This handbook for elementary and secondary school principals contains several chapters on topics important to building level administrators. Each chapter summarizes relevant state and federal court decisions and statutes, concluding with recommendations for practice. The handbook is divided into four sections: students and the law, special education and the law, teachers and the law, and school and the law. The first section contains seven chapters on topics covering the First (expression), Fourth (search and seizure), and Fourteenth (procedural and substantive due process) Amendments; student discipline; child abuse; student-to-student sexual harassment; and student records. The second section contains seven chapters on topics that cover the federal laws protecting students with disabilities and recent relevant cases in which the courts have interpreted those statutes as they apply to student discipline and transition, parents' rights, infectious diseases, and physical access. The third section contains seven chapters covering topics related to teachers' rights and responsibilities: student injury, sexual harassment, academic freedom, performance evaluations, documentation and dismissal, and certification (licensure). The final section contains 10 chapters covering a variety of legal issues which principals commonly face: religious activities and instruction, copyright, affirmative action, school desegregation, and finance. The section also covers charter schools and alternative dispute resolution, and ends with a chapter on new directions in school law. The fifty-one authors of the chapters are either practicing attorney, professors of education, or university administrators who teach and write in the area of school law. (PKP)

Using 10 ready-made lessons, this book equips school leaders with a professional development curriculum to train teachers in areas of educational law that affect their everyday work.

A parent objects to a curriculum that includes a unit on Greek gods, arguing that it violates the separation of church and state. As a teacher or administrator, how should you respond? This type of issue is one most educators will have to confront eventually, in addition to other hot-button issues such as zero-tolerance policies, drug and alcohol testing, and prayer in schools. The School Law Handbook is designed to enable educators to confront such issues with information, insight, and initiative. The issues are organized into five areas: the school environment, Constitutional issues, students, personnel, and accountability. Within each area are several chapters, each beginning with a realistic scenario followed by legal and practical analyses of the situation. Armed with this knowledge of the parameters governing each scenario, educators can more effectively manage their responses, asking and answering the key questions: - What are the legal boundaries? - What is the district policy related to this issue? - What are the potential strategies for resolution? In this era of unparalleled public scrutiny, The School Law Handbook is essential reading for all school personnel. Note: This product listing is for the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version of the book.

The Principal's Legal Handbook contains information and recommendations for practice in four areas. Students and the Law yields interesting and informative answers on a number of issues related to students and the law: recent issues in schools relative to students' rights; the use of technology; and the latest case law and commentary on students' First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Special Education and the Law provides an overview of federal disability law as it applies to public schools today: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Individuals with Disabilities Act. Teachers and the Law discusses academic freedom, teacher supervision and student injuries, sexual harassment in the workplace, censorship, teacher performance evaluations, documentation for teacher improvement, dismissal procedures, and teacher certification.Schools and the Law highlights current legal issues faced by public schools, specifically addressing religion in schools, curricular issues, alternative dispute resolution, desegregation, and affirmative action among other topics. --Publisher description.