Law in the Schools (6th Edition)
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
This new edition is required by sea changes in statutory and case law that have occurred in the past few years. New legislation and judicial rulings have displaced, overturned, or substantially altered the law reported in the prior edition. These changes represent new trends regarding the control and uses of school property, with correlative changes in the rights and liabilities of school managers, teachers, students, parents, and community groups. They also herald divergent movements in school law. On one hand, school authorities have been given broader leeway to adopt strict security and disciplinary measures and to restrain certain forms of school-site speech in order to reduce school violence, drug trafficking, and sexual abuse. To some extent, the expansion of teacher and student liberties following the "rights" revolution of the 1960s and 1970s has given way to "zero tolerance" policies. On the other hand, school authorities risk expanded liability for infringing on the civil rights of students and teachers, especially in the areas of sex abuse and of race, gender, and disability discrimination. The latest Supreme Court opinions on topics of sexual orientation and the uses of racial criteria for employment or other benefits are as noteworthy for the new questions they raise as for their guidance on old questions. Legislation and regulation for private schools, charter schools, and home schooling also continue to grow. Courts and legislatures are still attempting to catch up with issues presented by the rapid growth of charter schools and home schooling. With regard to religiously affiliated schools, the latest Supreme Court decisions revise and in some instances reverse older constitutional law regarding some forms of government assistance to those schools. The scope of these changes and the need for a fresh study of school laws are reflected in the cases listed in the Select Table of Cases. There are more than 20 new decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and more than 14 significant new decisions by the federal Courts of Appeal. Some of those appeals are, at this writing, pending review and decision by the Supreme Court. The use of computer and Internet technology for in-house and distance learning projects raises new problems as well as new opportunities. The Dawson case in Chapter 1 addresses the legality of electronic transmission of combined commercial and educational materials into public schools. The drive to wire all schools for computerized education may have also influenced the Supreme Court's approval of state loans of state-purchased computers to religiously affiliated schools. Chapter 3 traces the latest constitutional rulings on religious speech and activities at public school sites and events by students and community groups. New materials on employment discrimination in Chapters 5, 6, and 9 include cases that significantly alter or clarify the law on gender, disability, and age discrimination. Chapter 6 presents cases that delimit constitutional protection for teacher speech and suspicionless teacher searches, including urinalysis testing. Kindred issues are revised in Chapter 7 with regard to student speech and searches. One first-of-its-kind case explores the enforcement of parental "do not resuscitate" orders, which pit school obligations to aid an afflicted student against the rights of parents to control medical treatment of their children. Chapter 7 also reports the changes wrought by the 1997 IDEA amendments on the rights of students with handicaps and the 1999 Supreme Court decision on the mandatory school provision of "related services" to such students. Chapter 8 updates the interpretation of overlapping but uncoordinated discrimination statutes. The new lead cases on school district or supervisor liability for student-on-student sexual harassment under Title IX ( Davis, Chapter 7), for teacher sexual abuse of- students ( Doe, Chapter 8), and for student suicides ( Hasenfus, Chapter 7) are particularly significant. The Walker case in Chapter 8 provides a good review of the untidy state of the law regarding the allowance of alternative remedies for violations of more than one civil rights statute. Chapter 9 updates the legal status of home education, private schools, and charter schools in the various states, including Supreme Court decisions on the use of government-employed teachers and government-supplied equipment in religious schools and the divisions among the states on the validity of tuition vouchers. This edition continues the linked themes of prior editions that law and educational practice interact in response to changing needs, and that educational decisions inevitably involve elements of both educational policy and of law. Accordingly, this text aims to equip educators with the information and insights that will enable them to identify and minimize potential legal problems, and to recognize instances where the unsettled law merits consultation with higher administrative authority or legal counsel. CHAPTER ORGANIZATION This edition slightly modifies the topical organization of the preceding edition. The major change involves the reorganization of teacher employment discrimination to an expanded Chapter 6. Otherwise, the topical coverage of each chapter is similar to that of the prior edition. As indicated in the detailed outline at the beginning of each chapter, some section headings have been reworded to provide more concrete specification of covered subjects. We have omitted from the reproduced case opinions the case footnotes and dissenting opinions unless otherwise expressly indicated. As explained in Chapter 1, we have employed a simplified, nontechnical form of citation for cases cited in the text and footnotes, in order to indicate the essential source and date of each cited case without burdening the reader with the full technical form of case citation. For ease of reference, statutes and cases of major interest are collected in the Appendices, and technical legal terms are explained in the Glossary, which precedes the Index.
The publisher, Prentice-Hall Career & Technology
Addressing the brisk pace of litigation affecting education, especially in the areas of civil rights and school finance reform, here is a new edition of this comprehensive treatment of school law. Three new chapters and discussion of thirty-three recent Supreme Court decisions help bring students up-to-date with changes in the field since the previous edition. The text thoroughly covers the legal principles governing American schools, both public and private, and discusses the origin and development of laws pertaining to schools. Furthermore, it explores the many ways in which laws influence specific educational policies, practices, and goals. This edition arranges coverage topically, to allow for course coverage of the full range of the law...or, only the specific topics of interest to your students.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Law in the Schools (6th Edition)
Law in the Schools (6th Edition),William D. Valente,Christina Valente,Prentice Hall,0131141554,Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice,Educational,Educational law and legislatio,Educational law and legislation,Law,Legal Reference / Law Profession,United States,Law / Educational Law & Legislation
English Books:
Recommended Books