Purpose: A significant and growing body of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) research examines the experiences of students, employees, and the substance of leadership training. This project aims to complement this work by taking a macro-level look at the broader legal and policy issues that may constrain or enhance a school…

The purpose for this article is to explore the juxtaposition of legal expectations, conflicting community cultural values, and the role of the superintendent in these connected but often conflicting issues. The authors explore several issues through the lens of Gay-Straight Alliance clubs, the "Equal Access Act," and the role of the…

The conflict between the Equal Access Act's admonitions and the judiciary's interpretations has created an unresolved dilemma for districts confronting the equal access issue. Responses from 129 New York State secondary school principals and 479 superintendents nationwide indicate uncertainty regarding the legality of equal access policies and/or…

Examines the issue of whether implementation of the Equal Access Act would violate the constitutions of some states that require a stricter separation of church and state than the federal Constitution. (MLF)

Pressured by religious conservatives, Congress passed the Equal Access Act (1984), allowing secondary school students the right to form on-campus extracurricular religious and other clubs. Recently, a Gay-Straight Alliance Club at a southern California high school was granted court protection under this statute, despite the community's objections.…

Although schools cannot actively promote religiously-oriented activity, neither can they prohibit such activity. The 98th Congress passed the Equal Access Act in an attempt to ground students' rights to practice religion in the schools in well-established constitutional principles requiring equal treatment, protecting student-initiated meetings,…

The United States Supreme Court has refused to articulate a hierarchy among the guarantees of speech, press, assembly, and petition. The Court also has avoided specifying whether expression rights or safeguards against religious establishment are dominant. Addresses litigation indicating that free speech protections prevail when they collide with…

Outlines some legal and psychological issues surrounding student groups meeting on public school grounds. Describes two studies designed to measure students' ability to understand equal access policies. Study subjects included students in grades 4, 7, 10, and college undergraduates. (MLF)

Here is a book to serve educators from all types of schools in either pre-service or professional development that is designed as a text for master's and licensure (post-master's) level. This book covers all the relevant issues in school law: (1) The legal system; (2) The federal and state role in education; (3) Church-state relationships; (4)…

Teachers' rights to engage in religious activities may not be as extensive as students' rights. Students may participate in religious clubs on school premises so long as the school permits other noncurricular, student-initiated clubs to meet during noninstructional time. Courts' confusing forum analysis complicates the picture. (Contains 22…

Examines questions that continue to be raised by court decisions concerning the Equal Access Act of 1984 regarding the use of school facilities by religious and political groups. Offers some suggestions for school boards and administrators including the need for careful and explicit policies and rules. (MLF)

Beyond no-establishment and free-exercise principles, widespread agreement now exists on many thorny church-state questions: school prayer, teaching about religion, Bible clubs, equal access, excusals, distribution of religious literature, religious holidays, creationism, released time, and character education. One issue, speaker versus audience…

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Equal Access Act (EAA) had precedence over the state constitution under the Supremacy Clause. Examines that decision and considers its implications for the implementation of the EAA as well as other issues in church-state separation in education. (53 footnotes) (MLF)

This "fastback" examines the U.S. Supreme Court decisions and a few lower court decisions concerning religion and education rendered in the 1980s, and for background purposes, it also includes some decisions prior to the 1980s. The first of four parts discusses cases pertaining to prayer and religious activities in school. Included in…

Although the Supreme Court's "Mergens" decision settled the controversy over the constitutionality of the Equal Access Act, the ruling seems to make more ambiguous the definition of a limited open forum for student expression and the legal status of devotional activities. (55 references) (MLF)