Education Law

Acceptable Use Policies Becoming A Relic

Posted on April 28, 2009
Just participated a great conversation with Sara Dexter of the University of Virginia for one of her Technology Leader Certificate courses. One of the questions concerned Acceptable Use Policies and the ramifications of parents failing or unwilling to sign them, so I wanted to sort of rehash my answer here...

Credit Cards for 2 Year Olds

Posted on April 24, 2009
There is a lot of national talk about the credit industry right now, including talk of more highly regulating credit cards. Well, yesterday my 2 year old got a credit card application in the mail. He can't even read (nor has he mastered going on the potty) yet Regions Bank was apparently willing to extend him a thousand dollar line of credit...

Downside of Doing Nothing

Posted on April 23, 2009
This is a pretty bad one - I have not seen this before (I have a son who is potty training now, so I hope our daycare doesn't send something similar home to us). Embedded video from CNN Video But, the lesson here is that you can't just do nothing altogether...

Was it a search? - What?

Posted on April 21, 2009
The Supreme Court heard the Safford v. Redding case today ... so it is all over the news (I will post links and video as they become available). I trust Mark Walsh's interpretation of the events and he seemed struck by Justices Souter and Breyer asking tough questions of the Redding's (the student) lawyer...

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Supreme Court Previews at the School Law Blog

Posted on April 20, 2009
Mark Walsh has done a superb job as always in previewing the upcoming Supreme Court cases related to education and instead of duplicating the effort, I will just point you over there. Mark usually attends the oral arguments as well, so be sure to watch for that also...

Dissertation Up

Posted on April 20, 2009
My Dissertation is posted. Here is a link. It is really quite boring unless you enjoy considering principalship preparation issues and cross-referencing that with state data. The title is: EXAMINING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOOL LEADERS AND OF LOCAL SCHOOLS WHERE INDIANA EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP PREPARATION PROGRAMS PLACE THEIR GRADUATES ...

Destined for Doom: Sports Stadium Edition

Posted on April 20, 2009
The money spent on sport in this country is obscene. Norman Chad does a nice job of putting it in historical perspective in light of NYC's recent stadium investments and it is worth a quick read. Once again, we are front-row witnesses to public money gone mad...

AERA 09 Wrap

Posted on April 17, 2009
Yeah, didn't get a chance to blog nearly as much as I had planned. I just got back to Lexington, so let me write up a few thoughts before I forget them and I will try to return to several of them in the next couple weeks: Went to a wonderful session with Bill Koski, Kevin Welner, Mike Rebell and Anne Newman...

AERA: Day 2

Posted on April 15, 2009
My Internet access is somewhat limited here, so sorry the blogging has been light. A few reflections on the day: The Law and Education SIG is so enjoyable. It really is my favorite professional group and for you fellow edjurists out there, I highly recommend that you consider it...

AERA: San Deigo Blogging

Posted on April 13, 2009
San Diego is beautiful. Let's just start there. The hotels, the places to eat, the convention center, and the beach ... the beach is fabulous. Over the next couple days I will be blogging in a live way (although not live-blogging technically) several sessions and events at AERA...

AERA: San Diego Blogging

Posted on April 13, 2009
San Diego is beautiful. Let's just start there. The hotels, the places to eat, the convention center, and the beach ... the beach is fabulous. Over the next couple days I will be blogging in a live way (although not live-blogging technically) several sessions and events at AERA...

Wecasting or Liveblogging School Board Meetings

Posted on April 10, 2009
Wes Fryer liveblogged and UStreamed a school board meeting last week and wondered a little about the legal implications thereof. Short answer: Yes, you probably can video record or liveblog school board meetings unless someone tells you not to because it is going to disrupt the meeting or a local rule exists prohibiting recording...

How Can Schools Regulate Off-Campus Internet Speech?

Posted on April 10, 2009
We'll do a little mail today as I have a couple a need to get to (I try to be pretty responsive to reader requests or questions as much as I can without practicing law, so feel free to contact me): A reader from Michigan writes in with a question/musing: "How is it a school district thinks it has a right to scan students' Facebook pages and assign consequences to those that express dislike for certain teachers or use profanity in any way...

We Have To Get Rid of Time-Out Rooms

Posted on April 09, 2009
Following up on my post yesterday, I am going to make a follow-up plea today that we start eliminating these rooms. Last night I had access to some school data on usage of time-out rooms and I was absolutely in shock. Unfortunately, I cannot share this raw data and you will just have to take my word for it, but it was stark...

This was inevitable ...

Posted on April 08, 2009
I have always been against the "safe room" concept that is becoming more and more popular in schools ... because this is where that concept inevitably leads: Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Suing a School Over Bullying

Posted on April 07, 2009
The news making the rounds this week is the school outside Cleveland that is being sued over a student's suicide, which the parents claim is a result of unaddressed bullying. It is quite the interesting case and, if it doesn't settle, will make for a nice test case...

Food Allergy Bullying

Posted on April 03, 2009
This post was written by Abigail Mack, a Master's student in one of my classes here at UK. When I do my YouTube Assignment, I try to find ways to reward the best work and I thought this post warranted publishing. Enjoy. Allergy bullying occurs when one individual intimidates a person, usually a schoolmate, by threatening to expose that person to food that they are allergic to...

The Interesting South Carolina Rejection

Posted on April 02, 2009
I find this one very interesting. If you haven't heard, there is a growing controversy in South Carolina because Governor Mark Sanford's refusal of some of the Stiumlus money. Not just any Stimulus money, but specifically $700 million for K-12 and higher education...

Coaches, Calipari Edition

Posted on April 01, 2009
So, yes, we hired Jon Calipari. For 2.9 million a year, plus a slew of benefits (cars, tickets, country club membership, camp profits, etc). Here is his employment contract, it is one of the more interesting I have ever read (who gets 3 million for wearing the right pair of shoes?)...

Its the RIFing Time of Year

Posted on March 31, 2009
Districts are letting their teachers know they are RIFed about now. A lot of teachers are going to be RIFed this year. I could link to some examples, but it is easier for you to just check your local paper, because it is going to happen everywhere. This site is tracking all the RIF's in California, totaling over 27,800 and is providing a little social networking space for them to vent...

Coaches - Not My Favorite Aspect of Education

Posted on March 29, 2009
Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to make my dislike for school-employed coaches public. If you have had me in class, you are already aware of my feelings in this regard. My university just fired our basketball coach, Billy Gillespie, perhaps you've heard...

C-SPAN Tinker Session

Posted on March 27, 2009
C-SPAN had a program on the 40th Anniversiary of Tinker v. Des Moines, with Mary Beth Tinker and Maryam Ahranjani, a law professor at American University (who I think could have been a little more in touch with the educational world and the impact of Tinker - wonder if they know there are J...

Don't Get Discouraged

Posted on March 27, 2009
We have to relish stories like the one in North Dakota where students have been redirected from schools to sandbag lines to save their towns. We may bicker about on day to day issues, but it is nice to remember that when emergencies hit, we are still all on the same page.

Some more ed. law blogs

Posted on March 25, 2009
The Ed. Law Blogosphere continues to grow. That is not to say we haven't lost a few along the way, but nevertheless it is nice to continually see new folks around the country trying their hand.  So, here are some I want to point out to you. All of them have existed for a while, but I wanted to be sure that I featured them as I add them to my blogroll...

Some Butt-Art Video

Posted on March 24, 2009
I hadn't come across this video before on the Stephen Murmer, butt-art case and settlement. If you are new the case (lucky you) here is the background, the complaint, the school press release and the settlement. This is one of those classic cases that we ed...

Texas Stepping into Evolution Debate

Posted on March 23, 2009
Texas is getting ready to put its boot-print on the evolution debate in America.  The issue has been going on for a while and I have been following it here, but now national media has noticed -- putting Texas in sort of a no-backing down position here...

Those dang open meetings.

Posted on March 23, 2009
School boards really struggle with the Open Meeting Laws (sometimes called Sunshine Laws). Like this one in Iowa (h/t S.M.). Here is a compendium of every state's Open Meetings laws.   Also, most states have a handbook on Open Meetings laws for new board members and most are online...

Overruling the Spirit of Pickering

Posted on March 19, 2009
I'm now conformable making this statement: Garcetti expressly overruled the spirit of Pickering. Consider this from Pickering: However, the only way in which the Board could conclude, absent any evidence of the actual effect of the letter, that the statements contained therein were per se detrimental to the interest of the schools was to equate the Board members' own interests with that of the schools...

Edjurist TV: Episode 3 - Interview with Dr. Kevin Welner on his New Book: NeoVouchers: The Emergence of Tuition Tax Credits for Private Schooling

Posted on March 18, 2009
Hooray, it all worked this time! This is how I envisioned these sessions and hopefully how the rest will be from now on. Today we have Kevin Welner, an associate professor at the University of Colorado - Boulder, talking about his new book: NeoVouchers: The Emergence of Tuition Tax Credits for Private Schooling (it's pretty cheap folks, I recommend picking it up!)...

The Price-Tag

Posted on March 17, 2009
These Court cases cost a lot of money, especially when you lose. You might remember that a few years ago some counties in Kentucky wanted to put the Ten Commandments in the courthouse. The case was calledMcCreary County v. ACLU, because the ACLU sued to have them removed...

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