Describes 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in "Cockrel v. Schelby County School District," involving a fifth-grade teacher's claim that she was unlawfully terminated for teaching a unit on the industrial use of hemp, thus violating her First Amendment right of free speech. (PKP)

Describes and explains the decisions in several freedom of speech cases and outlines practical conclusions that can serve as guidelines for administrators. (JM)

In 1989, the Iowa Legislature created a new code section that defines and regulates student exercise of free expression in "official school publications." Also, the Iowa State Department of Education was directed to develop a model publication code that includes reasonable provisions for regulating the time, place, and manner of student…

As a policy pronouncement, California's Proposition 227 mandates a duty of care that educators owe their students. Failure to teach primarily in English creates a private cause of action against an educator that overcomes legal and policy concerns of "Peter W. v. San Francisco Unified School District." (Contains 57 notes and references.)

This booklet was written to help school officials understand the law concerning public forums and voluntary religious activities in public schools. Compliance dilemmas arising from the First Amendment establishment of religion clause and the accompanying free speech and free expression clauses, along with 14th Amendment equal protection…

Describes the methods used by the Thatcher government to control publication of government information by the press and the recent attempt to prevent the publication of "Spycatcher" by former MI5 agent Peter Wright. The futility of government censorship and the need for guaranteed freedom of the press are also discussed. (113 notes with…

Examines a United States Supreme Court decision upholding the Bethel, Washington, school district in disciplining a student for giving a sexually provocative speech. Refers to the 1969 decision in "Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District," in which students had been suspended for wearing symbols of opposition to the…

The Equal Access Act of 1984 was drafted to implement access for religious clubs to public secondary schools, but with constitutionally protected safeguards to preclude entanglement of church and state. A number of challenges were made on the constitutional grounds of excessive entanglement of church and state, as well as what the definition of…

Directed at school officials, this paper describes selected civil cases filed against schools since 1976. Cases concerning handicapped students constitute most of such cases; those cited deal with discipline (S-1 v. Turlington) and appropriate residential placement (Hine v. Pitt County Board of Education) of a handicapped child. Discipline cases…

Reviews court cases in which parents challenged school practices on religious grounds. Puts particular emphasis on recent attempts to make the curriculum conform to religious views. (Author/JM)