Suzanne Eckes

This succinct resource helps academic professionals understand how basic legal principles apply to educational questionsWritten in a reader-friendly style that legal novices can easily understand, Legal Rights of School Leaders, Teachers, and Students details the principles underlying school law and provides essential guidelines for school personnel to follow in their everyday work. Descriptive scenarios of landmark cases and compelling visuals clarify concepts and help educators understand the context of legal principles as they apply to a range of school issues. While the coverage is comprehensive, the presentation is straightforward and non-technical with extensive footnotes that allow readers to delve further into topics. This 8th Edition combines two highly successful books, Public School Law: Teachers' and Students' Rights and Legal Rights of Teachers and Students, with updated coverage of current and emerging legal issues, policies, and judicial decisions that affect classroom teachers. A new chapter on alternatives to traditional public schooling and expanded discussions of technology and social media use, rights of students with disabilities, and the importance of legal literacy keep readers informed and prepared to face today's educational issues.

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.