Agency fails to crack down on teacher misconduct, California audit says [Sacramento Bee, 4/22/11]: California lawmakers are demanding change after a state audit of the commission charged with cracking down on teacher misconduct found numerous flaws that could pose risks to children.

Over the Line Even in Berkeley, Family Says [California Watch / Courthouse News Service, 4/20/11]: A high school student says a school counselor sexually pawed and harassed her, spanking her, hugging her, asking to meet outside of school, asking "Oh, you don't sleep naked?" - harassing her so persistently that her parents had to seek a restraining order against him - but the Berkeley Unified School District told her "that the conduct was not in fact sexual harassment, as it was neither 'severe' nor 'pervasive.'" The case is reported in California Watch [4/22/11]. The NSBA “Legal Clips” has an article regarding the case.

Young: Lawmakers push schools to show what an all-cuts budget looks like [Capitol Weekly, 4/20/11]: Without new revenues, public schools can expect to shoulder at least 40 percent of the cuts needed to close the state’s $12 billion deficit, lawmakers have warned school superintendents

Justices Seek U.S. Views on Special Education Case [School Law Blog, 4/18/11]: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the Obama administration for its views on whether a parent may bring a negligence claim against a school district that allegedly failed to identify a high school student's disabilities. Read the 2-1 decision from the Court of Appeals in Compton Unified School District v. Addison.

Budget Deal Fuels Revival of School Vouchers [New York Times, 4/15/11]: In the 11th-hour compromise to avoid a government shutdown last week, one concession that President Obama made to Republicans drew scant attention: he agreed to finance vouchers for Washington students to attend private schools. Are vouchers coming back?

Parents of teen who died by suicide after sexting incident and bullying sue School Board [St. Petersburg Times, 4/13/11]: The parents of a girl who died by suicide in 2009 have filed a federal lawsuit against the Hillsborough School Board, claiming school officials failed to take proper steps after learning their daughter showed signs of being suicidal.


Legal Social Media

Social media sites have become a ubiquitous part of the today's society, and the legal world is no exception. Both the federal and state governments have engaged heavily in social media forums.

The complete list of the Texas state government's social media sites can be found here. Kind of surprising that the Department of Agriculture does a podcast, isn't it?

The federal government also uses social media in a number of different ways, from the institutional ones you'd expect - The White House has a twitter feed and a Facebook account - to ones you might not - The United States Government Printing Office, the Office of Law Revision Counsel and Regulations.gov all have Twitter accounts.

There are also some unofficial social media sites that are very handy when it comes to research. Want the latest US Supreme Court decisions? Usethe Unoffical Supreme Court Twitter Feed If you really look hard, you might be able to find an actual Supreme Court Justice using Facebook or Twitter.

Fensterwald: NCLB’s escape hatch for schools [Educated Guess, 4/14/11]: An escape hatch – the “Safe Harbor” provision under the federal law – could spare a majority of schools from the law’s penalties and the failure label.
 
Colorado committee to unveil complex definition of "effective educator" [Denver Post, 4/13/11]: After 13 months of meetings, a council tasked with narrowing the definition of an effective educator to one for the entire state is presenting the definition to the State Board of Education today. It is not a simple definition, though. It consists of six quality standards, including showing knowledge of the content they teach, demonstrating leadership and taking responsibility for student growth.

U.S. judge sides with middle schoolers suspended for wearing 'I (heart) Boobies' bracelets [Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/13/11]: A federal judge in Philadelphia ruled Tuesday that, when it comes to breast-cancer awareness, it's OK for middle school students to say they love "boobies." The free-speech decision was a victory for two girls who got in trouble for defying a ban at Easton Area Middle School on wearing bracelets that said "I (heart) Boobies! (Keep A Breast)." Read the ruling in H. v. Easton School District.  The School Law Blog post is here. Read the story from “The Legal Intelligencer.”

Hopkins: Teach For America at 20: Add a year of training to the model [Thoughts on Public Education, 4/13/11]: This year marks Teach For America’s 20th anniversary. The nonprofit serves as one of the most prominent educational innovations in the last two decades, recruiting graduates from top universities and placing them for two years in classrooms across urban and rural communities in the United States.

Probes into teacher misconduct delayed; calm urged [Orange County Register, 4/12/11]: Orange County's schools superintendent is urging parents not to become alarmed by a new audit that suggests teachers accused of lewd and sexual acts against minors aren't being investigated in a timely manner by the state agency responsible for revoking education credentials.

U.S. Proposes New Education Privacy Rules [School Law Blog, 4/8/11]: The U.S. Department of Education has proposed new regulations on the privacy of educational records, meant to safeguard student data but also to guarantee that states may share data to help judge the effectiveness of school improvement efforts. The proposed regulations under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 were published April 8 in the Federal Register. Read the PDF file of the proposed FERPA regs. Read Sarah Spark’s discussion of the proposed rules [Inside School Research, 4/7/11].
Audit finds years-long backlog of investigations into accused teachers [Los Angeles Times, 4/8/11]: The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing took years to begin investigations into a teacher accused of showing pornography to children and another one who allegedly kissed a student, according to a new audit.

Teacher who evades March 15 notice loses appeal [4/7/11]: Michael Sullivan, a second year probationary teacher at Hawthorne High School knew he was about to receive a March 15 non-reelection notice and avoided receiving the written notice by March as required. He was absent from school andwas not at home to receive the certified letter. The Second District Court of Appeal ruled against Sullivan and upheld his non-reelection, even though the school district was one day late in personal delivery of the notice. Read the decision in Sullivan v. Centinela Valley H.S. Dist. (4/7/11).

Incentives or grade-selling? Line blurred in Sacramento-area cases, critics say [Sacramento Bee, 4/7/11]: Schools eager to show their smarts or raise money often give students incentives to do well on tests or participate in fundraisers. Many students can earn T-shirts or toys by raising money.

McRae: New tests for students with disabilities have wider implications [Thoughts on Public Education, 4/6/11]: For the past dozen years, California has been acknowledged as having some of the highest K-12 academic standards in the nation. However, recent changes in our assessment and accountability systems suggest that these standards have been eroded for at least one subgroup of kids in California schools.

OCR "Dear Colleague" Letter Addresses Sexual Harassment in Schools [Title IX blogspot, 4/6/11]: The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights today released a new guidance document geared to help schools, colleges, and universities understand and implement their responsibilities under Title IX to prevent and correct sexual harassment. The “Dear Colleague” letter put particular focus to sexual violence like rape and sexual assault, which are forms of sexual harassment and thus actionable under Title IX. With regards to all manners of sexual harassment, an institution's responsibility under Title IX is to take immediate action to address harassment that it knows or should know about. Read the “Dear Colleague” letter from the OCR:

Singled-out L.A. Unified teacher shares skills with colleagues [Los Angeles Times, 4/3/11]: Miguel Aguilar was cited as among L.A. Unified's most effective in an L.A. Times article on the 'value-added' evaluation method. Since then, many at his Pacoima school have adopted his methods. But budget cuts threaten his job.

California lawmakers fight over bill to teach students about gay people's contributions [Los Angeles Times, 4/2/11]: A measure proposed by state Sen. Mark D. Leno of San Francisco would require new social science textbooks to include 'a study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.'

No Breakdown on Teacher Layoffs [Thoughts on Public Education, 3/31/11]: Parents in Oakland who want to know how many teachers received layoff warnings this month, by school, can find this information in rich detail. Most districts don’t publicize this information, for fear that parents will find out that a system of layoffs based on seniority creates vast disparities, with schools staffed largely by new teachers, which are often in low-income neighborhoods, getting slammed.

Court upholds ruling on improperly fired Chicago teachers [Chicago Tribune, 3/30/11]: A federal judge's ruling that Chicago Public Schools improperly fired nearly 750 tenured teachers last summer was upheld Tuesday by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The appellate court agreed that the teachers are entitled to a recall procedure and that they should be given a "meaningful opportunity" to show they're qualified for new vacancies. But CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union, which had filed the suit in protest over the termination of teachers protected by union contract, had different interpretations of the ruling. You can also read the School Law Blog posting on this case. Read the 7th Circuit decision.

Baron: California schools move closer to doomsday [Thoughts on Public Education, 3/30/11]: Gov. Jerry Brown called off negotiations Tuesday with Republican lawmakers, aimed at putting the tax extension up for a statewide vote in June, in a move that pretty much crushes any chances of sparing public schools from even deeper cuts for the next school year.

Weingarten for the Union Defense [Wall Street Journal, 3/26/11]: Teachers unions are on the defensive these days. The Obama administration is pushing various measures long opposed by the unions: charter school expansion, pay-for-performance, teacher evaluations and more. States and localities are looking to change collective-bargaining rules and scale back costly, bloated education work forces that have grown even when student enrollment was flat or declining. And Hollywood, in recent documentary films like "Waiting for 'Superman,'" "The Lottery" and "The Cartel," has highlighted how teachers unions block or stifle education reforms to the detriment of the low-income minority kids who populate the nation's worst schools. Read this interview with AFT President Randi Weingarten. Read a Contra Costa Times account of a recent Weingarten speech [Contra Costa Times, 3/29/11]:

'Value-added' teacher evaluations: L.A. Unified tackles a tough formula [Los Angeles Times, 3/28/11]: Los Angeles school district leaders are poised to plunge ahead with their own confidential 'value-added' ratings this spring, saying the approach is far more objective and accurate than any other evaluation tool available, despite its complexity.

High Court to Weigh Bias Exemption for Religious Teachers [School Law Blog, 3/28/11]: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether a private school teacher involved in secular and religious instruction falls under a widely recognized exception to employment-discrimination laws for ministers and other church leaders. The case is Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the 6th Circuit ruling is here.

National debate continues over Bible education in public schools [Inland County Bulletin, 3/26/11]: The debate over the Bible-centered curriculum at Chino Valley Unified School District mirrors a national debate that has divided those who believe a secular study of the influential holy book is constitutional and those who think the offering of such curriculum is religiously motivated.

U.S. education secretary calls for overhaul of No Child Left Behind [Los Angeles Times, 3/23/11]: Arne Duncan, speaking in Los Angeles, urges Congress to rewrite the law to measure how much students improve on standardized tests. He also says L.A. school management and teachers union leaders should negotiate a new contract that bolsters teacher evaluations.

Report: More than 10 percent of California school districts are in financial trouble [Contra Costa Times, 3/22/11]: Nearly 2 million California students attend school in financially troubled districts, according to a report released Monday by state schools Chief Tom Torlakson.

Baron: Worser and worser [Thoughts on Public Education, 3/22/11]: In case anyone needed more evidence that California public schools are in decline, this year’s annual report on learning conditions at California high schools is aptly entitled Free Fall: Educational Opportunities in 2011. Read the report. The LA Times [3/22/11] reports also.

Note pinned to kindergartner's shirt prompts review [California Watch, 3/22/11]: The first time John Sinnott Elementary School sent the note home for the kindergartner's parents to sign, it was not returned. The second time, the note – printed on an 8.5-by-11-inch sheet of pink paper – was pinned to the student's shirt.