Special education is the most highly litigated area within the field of education. Therefore, the purpose of the current article is to highlight cases (court decisions, Office of Civil Rights rulings, and State Educational Agency hearings) involving students with disabilities in 2015. Highlights from the case law point to the need for school…

Suggests ways for ensuring that teacher evaluation methods used by principals when dismissing teachers will stand up to the challenges posed by hearings: Did the principal try to help the teacher improve? Were evaluation criteria relevant? Was the decision to terminate arbitrary or capricious? Was the evaluation process confidential? (PGD)

The high schools in Framingham, Massachusetts, use the Framingham Interagency Rehabilitation Model as an alternative to taking students accused of first-time offenses against major school discipline regulations to court. The process involves a quasijudicial hearing, court followup of student progress, and cooperation among several school and…

Lists seven steps for principals to take when terminating teachers: follow good evaluation processes, build a documented case, recommend the termination, notify the teacher, prepare carefully for the hearing, follow guidelines for testifying effectively, and accept the outcome. Expands on evaluation process characteristics, preparing for hearings,…