Monica Williams, a beloved counselor of an urban middle school, is shocked to learn that she is being terminated for a comment she made on Facebook. This case was developed for use in an educational leadership course for students to evaluate an educator's right to freedom of speech in relation to social media. Instructors can use the case to…

This case illustrates why future school leaders must be prepared to handle complex legal and political issues that commonly arise in school districts today. We discuss a long-standing and unresolved legal battle between a Hasidic Jewish community and the public school district in East Ramapo, New York. In particular, we examine the difficulties…

Reviews pertinent court cases in a discussion of how much freedom teachers have to decide how they will teach their students. Includes cases in which teacher authority was upheld and others in which it was denied. (Author/WD)

The speech communication department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, provides a rigorous and legally oriented course in freedom of speech. The objectives of the course are to help students gain insight into the historical and philosophical foundations of the First Amendment, the legal/judicial processes concerning the First Amendment, and…

If Socrates returned, he would find inculcation a ubiquitous feature of U.S. education. Students and teachers who dissent from the community's wisdom are still denied their voice. The ideal of genuine Socratic inquiry remains an elite proposition. The First Amendment, which should protect students' right to question long held assumptions and…

This document discusses several aspects of teaching about religion in the public schools. While religion is an important element in many areas of literature, art, and music, the social studies, especially history and civics, provide the best opportunity for including religion in the curriculum. Teaching about religion in public schools is examined…

School board censorship of library books and of curriculum materials and methodology can infringe on fundamental constitutional rights, according to this seventh chapter in a book on school law. In the last decade, cases in federal courts have tended to support the authority of school boards to control library materials. However, board authority…

Offers approaches for using the Bible as a textbook in literature, social studies, history, and humanities classes, based on the author's "Handbook for Teaching the Bible in English Classes." Recommends creationism not be included in the science curriculum and teachers be trained for sensitivity to student pluralism. Comments on relevant…

In the twenty-first century, differences in the treatment of trade in alcoholic beverages in comparison to other commercial goods seem at odds with the federal regulation of interstate trade under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, which prohibits "differential treatment of in-state and out-of-state economic interests that…