Chapter 10: Ethical and Legal Issues in U.S. Schools

Focus Questions What does it mean to be an ethical teacher? How do laws affect schools, teachers, and students? What are the legal rights of teachers? What are the legal responsibilities of teachers? How does the law impact the relationship between school and religion? What are the legal rights of students?

What Ethical Teachers Should Do Purposefully serve as positive role models for their students put students’ best interests ahead of other considerations involve families often and positively support colleagues and work collaboratively create and maintain a productive learning environment diversify instruction to address student differences

How Do Laws Affect Schools, Teachers, and Students? The laws that affect schools, teachers, and students are based on a balance of rights and responsibilities. Four basic sources of law directly impact the work of teachers: the U.S. Constitution, federal laws, state and local laws and policies, and case law.

Employment Legalities A teaching contract acts as an agreement between parties that states the rights and responsibilities of each as part of employment. Tenure indicates a continuing contract status. Due process provides steps that a district must take to pursue charges against a teacher and/or dismissal. Unions may negotiate contracts and working conditions through collective bargaining.

Case Law: Freedom of Expression Pickering v. Board of Education (1968) Teacher kept job after publicly criticizing school board Keefe v. Geanakos (1969) Teacher kept job after assigning controversial readings Kingsville School District v. Cooper (1980) Teacher dismissed for using role-play to teach about racial relations Krizek v. Cicero-Stickney Township HS (1989) Teacher dismissed for showing R-rated movie Stroman v. Colleton County School District (1992) Teacher fired for encouraging others to lie Murray v. Pittsburgh Board of Education (1996) Teacher fired for continuing to use instructional strategy considered unorthodox by school board

Case Law: Teachers’ Personal Lives Morrison v. State Board of Education (1969) Teacher keeps job because behavior doesn’t directly affect teaching performance. Tardif v. Quinn (1976) Teacher dismissed for not following dress code Thompson v. Southwest District (1980) Teacher keeps job when originally fired for unmarried cohabitation Eckmann v. Board of Eduation (1986) Single teacher raising child keeps job Ware v. Morgan County School District (1988) Teacher fired for using obscene language toward students Elvin v. City of Waterville (1990) Teacher fired for having sexual relations with a minor

Case Law: Teacher Liability Kaufman v. City of New York (1961) Teacher not liable for sports injury of student during supervised game Morris v. Douglas County School District (1965) Teacher liable for field trip injury to young child in her care Mancha v. Field Museum of Natural History (1971) Teacher not held liable for injury resulting from a self-guided museum tour Sheehan v. St. Peter’s Catholic School (1971) Teacher found liable for playground injury because she left students alone Station v. Travelers Insurance Company (1974) Teacher found liable for student injury because students were left alone in classroom

Guidelines for Classroom Copying Single copy may be made for scholarly research or use in teaching: book chapter, article, short story, poem, graphic representation or picture. Multiple copies (one per student) may be made with credit given to copyright holder if 3 tests are passed: brevity test, spontaneity test, time restrictions test. Teachers cannot copy individual works and put them together as an anthology. Students cannot be charged for the photocopying of copyrighted works.

Case Law: Religion in Schools Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) Amish allowed to end formal education at eighth grade Stone v. Graham (1980) Posting Ten Commandments in public schools is illegal Herdahl v. Pontotoc County School District (1996) Practice of prayer in classrooms ruled again to be illegal and in violation of the separation of church and state Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000) Public prayer at school events violates the First Amendment Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001) Student Christian group allowed to use school facilities

Case Law: Student Rights Tinker v. Des Moines Community School District (1969) Rights of students to wear armbands to protest Vietnam War upheld Goss v. Lopez (1975) Court ruled that students must be given due process when threatened with suspension because school attendance is a property right Ingraham v. Wright (1977) Corporal punishment may be administered without due process New Jersey v. TLO (1985) Court ruled search of purse was reasonable after student was found smoking Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (1986) School has right to censure lewd language to avoid disruption Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988) School has the right to censure controversial articles in school publications Isaacs v. Board of Education of Howard County (1999) If there is a “no hats” rule, all students must abide by it Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education (1999) School has an obligation to prevent sexual harassment

Concluding Thoughts When you choose to teach you make a commitment to a service profession. You commit to thoughtful and deliberate decision making, the courage to do what’s right for students, and the good sense to ask for advice and guidance when needed.