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Fossey, Richard University of North TexasE-Mail author RICHARD FOSSEY is a Professor and Senior Policy Researcher at the Center for the Study of Education Reform at the University of North Texas. Richard Fossey & Todd A. DeMitchell — 2006 Free speech in the schools can have a bruising quality. The Ninth Circuit was correct when it said that in some instances student speech can be psychologically painful to others—especially vulnerable students like the gay and lesbian students that Tye Harper’s T-shirt criticized. But it is a very dangerous thing for a court to allow schools to propound the officially approved viewpoint on a particular controversial topic and then censor the views of those who disagree. We believe that the Supreme Court should accept Tye Harper’s appeal and restore the proper balance that Tinker established over 35 years ago between the student’s right to speak on unpopular topics and the school’s legitimate interest to maintain a proper educational environment for those same students. Richard Fossey & Todd A. DeMitchell — 2007 In any event, thanks to Frederick v. Morse, we will soon know whether a sign proclaiming “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” deserves constitutional protection in the context of a school-monitored activity. We hope the Supreme Court will declare that this phrase is not constitutionally protected as it was used in Frederick v. Morse and thus preserve the majesty of the First Amendment for topics that are worthy of its shelter. Richard Fossey — 2007 It has been 22 years since the Supreme Court first affirmed that children have a constitutional right under the Fourth Amendment to be free from unreasonable searches while at school. In New Jersey v. TLO (1985), the Court acknowledged that school authorities have an important interest in maintaining safety and order in the schools, but that this interest must be balanced against the school child’s constitutionally protected right to privacy. Richard Fossey, Todd A. DeMitchell & Suzanne Eckes — 2007 Unfortunately, students and teachers still experience discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation. Nevertheless, thanks to progressive legislators and courts scattered around the country, discrimination in the schools based on sexual orientation is headed toward the dustbin of American history. Among all the problems that public schools face, it is reassuring to know that the civil rights of gays and lesbians in American schools are expanding and not in retreat. Todd A. DeMitchell, Richard Fossey & Suzanne Eckes — 2007 In California, a lesbian school girl sued school authorities, arguing that her constitutional right to privacy had been violated when her principal disclosed her sexual orientation to her mother. The case, Nguon v. Wolf, provides useful guidance to educators about how and when to discuss a student's sexual orientation with the student's parents. Richard Fossey & Ron Wilhelm — 2008 It is time for public school educators to take a stand against state and local anti-immigration laws that are motivated by a desire to force undocumented immigrant families out of their homes and communities. Undocumented immigration is a federal issue that must be addressed comprehensively by Congress—not by state legislators and city council people who are attacking this issue in a piecemeal and often punitive fashion. Individually and through our professional organizations, let us make clear that we oppose such laws because of the harm they cause to children, and let us make our voices heard. Richard Fossey & Charles J. Russo — 2008 In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos, an opinion that sharply restricts the First Amendment's protection for a public employee who reports wrongdoing in the workplace. In years to come, we will likely see federal courts apply the Supreme Court’s Garcetti analysis to cases in which school employees claim they were retaliated against for reporting workplace wrongdoing to their superiors. In most instances, school employees are going to lose these cases and possibly their jobs. For those who believe that school employees should be encouraged to report workplace wrongdoing—not discouraged, Garcetti is indeed unfortunate. Richard Fossey — 2008 Richard Fossey — 2008 From time to time we hear people complain about unwarranted judicial interference in the day-to-day business of public education. But surely we are all grateful that school children have access to federal courts when they are victims of very serious infringements on their basic human rights. Thanks in large part to the federal courts, American school children do not live in the Orwellian world of 1984. Richard Fossey & Marc Cutright — 2008 “Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill,” is a warning we hear from time to time. In other words, don’t make too much of a problem that really isn’t all that serious. When university administrators become annoyed with a subordinate over some minor matter and are tempted to take strong, unilateral action, they should think about the Stotter case. It is almost always better for academicians to resolve minor disputes among themselves and not in the courts. Richard Fossey — 2008 Richard Fossey — 2008 Can a state education agency impose professional sanctions against a teacher who beats a child when the child is the teacher’s own son and the beating takes place at home? Richard Fossey & Robert Cloud — 2008 The time has come to face the growing problem of college-loan indebtedness. Otherwise—like the current economic crisis that was partly caused by declining home values—college-loan indebtedness will some day contribute to enormous financial problems for a large number of individual Americans and for the nation as a whole. Richard Fossey — 2008 Federal courts have become increasingly hostile to strip searches in the schools, yet these searches continue. A recent Ninth Circuit case puts school administrators on notice. Strip searching students for minor infractions may be a constitutional violation. A school administrator who conducts an unreasonable strip search could wind up writing a personal check to the student whose privacy rights were violated. Richard Fossey — 2008 In Gillman v. School Board for Holmes County, a federal trial judge held that Heather Gillman, a Florida high school student, had a constitutional right to express her support for gay and lesbian rights while she is at school. The facts of the case, as the judge said himself, are extraordinary. In essence, the judge upheld the right of Florida high school students to express their support for gay and lesbian classmates over the opposition of a principal who was openly hostile to homosexuality and a school board that backed the principal’s position. Richard Fossey — 2008 In March 2006, Efren Garcia, a school employee at a Texas high school, said “Viva la Raza!” on the morning that student protesters walked out of Del Valle High School in protest of an immigration bill that had been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. He was fired at least partly for making that statement, and a federal court upheld the school district’s action. Garcia v. Montenegro, as the case was styled, illustrates how a school employee’s right to comment as a citizen on matters of public concern may be restricted by a federal court when the employee’s speech conflicts with a school employer’s legitimate interest in preserving school discipline. Richard Fossey — 2008 People make financial mistakes every day. The bankruptcy courts were created to give such people a fresh start. If the financial titans of Wall Street who wrecked the national economy face personal financial ruin, they can file for bankruptcy and get a fresh start. Meanwhile, Congress has made it almost impossible for student-loan debtors to clear their debts in the bankruptcy courts. It is hard to understand why investment bankers are entitled to discharge their debts in bankruptcy while thousands of overburdened student-loan debtors are not entitled to the same opportunity. Richard Fossey — 2008 Who's Afraid of Those Big Bad Homeschoolers? A Sensible Homeschooling Decision by a California CourtLast August, a California appellate court issued a sensible decision that upheld the right of California parents to homeschool their children. In re Jonathan, as the case was titled, provides public educators with an opportunity to examine their views about homeschooling. Richard Fossey & Marc Cutright — 2009 In higher education, plagiarism is a very serious matter. But a recent Alabama court decision suggests that academia may be viewing plagiarism from a more nuanced perspective. Some scholars recognize that there is a difference between an inadvertent mistake in failing to attribute a source and premeditated plagiarism. Richard Fossey — 2009 In Estate of Butler v. Maharishi University of Management, a federal court recognized a cause of action against a private university for negligent admission of a student after a student with a history of mental illness fatally stabbed a fellow student in the campus dining hall. As a matter of public policy, this was a bad decision. Colleges and universities cannot reasonably screen student applicants for evidence of their propensities for violence. If the Butler case signals a judicial trend, colleges and universities should press for legislation in all fifty states that bars lawsuits against higher education institutions for claims arising from their student admission decisions. Richard Fossey, Ron Wilhelm & Marc Cutright — 2009 The higher education community now has an opportunity—a golden opportunity—to make an important moral statement by joining the College Board in support of the DREAM Act. Richard Fossey — 2009 In a recently published decision, a federal court in West Virginia stopped a school district from implementing a random drug testing program for teachers. In a well-reasoned preliminary order, the court ruled that the school district’s drug testing program—involving the collection of urine from randomly chosen teachers--violated the Fourth Amendment. Public educators everywhere should applaud the court’s decision and the protection it affords to teachers’ reasonable expectations of privacy while working in the public schools. Richard Fossey & Robert Cloud — 2010 Most people believe that student loans are almost impossible to discharge in bankruptcy, but two recent bankruptcy-court decisions may be a sign that bankruptcy judges are growing more sympathetic towards overwhelmed student-loan debtors. Richard Fossey — 2009 Doniger v. Niehoff, a 2008 opinion by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals—a decision Judge Sotomayor joined in but did not write—provides some clues about Judge Sotomayor’s judicial philosophy regarding the proper role of the federal courts in school disputes. Todd A. DeMitchell, Suzanne Eckes & Richard Fossey — 2009 School districts received a welcome message from a recent decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In Palmer v. Waxahachie Independent School District, the court ruled that a Texas school district has the authority to a adopt student dress code that bans all messages on students' clothing so long as the district offers students other means of expression during the school day. Kevin Rogers & Richard Fossey — 2009 Do parents have a constitutional right to be physically present at school with their children? A federal court in Texas says no. Todd A. DeMitchell & Richard Fossey — 2009 Should public schools adopt the business model of Google? Is selling advertising space inside the schoolhouse gate an answer to our chronically underfunded public schools? Richard Fossey — 2009 Perry A. Zirkel & Richard Fossey — 2010 School districts and their employees are occasionally sued after a student commits suicide, but courts are reluctant to hold them liable for these tragic events. Thus, an educator’s responsibility to prevent a student from committing suicide is primarily a professional and ethical obligation and not a legal duty. Richard Fossey — 2010 Can a school district be held liable when a high school teacher forcibly “French-kisses” a student? A Louisiana court says yes. Richard Fossey — 2010 Richard Fossey — 2010 A mother of a student suicide victim accuses a Catholic college of deliberate indifference to her daughter's gang rape. Richard Fossey & Kerry Brian Melear — 2010 In O'Neal v. Falcon, a college student sued her instructor after he refused her request to give a speech on abortion in an undergraduate communications class. Richard Fossey, Ron Newsom & Marc Cutright — 2010 Colleges and universities can probably do more to make their campuses safer in light of the tragedies at the University of Alabama and Virginia Tech University. Absent reckless conduct, however, we should not hold colleges and universities responsible for violent acts committed by disturbed faculty members or students. Richard Fossey & Joe Dryden — 2010 Today, students who are unhappy with school authorities can avail themselves of the internet and express their disrespect to the entire planet. More and more frequently, alienated students attack school administrators on personal web sites, blogs, e-mail communications, or social networking web sites. Often they use vulgar language or worse. Sometimes, in an adolescent effort to be funny, they defame school administrators with allegations of sexual misconduct.
Richard Fossey — 2010 In a bad decision for public education, a federal judge in California ruled that school authorities could not discipline a student for posting a YouTube video that described a classmate as a slut. |
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