David Schimmel

This book gives principals the tools they need to avoid lawsuits by teaching their staff the information they need to practice preventive law. Lawsuits often begin when teachers unintentionally violate students’ rights such as searching a student’s cell phone without reasonable suspicion or failing to follow a student’s Individualized Education Program. These violations do not occur because teachers intend to break the law. They occurred because the vast majority of teachers are not required to learn about the rights and responsibilities of students and teachers in their teacher preparation programs. As a result, most teachers get their legal information from the “law school” of the teachers’ lounge—that is, from colleagues who are similarly uninformed and misinformed. Instead, what teachers want and need is an in-service program that will provide them with a basic understanding of school law. But most busy principals don’t have the time, knowledge and resources to provide such a program for their staff. This book will meet this critical, unmet need. It provides principals with the resources and lesson plans they need to incorporate school law into their professional development program. As a result, their teachers will get their information about school law from a reliable source – not from the rumors, fears and myths of the teachers’ lounge. By empowering their teachers with legal knowledge, principals and teachers will avoid lawsuits by becoming partners in the practice of preventive law.

This book gives principals the tools they need to avoid lawsuits by teaching their staff the information they need to practice preventive law. Lawsuits often begin when teachers unintentionally violate students’ rights such as searching a student’s cell phone without reasonable suspicion or failing to follow a student’s Individualized Education Program. These violations do not occur because teachers intend to break the law. They occurred because the vast majority of teachers are not required to learn about the rights and responsibilities of students and teachers in their teacher preparation programs. As a result, most teachers get their legal information from the “law school” of the teachers’ lounge—that is, from colleagues who are similarly uninformed and misinformed. Instead, what teachers want and need is an in-service program that will provide them with a basic understanding of school law. But most busy principals don’t have the time, knowledge and resources to provide such a program for their staff. This book will meet this critical, unmet need. It provides principals with the resources and lesson plans they need to incorporate school law into their professional development program. As a result, their teachers will get their information about school law from a reliable source – not from the rumors, fears and myths of the teachers’ lounge. By empowering their teachers with legal knowledge, principals and teachers will avoid lawsuits by becoming partners in the practice of preventive law.

It is essential that today’s educators and school leaders are more informed about the legal rights and entitlements of students with disabilities. This resource provides eight easy-to-implement lesson plans on special education law that require no legal knowledge and can be facilitated by school principals, special education directors, teachers, or university instructors. In short one-hour sessions, participants learn by engaging in practical activities instead of only passive reading about the law. All of the lessons utilize actual situations that have led to expensive litigation and each includes the following sections: Introduction for Facilitators; Materials Needed; Background, Purpose, and Objectives of the Lesson; Hook; Activity; Questions for Conversation; Test Your Knowledge; and Additional Resources. This one-of-a-kind book will help schools and districts reduce the time and energy devoted to dealing with violations of the law, resolving parental complaints, correcting errors by school employees, and more.Book Features:A focus on important special education legal issues occurring in schools today.Field-tested lesson plans that can be adopted by schools nationwide because they are based on federal law.Everything needed to teach the lessons, including materials, scripts, interactive activities, and discussion questions.Measurable objectives and assessments to ensure the participants have learned the intended content of the lesson.

Future teachers and administrators and current school professionals get a comprehensive, user-friendly guide to critical school law topics and issues in this widely popular book. Using a unique question and answer format based on real cases from school districts throughout the country, the authors provide a thorough, wide-ranging understanding of public school law in the United States today. The clear, jargon-free writing style is ideal for readers without a strong legal background, as it eliminates technical and intimidating legal speak in favor of clear, simple explanations. The new edition of Teachers and the Law covers topics of concern today including the rights of transgender students, procedural versus substantive due process, charter schools and vouchers, students’ privacy rights when using computer, and the federal laws affecting disabled students, and includes a discussion of a recent affirmative action case.

Do teachers have a right to dress as they wish? Can Social Studies Teachers be prohibited from discussing controversial issues? When can copyrighted works be copied without permission? If you’ve ever pondered these or other questions of law, you need to know the right answers! In School Law: What Every Educator Should Know, A User-Friendly Guide, David Schimmel, Louis Fischer, and Leslie Stellman demystify educational law one question at a time and provide clarity to hundreds of topics that affect teachers today—NCLB, Vouchers, School Choice, Discipline, Academic Freedom, Liability for Student Injuries, Due Process, Search and Seizure, Dress and Grooming, to Harassment and Child Abuse—encompassing law established by state and federal statutes, constitutions, and court decisions. The authors offer friendly translations of legal jargon into everyday English, empowering educators to take the law constructively into their own hands and use it as a source of guidance and protection to improve their schools and classrooms. School Law: What Every Educator Should Know, A User-Friendly Guide is a powerful reference every educator can use and is a perfect resource for seminars and courses in Education Foundations, Introduction to Educational Psychology, School Counseling, Field Experience, Student Teaching Practicum, and Classroom Management, where knowledge of core legal concepts is important. Make the law work for you… “With its question/answer format, [this] book provides a general overview of how the legal system applies to the practice of education, considering many questions one might not think to ask.” —Meghan M. Reilly, Andover High School, Andover, MA “There is an excellent balance of legal citations in contrast with specific examples that almost every instructor can relate to in their experience as a classroom teacher.” —Thomas J. Little Jr., Kokomo-Center Schools, Kokomo, IN