Law Commons^™

Case Note: Nabozny V. Podlesny, William B. Turner

William B Turner

This case note describes and provides context for the 1996 opinion in Nabozny v. Podlesny, in which the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district judge's grant of summary judgment to defendants in a suit by a former student who complained of years of severe bullying and harassment by his peers because of his sexual orientation, which school administrators persistently failed to take steps to stop.

Strip Searches Of Students: Addressing The Undressing Of Children In Schools And Redressing The Fourth Amendment Violations, Diana R. Donahoe

Missouri Law Review

This Article exposes the problems created by T.L.O. and its progeny, analyzes the Safford decision, and proposes recommendations for lower courts, legislatures, and local school boards to redress the current strip search crisis in public schools. Part II explains the T.L.O. two-prong test and illustrates the problems the T.L.O. Court and lower courts have had in applying it, specifically in strip search cases. Part III analyzes the Safford opinion and its ramifications. Part IV proposes ways in which lower courts, legislatures, and local school boards can redress the problems created by TL.O. and Saf ford so that officials will no …

Race And Education: The Future Of Desegregation In The United States, Gregory Coleman Jr.

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Imposition Of Impact Fees After Volusia County V. Aberdeen: Has Florida Finally Reached Its State And Federal Constitutional Limit?, Shari Cruse

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Note first discusses the difference between the assessment of fees and the imposition of taxes, and provides a brief history of the development, limitations and expansion of impact fees in Florida. Parts III and IV of this Note provide an outline of the facts and procedural history of Volusia County v. Aberdeen, including the initial lawsuit filed by Aberdeen, L.P., and other leading Florida case law on assessment and impact fees. Part V of this Note discusses the Florida Supreme Court's rationale for upholding the lower court's ruling in favor of Aberdeen, L.P., which will then be comparatively analyzed …

Beyond Equality And Adequacy: Equal Protection, Tax Assessments, And The Missouri Public School Funding Dilemma, Ronald K. Rowe Ii.

Missouri Law Review

This Note focuses on the 2009 challenge to the SB287 formula and specifically the arguments that should have been accepted by the Supreme Court of Missouri. Central to the rejected challenges were two arguments not sufficiently considered by the court in its opinion: (1) the new school funding formula violates equal protection provisions of the Missouri Constitution because it does not adequately provide equal treatment under the law with respect to the fundamental right of education, and (2) the tax assessment procedures prescribed by the new formula and implemented by the State Tax Commission do not comply with the Missouri …

Will Residency Be Relevant To Public Education In The Twenty-First Century?, Sarah L. Browning

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Long before the framers of New Hampshire’s first constitution admonished legislatures and magistrates to cherish education, the provincial government had already established requirements for providing public education; these requirements were related to the size of a settlement.

By 1708, the provincial government in New Hampshire had established the first public school. Not surprisingly, the school was in Portsmouth, which was, at the time, the seat of the provincial government. On May 2, 1719, the province passed an act that required communities of fifty families to employ a school teacher. Under the same act, a community that had one hundred …

Independent Information Technology Assessment: Prepared For The Town Of Middleborough And The Middleborough School Department, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

This Independent Information Technology Assessment (IT Assessment) arose from long­standing concerns among various elected and appointed officials in the Town of Middleborough about the efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement and deployment of information technology (IT) in both the Town and in the School Department. At Middleborough’s direction, the IT Assessment specifically excluded the Police and Fire Departments as well as the Middleborough Gas and Electric Department.

Recognizing the need for a completely independent analysis of these issues, Middleborough contracted with the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management (the Collins Center), located within the McCormack Graduate School of …

After Unitary Status: Examining Voluntary Integration Strategies For Southern School Districts, Danielle R. Holley-Walker

Faculty Publications

This Article provides empirical data on student assignment plans that are currently being used by Southern school districts that have recently attained unitary status. As the facts of Parents Involved in Community Schools demonstrate, Southern school districts will likely continue to be at the forefront of the struggle over voluntary integration efforts. Many Southern school districts are being released from desegregation orders that allowed the district to use race-conscious remedies to address previous de jure racial segregation. Without those court orders, the school district is faced with a choice about whether to continue to make racial integration a priority and …

In Loco Parentis In The Public Schools: Abused, Confused, And In Need Of Change, Susan P. Stuart

Law Faculty Publications

In loco parentis is a common law doctrine that has been used to characterize the on-campus relationship between a school and its students, but its abuse has led to such absurd cases as Safford Unified School District No.1 v. Redding. Although waning in higher education, the doctrine is experiencing a resurgence in elementary and secondary schools. As originally conceived, the doctrine was used primarily to justify and defend student disciplinary actions: the school stood in the shoes of the parent and had authority to discipline, almost at will. The doctrine, however, never seemed to have a corollary in the …

R (On The Application Of E) (Respondent) V Governing Body Of Jfs And The Admissions Appeal Panel Of Jfs (Appellants) And Others (Case Note) [2009] Uksc 15, Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler

Dr. Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler

This case-note offers comparative perspectives on the UK Supreme Court’s judgment in the JFS case (alleged racially discriminatory school admissions policy) and the Israeli Supreme Court’s judgment in the Emanuel Haredi school case (alleged Ashkenazi/Sephardi segregation arrangements).

Accepting Justice Kennedy's Dare: The Future Of Integration In A Post-Pics World, Daniel Kiel

Fordham Law Review

In the wake of the most important public schools case in decades, Parents Involved in Community Schools (PICS), the future of diversity in public schools is in doubt. This period of uncertainty comes at a moment when parents, educators, and employers are demanding high quality schools that prepare students for an increasingly globalized world. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, in his PICS concurrence, recognized this discrepancy and challenged districts to continue the important work of bringing different students together without resorting to unconstitutional means. Filling the void between what is essential to public education and what is constitutionally permissible after PICS, …

Religion, Science And The Secular State: Creationism In American Public Schools, Gene Shreve

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article examines the current debate whether creationism may be taught in American schools given the constraints of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The author considers some of the social and political consequences of the U.S. Supreme Court's leading cases. The article concludes by questioning whether the Supreme Court has succeeded in justifying its restrictive decisions in this controversial area.

Federalizing Public Education, Thomas Kleven

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

First Amendment Protection Of Teachers' Instructional Speech: Extending Rust V. Sullivan To Ensure That Teachers Do Not Distort The Government Message, Emily White Kirsch

Cleveland State Law Review

The emergence of political activism in the 2008 presidential election extended throughout the country and even to where partisan politics have no place: the public school classroom. In 2004, the New York City Board of Education enacted a regulation that prohibited teachers from wearing any material supporting political candidates or organizations. During the 2008 election, teachers who wanted to wear partisan political buttons in the classroom while teaching claimed that the regulation violated their First Amendment rights. Although the Southern District of New York ultimately held that the teachers had no First Amendment claim, the court's decision, which involved sorting …

High Hopes Hamstrung: How The “Trial De Novo” For Termination Of Tenured Teachers’ Contracts Undermines School Reform In Oklahoma, N. Georgeann Roye

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Parent As (Mere) Educational Trustee: Whose Education Is It, Anyway?, Jeffrey Shulman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The purpose of this Article is two-fold. First, the Article argues that the parent’s right to educate his or her children is strictly circumscribed by the parent’s duty to ensure that children learn habits of critical reasoning and reflection. The law has long recognized that the state’s duty to educate children is superior to any parental right. Indeed, the “parentalist” position to the contrary rests on an inflation of rights that is, in fact, a radical departure from longstanding legal norms. Indeed, at common law the parent had “a sacred right” to the custody of his child, and the parent’s …