacted in full this year in the Dayton, TN courtroom where the first drama played out...

The Ed. Tech Dominance of the Edublogosphere

Posted on June 05, 2008
Scott McLeod (an education technology theorist - is time for your own wikipedia page Scott?) over at Dangerously Irrelevant (a godfather edublog) has put a list together of the Top 50 P-12 Edublogs ... at least as ranked by Technorati authority. It must have taken forever to put together the list and I applaud Scott's efforts...

Again with the Duct Taping of Students to a Chair ... For the Love of God, STOP IT!

Posted on June 04, 2008
It is something of a quandary for educational law instructors ... this duct taping of students to chairs.  Most of us teach intentional torts to our students and the easiest example of false imprisonment is always this example. So, when these stories come along we have a tendency to notice them...

Not on the Same Page Here

Posted on June 02, 2008
Much has been made this year of the California Budget Cuts. I have written about it here and in several editions of the Friday Snippets and its been a regular feature in local California newspapers. I think there is real outrage on the part of people with an interest in education ...

Friday Snippets - 5/30/08 - Gas Prices - Ugh!

Posted on May 30, 2008
Well, surprise, surprise, California schools are not going to get rid of most of their teachers that they gave pink slips to. I just wonder how many good teachers they lost as a result of this fiasco. Probably somebody will do a study on it someday. By the way, if you remember, Texas was at the front of the line in trying to steal teachers away from Calif...

Could be Hearing More about This Racial Discrimination Case

Posted on May 27, 2008
Here is a case that has all the makings of blowing up nationally. I am not saying it will, but the ingredients are in place to make this case the next Jena 6. Allegations of over-discipline of African American children, racial slurs, etc. WKRG.com VideoThe case is out of Monroeville, Alabama ...

Friday Snippets - 5/23/08 - Honoring the Legacy of Brown v. Board

Posted on May 23, 2008
The Headliner:The headliner this week has to be the passing of Zelma Henderson, the last surviving plaintiff in the Topeka case that eventually was consolidated with other cases under the name Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. I am not sure the public really gets what these plaintiffs had to go through in this case with the waiting and the losses in previous courts, but it was a lot, and these parents in Topeka, Virginia, South Carolina and Delaware are American heroes and I am glad that as this case becomes a seminal point in American history that they are being remembered in the right way...

Response to Kevin Carey's "Money-Sucking Flagship Universities"

Posted on May 22, 2008
Over at the Quick and the Ed, they don't allow comments, so I thought I would write my response to Kevin Carey's "Money Sucking Flagship Universities" here. First, let me say I agree with Kevin a lot. In fact, I agree with him the vast majority of the time ...

What's Al Gore Doing?

Posted on May 22, 2008
Resolving the democratic primary, perhaps? Working on his latest powerpoint presentation? Maybe promoting his book or movie? Well, no, what he is currently doing is involving himself in the Education Budget Crunch across the country with specific focus in California...

Overpriced School Lawyers?

Posted on May 19, 2008
From today's Philadelphia Inquirer:WHILE PHILADELPHIA School District officials continue combing their books for nearly $40 million in spending cuts needed to balance next year's budget, one group of school employees appears to be safe from the ax: lawyers...

Friday Snippets - 5/16/08 - Special Education the Headliner

Posted on May 16, 2008
The HeadlinerThe headliner this week was special education issues.  (1). The Ninth Circuit went with the Second Circuit's reasoning for unilateral placement reimbursement. Jim Gerl has the details. (2). Mitchell Rubinstein thinks the 3rd Circuit made a major blunder in Pardini v...

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