Education Law

Right to Belong

Christian group says it does; California law school says it doesn’t

Apr 1, 2010 7:10 AM CDT

Are Criminal Charges the Right Way to Punish High School Bullies in Suicide Cases?

A prosecutor’s unusual decision to pursue criminal charges against a group of high school classmates whose bullying allegedly resulted in the targeted 15-year-old’s suicide has sparked debate about how best to address such situations. Some say the criminal charges—which range from statutory rape to harassment and likely would not have…

Mar 31, 2010 10:39 PM CDT

9 Teens Charged with Harassment That Allegedly Led to Classmate’s Suicide

Nine teenagers in Massachusetts are now facing criminal charges after allegedly harassing a high school classmate so severely that she committed suicide in January after a three-month campaign that included physical attacks, taunting and cyberbullying via social networking websites. Charges against the two boys and seven girls range from statutory…

Mar 29, 2010 11:26 PM CDT

New Utah Law OKs State Seizure of Federal Lands; Aim Is Supreme Court Showdown

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has signed two bills into law authorizing the state to seize federal lands using its powers of eminent domain. The goal, supporters say, is to win a U.S. Supreme Court showdown, the Associated Press reports. More than 60 percent of Utah land is owned by the…

Mar 29, 2010 3:51 PM CDT

Sidley Austin Represents Plaintiffs in Another School Funding Challenge

Lawyers for plaintiffs challenging the local funding system for Illinois schools say a 1996 state supreme court ruling doesn’t bar their suit because of new mandates for education. The 1996 Illinois Supreme Court decision said school funding disparities were related to the legitimate state goal of promoting local control of…

Mar 24, 2010 5:32 PM CDT

Suit Claims School Didn’t Prevent Bullying That Drove Autistic Youth to Suicide

The parents of a 17-year-old autistic youth who committed suicide last October claim in a lawsuit that his Georgia school district and its principal failed to prevent the bullying that led to his depression. The federal lawsuit filed by the parents of Tyler Lee Long claims the school violated the…

Mar 22, 2010 1:23 PM CDT

ABA Weighs in on Law School’s Side in Case Over Christian Student Group

The American Bar Association filed an amicus curiae brief (PDF) with the U.S. Supreme Court late yesterday in a case that puts two cherished values at odds. On the one hand, the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law, like the ABA, has a policy against discrimination. On the…

Mar 16, 2010 11:13 PM CDT

9th Circuit Upholds Pledge’s ‘Under God’ in Public Schools

Because its “ostensible and predominant purpose was to inspire patriotism, the “under God” phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t violate the Constitution’s establishment clause, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. In its opinion (PDF), the court also reversed an injunction banning students from reciting the…

Mar 11, 2010 9:53 PM CST

ACLU Sues School District that Canceled Prom Over Lesbian Student’s Date Request

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against a Mississippi high school that canceled its prom after a lesbian student told school officials she wanted to take her girlfriend as her date and wear a tuxedo. Senior Constance McMillen asked officials at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Miss.,…

Mar 11, 2010 7:18 PM CST

Colleges Can’t Ban LGBT Discrimination, Va. AG Says in Letter

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sent a letter to state university presidents and board members last week stating that colleges lack the legal authority to ban sexual orientation discrimination on their campuses. “It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college…

Mar 8, 2010 5:28 PM CST

New Legal Strategy: Darwin Foes Also Target Global Warming Education

Those who targeted the teaching of evolution in public schools ran into a legal roadblock: Courts have said singling out evolution violates the separation between church and state. So Darwin foes apparently have a new legal strategy: They want to require schools teaching not only evolution but also global warming…

Mar 4, 2010 7:04 PM CST

School District in Laptop-Spying Case Ordered to Shut Off Webcams

Seeking to prevent a repeat of the alleged use of a school-issued laptop computer to spy on a suburban Philadelphia student at his home, a federal judge has approved a consent order intended to put a stop to the potential invasion of privacy. It prohibits Lower Merion School District from…

Feb 23, 2010 9:00 PM CST

Accused of Spying on Student at Home Via School Laptop, District Says It Didn’t

An upscale suburban Philadelphia school district accused in a lawsuit of spying on a student at home via the webcam in his school-provided laptop computer says it didn’t do it. The Lower Merion School District only activated the webcams when it was looking for a missing laptop among the 2,300…

Feb 19, 2010 6:56 PM CST

Suit Says School Spied on Student at Home Via Laptop Webcam, Seeks Class Action Status

A lawsuit filed by a the parents of a teenage student contends that his upscale suburban Philadelphia high school spied on him via a webcam on the laptop computer it issued to him that could be remotely activated. The suit, which was filed last week in federal court by Michael…

Feb 18, 2010 10:00 PM CST

Student Discipline Over ‘Worst Teacher’ Facebook Page Teaches School a Lesson

A federal magistrate judge in Florida has given the green light to a former high school student’s lawsuit against her principal, not only ruling against Peter Bayer’s motion to dismiss but saying that Katherine Evans had a First Amendment right to make the Facebook comments for which she was disciplined.…

Feb 16, 2010 6:02 PM CST