This instrumental case study explores 31 Iowan educators' and board of education members' perceptions of the ways the state's book ban law, Senate File 496 influenced school information systems. Mathisen's (2015) informational justice conceptual framework guided data analysis. The three key findings of this study were Senate File 496 was…

A 2020 lawsuit involves a public school teacher who refused to address transgender students by their preferred names because of his religious beliefs. This case is particularly significant because it is the first K-12 decision that analyzes this matter. This issue has important policy implications for schools and students.

Many Americans are familiar with the First Amendment, but its application to prayer and religious activities in public schools is often misunderstood. Religious beliefs are increasingly diverse in the United States. Therefore, it seems imperative that school personnel are aware of the law and sensitive to an array of religious practices. We…

Courts have long held that public school teachers are "state actors" when they carry out the duties of their job. Despite this, very few teacher preparation programs include an education law class. In order to understand teachers' legal literacy, a survey was given to 300 public school teachers in Indiana. The survey assessed knowledge…

Teacher use of social networking sites such as Facebook has presented some ethical dilemmas for policy makers. In this article, we argue that schools are justified in taking action against teachers when evidence emerges from social networking sites that teachers are (a) doing something that is illegal, (b) doing something that reflects badly on…

The University of Colorado's Ward Churchill is but the latest in a long line of professors whose volatile statements have created controversy for themselves and their universities. Specific personnel matters in the case have been meticulously addressed in Boulder, but several larger questions have been curiously neglected. One might well ask, for…

Considers if the very principles of freedom of expression and the First Amendment that underlie much of the scholarship in journalism and mass communication education is placed at risk by federal regulations that require prior approval of research designs. Presents four senior scholars' deliberations on the rationale, contradictions, ethics, and…

A wrongful arrest/racial discrimination suit in Livingston, Texas ended unfavorably for the parents of an African-American fifth-grader complaining of unfair treatment by his teacher and classmates. The parents' complaint should have been remedied, short of their having to make a federal case of miscommunication. (MLH)

Never enjoying the strong protection afforded to other First Amendment-related speech, academic freedom has been buffeted by a series of seemingly conflicting legal decisions. This paper explores the case that focuses on an allegation that faculty members of Vincennes University, a two-year school in Indiana, were discriminated against because of…

A study of teachers' perceptions concerning intellectual freedom and book selection and use in the elementary school is described in this paper. A questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 452 public elementary school classroom teachers in Minnesota. Surveys were completed by teachers for a response rate of 83%. Results indicated that: (1) 20%…

Reports that the majority of publications advisers surveyed rejected censorship. Some, however, indicated that it was more important for a school to be protected from potentially damaging articles than for a student publication to be free of school control. (FL)

To test whether a positive relationship exists between perceptions of school press function and acceptance of First Amendment protection for school journalists, high school newspaper advisers in the public schools of an east coast state were surveyed concerning their understanding of and attitudes toward both student press freedom and student…

Reports on a survey of high school newspaper advisers' attitudes toward student press rights and the adviser's role, indicating that most support a free and independent press, but, unlike college advisers, high school advisers were neutral concerning faculty/administration control where a potentially damaging article was concerned. (HTH)

Presents four essays that discuss (1) the continued apathy of many English teachers toward censorship of textbooks, (2) the tenuous commitment of the general public to the First Amendment rights of speech and assembly, (3) feminists as censors, and (4) the tendency of conflicts between censors and anticensors to be dominated by the extremes. (RBW)

Describes increasing attempts to censor school libraries, how teachers' groups and the courts have reacted to this censorship, and what schools can do. (JM)