Education Law Commons^™

A New Sheriff In Town: Armistice In The War On Drugs And Students' Civil Rights, Susan P. Stuart

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Canines On Campus: Companion Animals At Postsecondary Educational Institutions, Rebecca J. Huss

Law Faculty Publications

This Article focuses on the issues that arise when students wish to attend a postsecondary institution accompanied by an animal. The Article begins by analyzing the federal law applicable to students bringing service and assistance animals to campus. The use of animal-assisted activities on campus is also explored. The Article continues with an examination of policies allowing students to have companion animals in campus housing. Concerns raised by administrators about allowing animals on campus are then considered. Finally, the Article sets forth the measures an educational institution should implement to ensure compliance with the law and proposes actions that can …

On The Need For Public Boarding Schools, Kevin Woodson

Law Faculty Publications

Nowhere is the inadequacy of American public education more striking than in high-poverty, urban schools populated by disadvantaged minority students. Despite decades of legal, policy, and scholarly efforts aimed at addressing the challenges facing these schools, the academic prospects of poor students are currently as grim as they have been in recent memory. Reformers seeking to address this problem have largely focused on transforming public education from within by focusing on school conditions or teacher performance.. These efforts have largely failed to bring about real progress: despite decades of litigation and reform, our nation’s most disadvantaged children continue to lack …

Reviewing Joan Delfattore's Knowledge In The Making, Suzanne Corriell

Law Faculty Publications

A book review of Joan DelFattore's Knowledge in the Making.

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 …

Participatory Lawyering & The Ivory Tower: Conducting A Forensic Law Audit In The Aftermath Of Virginia Tech, Susan P. Stuart

Law Faculty Publications

The tragic events at Virginia Tech in 2007 sent a cold wind blowing through the halls of higher education institutions: a Virginia Tech student, who had fallen through the cracks of the school's mental health services and disciplinary procedures, armed himself with firearms and murdered thirty-two students and a professor before committing suicide. In the wake of that massacre, several states and individual interest groups issued reports on campus readiness for similar catastrophes. A consistent theme throughout those reports emphasized the necessity for individual institutions to review their procedures to deal with campus violence.

This Article focuses on that institutional …

The Constitutional Future Of Race-Neutral Efforts To Promote Diversity And Avoid Racial Isolation In Our Elementary And Secondary Schools, Kimberly J. Robinson

Law Faculty Publications

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 that the racial classifications used by school districts in Seattle and Louisville to create diverse schools were unconstitutional. Justice Kennedy provided the deciding vote but also noted that school districts could pursue diversity and avoid racial isolation through race-neutral alternatives. He asserted that it was unlikely that race-neutral alternatives would be subject to strict scrutiny but articulated no rationale for this assertion. This Article argues that, after Parents Involved, school districts will focus on race-neutral efforts to create diverse schools …

Citizen Teacher: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't, Susan P. Stuart

Law Faculty Publications

The recent Supreme Court case of Garcetti v. Ceballos is becoming one of the most-used cases in its mere two-year history. It denies to public employees the protection of the First Amendment when speaking in their official duties. In reviewing the cases both leading up to and then relying oh Garcetti, one is struck by the inherent conflict that nowpermeates some school board-employee relationships. Whereas preceding cases attempted to reach a balance between the school board and its employees' speech rights, bad management practices now seem to trump the First Amendment. Such practices have school boards discharging teachers and …

The Irs And Your Politically Controversial Speakers, Mary L. Heen

Law Faculty Publications

During the 2008 election cycle, we can expect an upsurge of incidents in which college and unive rsity administrators rescind legitimate invitations to politically controversial speakers. As Academic Freedom and Outside Speakers, a statement issued by the MU P's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, affirms, "Because academic freedom requires the liberty to learn as well as to teach, colleges and universities should respect the prerogati ves of campus organizations to select outside speakers they wish to hear." (The statement begins on page 62 .) In the past, administrators have sometimes cited the lack of balance represented by the …

The Case For A Collaborative Enforcement Model For A Federal Right To Education, Kimberly J. Robinson

Law Faculty Publications

This Article proposes an innovative approach for directing the expanding federal role in education that will encourage states to address disparities in educational opportunities that prevent disadvantaged students from achieving their full potential. The proposed approach builds on the understanding reflected in NCLB that the federal government will remain critical in public education reform. This Article reexamines one avenue for federal involvement that the U.S. Supreme Court considered in several cases and that scholars have debated for more than thirty years: a federal right to education.

San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez explicitly offered the Supreme Court the opportunity …

Rethinking Student Press In The 'Marketplace Of Ideas' After Hosty: The Argument For Encouraging Professional Journalistic Practices, Jacob H. Rooksby

Law Faculty Publications

On February 21, 2006, the Supreme Court denied certiorari to Margaret L. Hosty, Jeni S. Porche, and Steven P. Barba, former student editors and staff writers of Illinois’ Governors State University (“GSU”) student newspaper, the Innovator. By denying their petition, the Court effectively ended the trio’s five-year legal battle in which they sought 42 U.S.C. § 1983 relief from Patricia Carter, Dean of Students at GSU. The students had argued that Dean Carter’s actions, which effectively required that they submit prospective issues of the Innovator to her office for administrative approval before going to press, violated their First Amendment …

Lex-Praxis Of Education Informational Privacy For Public Schoolchildren, Susan P. Stuart

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Local Distinction: State Education Privacy Laws For Public Schoolchildren, Susan P. Stuart

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Lessons For The Next Generation Of Public Single-Sex Elementary And Secondary Schools, Kimberly J. Robinson

Law Faculty Publications

Single-sex public elementary and secondary schools are making a comeback. School districts are structuring these schools in a variety of ways, including by providing a single-sex public school for only one sex or by offering single-sex schools for both sexes. These disparate structures of single-sex schools create distinct potential harms, risks, and benefits for students. This Article contends that the constitutional framework applied to single-sex schools should be systematically modified to recognize the different potential harms, risks, and benefits of these single-sex schools in a manner that will create optimal conditions for creating single-sex public schools. The proposed modifications address …

Fun With Dick And Jane And Lawrence: A Primer On Education Privacy As Constitutional Liberty, Susan P. Stuart

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ferpa And The Immigration And Naturalization Service: A Guide For University Counsel On Federal Rules For Collecting, Maintaining And Releasing Information About Foreign Students, Laura A.W. Khatcheressian

Law Faculty Publications

The devastating terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City, badly damaged the Pentagon, and took the lives of thousands of individuals. As more details became available about the terrorists who hijacked four U.S. planes to carry out these deadly attacks, universities around the U.S. struggled with the news that several of the hijackers had entered the U.S. on, or had later applied for, "student" visas. University officials began to grapple with new questions presented by these attacks: What responsibilities do the universities have to report foreign students who …

Peer Harassment--Interference With An Equal Educational Opportunity In Elementary And Secondary Schools, Ivan E. Bodensteiner

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Constitutionality Of Mandatory Public School Community Service Programs, Rodney A. Smolla

Law Faculty Publications

Proposals for public service programs have long had currency in America, and may be gaining a certain millennium momentum in current public debate. While proposals for national public service programs of varying ambition and scope continue to be debated, at the local level a growing number of U.S. public school districts are implementing community service programs for high school students. Community service programs generally require students to complete a specified number of hours of service as a condition for graduation. In a typical program, a student may be required to complete forty to sixty hours of community service with organizations …

An Evidentiary Framework For Diversity As A Compelling Interest In Higher Education, Kimberly J. Robinson

Law Faculty Publications

This Note argues that if courts choose to reexamine evidence on the value of diversity in higher education, they should not apply the evidentiary requirements that the Supreme Court has applied to cases involving questions of past discrimination. Rather, courts should consider the unique nature of diversity in higher education and the protection afforded the academic context in which the evidence is considered and modify their review of the evidence presented accordingly. Furthermore, this Note argues that the interest of an institution of higher education16 in diversity is "compelling" in light of the evidence that a racially diverse student body …

Fourth Circuit Finds University Of Maryland Minority Scholarship Program Unconstitutional, Podberesky V. Kirwan, 38 F.3d 147 (4th Cir. 1994), Kimberly J. Robinson

Law Faculty Publications

The use of minority scholarships to create a diverse student body and to remedy past discrimination has been the subject of considerable controversy in recent years. Although such scholarships constitute a small percentage of financial aid for higher education, opponents of minority scholarships argue that they unfairly discriminate against non-minority students on the basis of race. In Podberesky v. Kirwan, the Fourth Circuit held that the University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP) denied Daniel Podberesky, a Hispanic/white student, equal protection of the laws by excluding him from consideration for the race-based Benjamin Banneker Scholarship Program. The program, the court …

The Church, The State, And The Eha: Educating The Handicapped In Light Of The Establishment Clause, Thomas F. Guernsey, M. Grey Sweeney

Law Faculty Publications

All parents have the basic right to guide the educational future of their children. Prior to the 1970s, however, it was not unusual for the parents of a handicapped child to find it difficult, if not impossible, to provide their child with a genuine opportunity to learn. Despite the Supreme Court's proclamation in 1954 that education, "where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms," handicapped children were routinely excluded from public education or segregated within it. Congress, responding to the increasingly vocal call for equal education, took …

The School Pays The Piper, But How Much? Attorneys Fees In Special Education Cases After The Handicapped Children’S Protection Act Of 1986, Thomas F. Guernsey

Law Faculty Publications

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (the EHA) imposes significant responsibilities on local and state educational authorities to ensure that handicapped children are receiving free and appropriate public education. To protect this substantive right to education, Congress mandated extensive procedural protections, including the right to file a judicial action following exhaustion of administrative remedies. The EHA did not provide for the recovery of attorneys' fees, however, until the statute was recently amended. ...

When The Teachers And Parents Can’T Agree, Who Really Decides? Burdens Of Proof And Standards Of Review Under The Education For All Handicapped Children Act, Thomas F. Guernsey

Law Faculty Publications

In 1975, the United States Congress passed, and President Ford signed into law, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (hereinafter the Act or EAHCA). The key provision of the Act was that each handicapped child was entitled to a Free and Appropriate Public Education (hereinafter FAPE). Congress provided extensive procedural protections to ensure that the school authorities provided children with a FAPE. The extensive procedural protections included parental participation in most decisions affecting the child's educational program. ...

First Amendment Restrictions On Title I Programs In Private Schools, Laura Gaston Dooley

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Indianapolis Desegregation: Segregative Intent And The Interdistrict Remedy, Susan P. Stuart

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Note: Enforcing The Right To An "Appropriate" Education: The Education For All Handicapped Children Act Of 1975, John G. Douglass

Law Faculty Publications

Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 197 in response to the need for increased funding brought about by the widespread recognition by courts and state legislatures of the right of handicapped children to an adequate education. Although the Act sets forth general requirements states must meet in order to qualify for receipt of federal funds, it does not prescribe the specific educational programs local schools must make available in order to fulfill those requirements. Instead, the heart of the federal control mechanism is a system of procedural .safeguards which provides for parental involvement in educational placement …