Teen’s Lawyer Threatens Litigation over a Teacher’s Bad Halloween Prank

A Massachusetts teen and his family are seeking $100,000 in damages for what they say is a teacher’s bad Halloween prank. According to the teen’s lawyer, Thomas Dussault, a Taunton, Mass., high school teacher came to a classroom door before Halloween last year wearing a mask and carrying what appeared…

Sep 15, 2011 10:30 AM CDT

Breyer: Civics an Issue in Blue and Red

Sep 1, 2011 6:00 AM CDT

Paroled in Manslaughter Case, Law Student Will Resume Legal Education This Fall

Corrected: Convicted of manslaughter after stabbing a friend to death five years ago, a law student at the University of British Columbia had to interrupt his legal education after completing his second year to serve two years in jail. But Sasan Ansari, 32, will return to school at the UBC…

Aug 31, 2011 10:06 PM CDT

Judge Blocks Ban on Student-Teacher Online Chats and Facebook Friendships; Mo. Gov Calls for Repeal

Calling a Missouri law that bans students and teachers from communicating online “staggering” in its overbreadth, a state court judge on Friday issued a preliminary injunction preventing it from taking effect until a hearing on a permanent injunction is held early next year. However, after Cole County Circuit Judge Jon…

Aug 29, 2011 6:52 PM CDT

Prof Acquitted of Battery; Prosecutors Claimed He Closed Laptop on Student’s Finger

A professor accused of shutting a student’s laptop on her finger has been acquitted of battery. Georgia jurors acquitted Frank Rybicki earlier this month, report Inside Higher Ed and the Spectator. He is an assistant professor of mass media at Valdosta State University in Georgia. Rybicki admits he shut the…

Aug 29, 2011 11:00 AM CDT

In Texas, Unruly School Kids End up in Court

Thousands of Texas students who get in fights or disrupt class end up in court, exemplifying a trend that some critics call the criminalization of student discipline. Students who use offensive language, disrupt class or get in schoolyard fights are charged with class C misdemeanors carrying fines of up to…

Aug 22, 2011 5:41 PM CDT

Prof Who Claimed His Boss Called Him a ‘Litigious Jew’ Gets $550K and His Job Back

A history professor who claimed his boss called him a “litigious Jew” has been awarded $550,000 in back pay and compensatory damages. U.S. District Judge William Conley signed an order (PDF) this week reinstating Michael Dubin to his old job. Conley also awarded $255,000 in back pay and $300,000 in…

Aug 12, 2011 4:30 PM CDT

Grads Sue New York Law School and Cooley Law, Saying They Inflated Job and Salary Stats

Graduates of New York Law School and Cooley Law School, respectively, filed lawsuits against their alma maters claiming that the schools were deceitful in the reporting of their graduate employment statistics. Plaintiffs in both the suit against Cooley (PDF) and the suit against New York Law School (PDF) are represented…

Aug 10, 2011 5:36 PM CDT

School District May Be Liable for 4th Grade Student’s Sexual Assault, Court Rules

A school district may be liable for failing to protect a fourth-grade student from a sexual assault by a man who checked her out of school without authorization, a federal appeals court has held. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in an Aug. 5 ruling (PDF), said…

Aug 9, 2011 9:59 PM CDT

Embattled Widener Law Prof Suspended for 1 Year Without Pay, Ordered to Get Psychiatric Treatment

Twice exonerated by faculty panels of making racist and sexist statements, a Widener University law professor was, however, found by the second panel to have retaliated against the students who made the accusations against him. Now Lawrence Connell, who taught at the school for 26 years, has been suspended for…

Aug 9, 2011 2:46 PM CDT

For Justice Breyer, the Need for Civic Education Is as Clear as Blue and Red

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer says he has seen the evidence that America is becoming increasingly polarized, and it’s colored in red and blue. Breyer tells of looking at two maps, one from 1976 and the other from 2011. Counties where elections were a “landslide” in favor of…

Aug 6, 2011 5:38 PM CDT

Missouri Outlaws Teacher-Student Facebook Friendships

Updated: A new Missouri law set to take effect later this month is aimed at more clearly defining teacher-student boundaries. But critics say portions of Senate Bill 54, also known as the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, go too far in limiting social media contact between teachers and their students.…

Aug 2, 2011 2:15 PM CDT

College Affirmative Action Could Be Back Before Supreme Court

Two federal appeals decisions this year involving affirmative action and college admissions could bring the issue back before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Washington Post takes a look at the two cases. In one, Fisher v. University of Texas, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a…

Aug 2, 2011 10:30 AM CDT

They Grow Up So Fast: Parents Write Script, Expect Kids and Courts to Make It Happen

Aug 1, 2011 5:10 AM CDT

Appeals Court Upholds Suspension of Student Over Internet Bullying

A federal appeals court upheld the discipline of a high school student who created a MySpace page targeted at a classmate that described her as a “slut” with herpes. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, in Richmond, Va., affirmed the suspension of Kara…

Jul 29, 2011 6:00 PM CDT