Education Law Commons^™

Drug Urinalysis In The Public Schools: Going Beyond T.L.O., James J. Cummings

Akron Law Review

The approach taken here will be to discuss briefly the fourth amendment, review traditional doctrines involving school searches, analyze the recent United States Supreme Court decision in New Jersey v. T.L.O., describe the relevant issues in a urinalysis search and recommend the standard by which such procedures should be judged.

School Board Authority And First Amendment Rights: The View After Board Of Education, Island Trees V. Pico, Joseph D. Mccann

Akron Law Review

This analysis will begin with an examination of the historical bases for the state's educational authority and the traditional limitations placed on this authority by the courts. Next, the genesis of students' rights will be reviewed along with the restrictions the growth of these rights has imposed upon school board authority. The paper will then turn to the Pico case itself - surveying the various judicial approaches taken in balancing the interests of school board authority and students' rights and scrutinizing these approaches for the proper theoretical framework for student first amendment rights analysis. Finally, the paper will examine the …

The Burlington Decision: A Vehicle To Enforce Free Appropriate Public Education For The Handicapped, Martha A. Motsco

Akron Law Review

This note will present an overview of early case law relevant to the Education of the Handicapped Act ("EHA"), discuss the facts and rationale of the Burlington v. Department of Education decision, and analyze the implications of Burlington as they relate to implementing the EHA in the future.

Mathew Fraser Sheds His Consititutional Rights To Freedom Of Speech At The Schoolhouse Gates, Karrie M. Kalai

Akron Law Review

The Constitution does not bestow an "unbridled license giving immunity for every possible use of language." The first amendment is not the guardian of unregulated talkativeness. Accordingly, the state's power to control the conduct of children reaches beyond the scope of its authority over adults, and the well-being of children is one subject entirely within the state's constitutional power to regulate. While children clearly have some first amendment rights, these rights differ in important respects from the rights enjoyed by adults. As the Supreme Court noted, "the world of children is not strictly part of the adult realm of free …

The Right To An Exclusively Religious Education--The Ultra-Orthodox Community In Israel In Comparative Perspective, Gila Stopler

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Kuhlmeier V. Hazelwood School District: The First Amendment Rights Of Public High School Students, Edward S. Muse

Akron Law Review

In Kuhlmeier v. Hazelwood School District, the Supreme Court held that high school students' first amendment rights were not violated when their principal deleted articles from the school newspaper. The Court stated that the school newspaper was not a "public forum" for expression which normally receives full first amendment protection. The Court further held that the school principal did not violate students' first amendment rights when he restricted the printing of articles due to the effect that they could have on other students.

The Supreme Court's decision will undoubtedly curtail students' rights to free speech and press. This casenote …

God Talk By Professors Within The Classrooms Of Public Institutions Of Higher Education: What Is Constitutionally Permissible?, Sarah Howard Jenkins, Byron R. Johnson, Otto Jennings Helwig

Akron Law Review

This essay establishes, first, the professional aspects of disclosure. Second, it defines the equipoise between the State's interest in efficiency and the teacher's interest in exercising his or her First Amendment right of expression of religious opinion on matters of public interest. Third, the essay identifies expressive activities of the teacher within the classroom that should be accorded First Amendment protection pursuant to James v. Board of Education. Fourth, the essay examines whether the professor's disclosure of personal and theological biases in a classroom constitutes state action and concludes that a professor fulfilling his or her assigned tasks within …

Cleaning Up With Banquo's Ghost In The Dairyland? A Brief (Economic) Analysis Of The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program's Unconstitutional Conditioning Of Its Aid On An Effective Waiver Of A Recipeint's Free Exercise Of Religion: Professor Richard A. Epstein's Bargaining With The State And Miller V. Benson, Michael E. Hartmann

Akron Law Review

If a state gives school-choice aid to individual parents, for instance, can it constitutionally attach a condition coercing, pressuring, or inducing such a parent to in return effectively waive the free exercise of religion by preventing the use of that aid - by, again, an individual - for tuition at a sectarian school? A pending federal lawsuit by Kansas City's Landmark Legal Foundation on behalf of five low-income parents and their children essentially asks this question of Wisconsin's four-year-old Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (M.P.C.P.), as does this short piece.' The following section, then, by way of further introduction, encapsulates law …

College Athletes Should Be Entitled To Workers' Compensation For Sports-Related Injuries: A Request To Broaden The Definition Of Employee Under Ohio Revised Code Section 4123.01, David W. Woodburn

Akron Law Review

This Comment examines the Ohio Workers' Compensation Act 25 and its applicability to scholarship-athletes. Part I discusses the failure of the NCAA and its universities to adopt an insurance program capable of providing effective coverage to scholarship-athletes. Part II provides a general overview of workers' compensation and discusses the major cases which either support or negate the applicability of workers' compensation to scholarship-athletes. Part III examines Ohio Revised Code section 4123.01 and how it can be interpreted to include scholarship-athletes within its scope, as well as discussing the public policy implications of incorporating scholarship students with this section.

Introduction To Clinical Teaching For The New Clinical Law Professor: A View From The First Floor, William P. Quigley

Akron Law Review

New clinical teachers, full of enthusiasm and energy, arrive at the law school having just crossed over into the new vocation of professor from their previous work as practicing lawyers. As many as ten eager, dedicated, inexperienced law students will shortly be representing several clients each, under the close supervision of the new clinical faculty member. There is a new office, new coworkers, new cases, new students, but most new of all, a new way of operating. No longer the lone advocate, now the advocate has-become a clinical teacher, working with law students. Dedicated to education and service, the clinic …

Harassing Speech In The Public Schools: The Validity Of Schools' Regulation Of Fighting Words And The Consequences If They Do Not, Adam A. Milani

Akron Law Review

What can - and should - schools do about the harassment which their students are suffering? While the issues of hateful and harassing speech and political correctness on college campuses have received a great deal of attention in both the mass media and legal journals, the very real problem of student-to-student harassment in grammar and high schools has only recently been given attention in either forum. More specifically, there has been little attention paid to the questions of whether (1) the First Amendment permits grammar and high schools to control harassing speech by students, (2) schools violate civil rights statutes …

Cleveland And Milwaukee's Free Market Solution For The "Pedantic Heap(S) Of Sophistry And Nonsense" That Plague Public Education: Mistakes On Two Lakes?, Douglas S. Edwards

Akron Law Review

This Comment summarizes the existing comprehensive analysis of federal and state constitutional challenges to voucher programs. It examines how the groundbreaking Cleveland and Milwaukee plans addressed these critical issues, and makes suggestions for legislators wishing to implement similar plans in their states. The suggestions are intended to: 1) facilitate the passage of such measures; 2) mitigate the most divisive arguments of voucher opponents; 3) allay the fears of the legislators and their constituents; and 4) fortify such plans against probable legal challenges.

Utilizing School Voucher Programs To Remedy School Financing Problems, Dominick Cirelli

Akron Law Review

This comment will focus on the existing problems in school financing, and the judicial treatment of these problems. Additionally, this comment will address whether school voucher programs are a viable option in addressing school financing inequities,"' with a particular focus on the existing voucher programs in Cleveland and Milwaukee." Finally, this comment will evaluate whether a voucher program would survive equal protection scrutiny.

Taxation Of Prepaid Tuition Plans And The 1997 Tax Provisions - Middle Class Panacea Or Placebo? Continuing Problems And Variations On A Theme, Eric A. Lustig

Akron Law Review

This article addresses the continuing tax issues and policies attendant to one form of financing the costs of higher education -- prepaid tuition plans. These plans generally allow one to purchase tuition in advance for future use. One attraction of such a plan is that the purchaser can lock in tuition at present rates, thus protecting against inflation and other tuition hikes. Moreover, favorable tax treatment exists as the build up of benefits is generally tax-free to the purchaser, which provides a significant advantage over other savings programs. Although prepaid tuition plans have been in existence for a number of …

A Current Perspective: The Erosion Of Affirmative Action In University Admissions, Corinne E. Anderson

Akron Law Review

This comment examines the recent trend towards anti-affirmative action in the context of university admissions policies. First, the comment will trace some of the formative history of affirmative action, including the Bakke decision. It will then review and analyze specific judicial and legislative events which suggest a trend towards anti-affirmative action. Finally, the comment will explore the different rationales for affirmative action and suggest some alternatives to racial preferences in admissions policies.

Preventing Violence In Ohio's Schools, Laura Beresh-Taylor

Akron Law Review

This Comment evaluates alternative schools and their potential to cure the epidemic of school violence. Part II analyzes schools’ potential liability for failing to protect students from harm. Part III examines the emergence of “zero-tolerance” laws. Although courts frequently uphold the authority of schools to suspend and expel students, Part IV maintains that school officials cannot violate students’ constitutional rights. Part V describes alternative education programs and analyzes their ability to avert violence. Part VI examines Ohio’s efforts to prevent crime in schools and recommends strategies that focus on targeting, diverting, and preventing juvenile violence. Schools that suspend and expel …

Why A Fundamental Right To A Quality Education Is Not Enough, James Wilson

Akron Law Review

This article relies upon the political and economic analysis of such great thinkers as Aristotle and Rousseau to understand and normatively evaluate constitutional caselaw in general and education cases in particular. The article’s title contains its conclusion: a judicially created right to a quality education is a laudable, but possibly counterproductive and definitely insufficient condition, for creating a humane constitutional system. The rest of society needs to do far more to protect the average citizen and worker from the ever-ravenous ruling class. All the edification in the world will not mean much if there are only a few decent jobs …

Citizenship Education And The Free Exercise Of Religion, Tyll Van Geel

Akron Law Review

Part One of this article provides a broad-brush overview of constitutional doctrine as it bears on citizenship education in the public schools. The remaining parts of the article focus on a Free Exercise challenge to the introduction of a Callaneseque program of citizenship education in a public school. Part Two thus explicates Callan’s theory. Part Three outlines my approach to the Free Exercise Clause. Part Four applies that approach to a challenge brought against a Callanesque program of citizenship education. Part Five takes up other possible rights-based limits on the education power and offers a suggestion regarding how citizenship education …

Thinking About The Constitution At The Cusp, Mark Tushnet

Akron Law Review

Marshall’s understanding that schools have an implicit curriculum might be a better guide to thinking about what we should teach about the Constitution in this century than any substantive points I might make. One controversial example may illustrate Marshall’s understanding: just as he asked what lesson would be taught by delaying desegregation, so we might ask, “What lesson will be taught about the nature of our constitutional community if we adopt a large-scale system of vouchers that parents can use to assist them in sending their children to non-public schools?” Such a system would demonstrate B and would teach our …

Rich Kids, Poor Kids, And The Single-Sex Education Debate, Rosemary Salomone

Akron Law Review

Over the past decade, the subject of publicly supported, single-sex education has generated considerable debate in legal and policy circles. Since 1996, much of that debate has centered around the Supreme Court’s decision in the Virginia Military Institute case and how that case intersects with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. In VMI, Justice Ginsburg, speaking for the Court, stated that gender classifications must have “an exceedingly persuasive justification” in order to pass muster under the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clause.1 That decision has become a key factor in recent efforts by school districts to establish single-sex schools …