2007 School Law Issues
VASSP Law Conference
HB 1707 Public school contract employees; requires
school boards to obtain data on convictions of crimes.
• C. As a condition of awarding a contract for the
provision of services that require the contractor
or his employees to have direct contact with
students on school property during regular
school hours or during school-sponsored
activities, the school board shall require the
contractor to provide certification that all persons
who will provide such services have not been
convicted of a felony or any offense involving the
sexual molestation or physical or sexual abuse
or rape of a child.
• This subsection shall not apply to a contractor or
his employees providing services to a school
division in an emergency or exceptional
situation, such as when student health or safety
is endangered or when repairs are needed on
an urgent basis to ensure that school facilities
are safe and habitable, when it is reasonably
anticipated that the contractor or his employees
will have no direct contact with students.
HB 1916 Family life education; requires Bd. of Education to
incorporate instruction on dating violence, etc.
• § 22.1-207.1. Family life education.
• The Board of Education shall develop by December 1, 1987,
standards of learning and curriculum guidelines for a
comprehensive, sequential family life education curriculum in grades
K through 12. Such curriculum guidelines shall include instruction as
appropriate for the age of the student in family living and community
relationships, abstinence education, the value of postponing sexual
activity, the benefits of adoption as a positive choice in the event of
an unwanted pregnancy, human sexuality, human reproduction,
dating violence, the characteristics of abusive relationships, steps to
take to avoid sexual assault, and the availability of counseling and
legal resources, and, in the event of such sexual assault, the
importance of immediate medical attention and advice, as well as
the requirements of the law and the etiology, prevention and effects
of sexually transmitted diseases.
HB 1962 Students with disabilities; provides due
process procedures.
• B. The Board of Education shall prescribe procedures to
afford due process to children with disabilities and their
parents or guardians and to school divisions in resolving
disputes as to program placements, individualized
education programs, tuition eligibility and other matters
as defined in state or federal statutes or regulations.
These procedures shall encourage the use of mediation
as an informal means of resolving such disputes.
Mediation shall not, however, be used to deny or delay
the due process rights of parents or guardians. The
procedures shall require that all testimony be given
under oath or affirmation administered by the hearing
officer.
HB 1978 Standards of Quality; school boards to report
number of career & technical education completers.
• School boards shall report annually to the Board of
Education the number of industry certifications obtained,
state licensure examinations passed, and the number of
career and technical education completers that
graduated. These numbers shall be reported as
categories on the School Performance Report Card.
• For the purposes of this subdivision, a "career and
technical education completer" is a student who has met
the requirements for a career and technical
concentration or specialization and all requirements for
high school graduation or an approved alternative
education program.
HB 2039 Diploma, technical; Board of Education to
establish requirements
• 3. Establish the requirements for a
technical diploma. This diploma shall meet
or exceed the requirements of a standard
diploma and will include a concentration in
career and technical education, as
established in Board regulations. The
Board may develop or designate
assessments in career and technical
education for the purposes of awarding
verified credit pursuant to subdivision 6
HB 2214 Childhood obesity; Sup. of Public Instruction &
Health Commissioner to work together to combat.
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§ 22.1-23. Duties in general.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall:
1. Serve as secretary of the Board of Education;
2. Provide such assistance in his office as shall be necessary for the proper
and uniform enforcement of the provisions of the school laws in cooperation
with the local school authorities;
3. Prepare and furnish such forms for attendance officers, teachers and
other school officials as are required by law;
4. (Expires July 1, 2010) At least annually, survey all local school divisions
to identify critical shortages of teachers and administrative personnel by
geographic area, by school division, or by subject matter, and report such
critical shortages to each local school division and to the Virginia Retirement
System; and
5. Along with the State Health Commissioner, work to combat childhood
obesity and other chronic health conditions that affect school-age children;
and
6. Perform such other duties as the Board of Education may prescribe.
HB 2271 School boards; required to annually review school
crisis, emergency management, etc. response plans.
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D. Each school board shall ensure that every school that it supervises shall
develop a written school crisis, emergency management, and medical
emergency response plan, consistent with the definition provided in this
section. The Department of Education and the Virginia Center for School
Safety shall provide technical assistance to the school divisions of the
Commonwealth in the development of the school crisis, emergency
management, and medical emergency response plans that describe the
components of a medical emergency response plan developed in
coordination with local emergency medical services providers, the training
of school personnel and students to respond to a life-threatening
emergency, and the equipment required for this emergency response. The
local school board shall annually review the written school crisis, emergency
management, and medical emergency response plans. The local school
board shall have the authority to withhold or limit the review of any security
plans and specific vulnerability assessment components as provided in
subdivision 7 of § 2.2-3705.2. The local school division superintendent shall
certify this review in writing to the Virginia Center on School Safety no later
than August 31 of each year.
HB 2302 Nonpublic schools; school boards may enter into
agreements therewith for transportation services.
• § 22.1-176.1. Agreements to provide
transportation for nonpublic school pupils.
• Local school boards may enter into agreements
with nonpublic schools within the school division
to provide student transportation to and from
such schools under such terms and conditions
as the local school boards deem appropriate
and responsible. [ Such terms may include, but
are not limited to, arrangements relating to costsharing, fees, insurance, and liability. ]
HB 2344 Sexual offenses; prohibiting entry of
those convicted onto school property, penalty.
• § 18.2-370.5. Sex offenses prohibiting entry onto school property;
penalty.
• A. Every adult who is convicted of a sexually violent offense, as
defined in § 9.1-902, shall be prohibited from entering and being
present, during school hours, upon any property he knows or has
reason to know is a public or private elementary or secondary
school or child day center property, unless (i) he is a lawfully
registered and qualified voter, and is coming upon such property
solely for purposes of casting his vote; (ii) he is a student enrolled at
the school; or (iii) he has obtained a court order allowing him to
enter and be present upon such property, and is in compliance with
terms and conditions of the order. A violation of this section is
punishable as a Class 6 felony.
• B. Every adult who is prohibited from entering upon school or child
day center property pursuant to subsection A may after notice to the
attorney for the Commonwealth and either (i) the proprietor of the
child day center, (ii) the superintendent of public instruction of the
school division in which the school is located, or (iii) the chief
administrator of the school if such school is not a public school,
petition the juvenile and domestic relations district court or the circuit
court in the county or city where the school or child day center is
located for permission to enter such property. For good cause
shown, the court may issue an order permitting the petitioner to
enter and be present on such property, subject to whatever
restrictions of area, reasons for being present, or time limits the
court deems appropriate.
What does “during school hours”
mean?
• There is no statutory or caselaw guidance that I am
aware of, on the definition of "during school hours." My
best guess, based on what I believe to be the legislative
intent of protecting our students, would be that the term
means at any time, whether between the hours of 8 to 4
or not, that the building is open to students for some
school function, whether curriculum or extra-curricular.
I have sent an e-mail to the Attorney General's office in
Richmond asking them for whatever guidance they can
provide. When I hear something back from them I will
forward it to you.
Michael Douchette, Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney
HB 2631 Student records; limitations on access
• 4. The principal or his designee may disclose identifying information
from a pupil's scholastic record for the purpose of furthering the
ability of the juvenile justice system to effectively serve the pupil
prior to adjudication. In addition to those agencies or personnel
identified in subdivisions 5 and 7 of subsection A, the principal or his
designee may disclose identifying information from a pupil's
scholastic record to attorneys for the Commonwealth, court services
units, juvenile detention centers or group homes, mental and
medical health agencies, state and local children and family service
agencies, and the Department of Juvenile Justice and to the staff of
such agencies. Prior to disclosure of any such scholastic records,
the persons to whom the records are to be disclosed shall certify in
writing to the principal or his designee that the information will not be
disclosed to any other party, except as provided under state law,
without the prior written consent of the parent of the pupil or by such
pupil if the pupil is eighteen years of age or older.
HB 2893 Student information; public schools & public
institutions of higher education may retain copies
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§ 22.1-3.1. Birth certificates required upon admission; required notice to the
local law-enforcement agency.
A. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, no pupil shall be
admitted for the first time to any public school in any school division in this
Commonwealth unless the person enrolling the pupil shall present, upon
admission, a certified copy of the pupil's birth record. The principal or his
designee shall record the official state birth number from the pupil's birth
record into the pupil's permanent school record and may retain a copy in the
pupil's permanent school record. If a certified copy of the pupil's birth record
cannot be obtained, the person so enrolling the pupil shall submit an
affidavit setting forth the pupil's age and explaining the inability to present a
certified copy of the birth record. If the school division cannot ascertain a
child's age because of the lack of a birth certificate, the child shall
nonetheless be admitted into the public schools if the division
superintendent determines that the person submitting the affidavit presents
information sufficient to estimate with reasonable certainty the age of such
child.
SB 751 Diploma seal; Board of Education to
establish criteria for excellence in civics education.
• The Board shall also establish criteria for
awarding a diploma seal for excellence in
community service for the standard and
advanced studies diplomas. The Board
shall consider including criteria for (i) the
types of activities that shall qualify as
community service; (ii) the number of
hours required; and (iii) related
requirements as it deems appropriate.
SB 795 Standards of Quality; changes in
provisions.
• Provides for the phasing out of the eighth grade cumulative history
test in the 2007-2008 school year, and the implementation of the
United States History to 1877, United States History: 1877 to the
Present, and Civics and Economics tests in the 2008-2009 school
year.
• Adds effective classroom management to the listing of professional
development programs to be provided to teachers and principals.
• Requires local school divisions to post a current copy of the school
division policies, including the Student Conduct Policy, on the local
division's website while ensuring that printed copies of such policies
are available, as needed, to citizens who do not have Internet
access.
• Makes technical changes to Standards 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the
Standards of Quality.
HB 1729 Maximum speed limit for school buses.
• Increases the maximum speed limit to 60
miles per hour for school buses traveling
on interstates and highways where the
speed limit is greater than 55 miles per
hour.
HB 2035 Human papillomavirus vaccine; added
as required vaccination.
• Requires females to receive three doses of
properly spaced human papillomavirus (HPV)
vaccine. The first dose shall be administered
before the child enters the sixth grade. After
having reviewed materials describing the link
between the human papillomavirus and cervical
cancer approved for such use by the Board of
Health, a parent or guardian may elect for his
daughter not to receive this vaccine. This bill
contains a delayed effective date of October 1,
2008.
HB 2410 Amber Alert Programs; amends definition of
an abducted child to include secondary school
students.
• Amends the definition of an "abducted
child" to include a person who is enrolled
in a secondary school in the
Commonwealth regardless of age.
LEGAL ISSUES: A NATIONAL
VIEW
NCLB
• The U. S. Department of Education has
selected several states including NC, TN,
Delaware, Ark, FL, and Ohio to change the
way they measure student progress under
NCLB. These states may now track how
individual students perform in math and
reading over time, known as a “growth
model.”
• Most recently on May 25, the US DOE allowed
Iowa to use a growth model.
• Iowa is interesting in that it still uses the norm
referenced Iowa Test of Basic Skills as its
assessment for NCLB.
• The change allows Iowa to compare test scores
among students in a particular grade all the way
through their academic careers. Until the
change, 4th graders, for example, were
compared to previous year 4th graders.
Off School Grounds and
Technology
• Some school Boards have blocked sites such as
MySpace and Facebook on school computers
• A student in Indianapolis was expelled for making explicit
comments about a teacher on MySpace. A student in
Pittsburgh was dismissed from the volleyball team for an
internet message criticizing an art teacher. The student
sued and and received $60,000 settlement.
• A cheerleader in Fort Worth was kicked off the squad for
derogatory comments someone posted on her blog
about other cheerleaders. She did not write it and was
later reinstated to the team. USA Today 10/26/06
• A principal in Pennsylvania has sued
students over an unflattering MySpace
Profile. An assistant principal in Texas has
sued over a MySpace Profile as well.
Some teachers have sued students.
• There is some support for punishing
students who post admissions of illegal
activity (pictures drinking, doing drugs,
etc.) or who post racist remarks or some
that promote or predict violence, but not as
much support to discipline when students
vent about teachers. Courts are struggling
in trying to find a balance between
ensuring a safe environment while giving
students their freedoms.
Kimberly Jessie, an associate at the law firm
Bracewell Giuliani, made the following observations
during a NSBA activity:
• Unless there is a “substantial disruption to the educational
environment,” school leaders are limited in their ability to take any
action if students post offensive or inappropriate material outside of
school
• Recommends letting parents know that while schools may be limited
in their ability to discipline such behavior, teachers have been
successful in filing individual lawsuits against students and their
parents
• Make sure that acceptable-use policies limit computer access to
educational purposes only and prohibit access for personal uses
• “Policies should inform students [and their parents] that disciplinary
action may be taken against them when their off-campus speech
causes a substantial disruption to the educational environment or
interferes with another student’s rights. Criminal action may be
taken against students when their speech constitutes a true threat.”
• Virginia Code Ann. § 18.2-60 concerning threats
states that if the threat is written, signed or
unsigned, and contains a threat to kill or to do
bodily injury to an individual or member of
his/her family, it is a Class 6 felony. If the
communication is oral and contains a threat to
kill or do bodily harm to any elementary, middle,
or high school employee and occurs on a school
bus, school property, or during a schoolsponsored activity, it is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
• Some states are passing or considering laws to
crackdown on cyberbulling, behavior that
involves students who taunt or insult peers on
social Web sites or via instant messages.
• MySpace response to these efforts was provided
by Hemanshu Nigam, chief security officer, who
stated that “MySpace prohibits cyber bulling and
tells users to report abuse to the company as
well as parents and law enforcement.”
Communication Devices
•  22.1-278.2 provides authority to local
school divisions to regulate the use or
possession of beepers, laser pointers, or
other portable communication devices on
school property or at school functions.
Check school board policy.
Cellphones
• School officials in some Colorado high schools
(Douglas and Jefferson Counties) are searching
students’ cellphone messages when they
suspect the students of cheating, drug abuse, or
other school violations. They argue that school
policies that allow them to search lockers,
backpacks, and cars based on reasonable
suspicion also applies to cellphones. The ACLU
disagrees and says the searches go way
beyond what the Supreme Court allows.
School Divisions and
Cellphone Use
• New York City bans cellphones (as does
Detroit and Philadelphia)
• The mayor and the schools chancellor
argue that cellphone can’t be allowed on
school property because they cause a
range of problems that distract students
from learning
• New York's 1.1-million-student school system has
banned beepers and other communication devices since
the late 1980s. But schools have long used an “out-ofsight, out-of-trouble” approach. Then, late last month,
city officials began sending portable metal detectors
every day to a random but small set of schools to keep
out weapons. And the detectors have led to the
confiscation of hundreds of cell phones.
New York has one of the country's toughest policies on
student cell phones. It also bans other electronic
devices, such as iPods.
• Detroit bans cell phones, and a two-time
violator will not get the phone back.
Boston relied on a school-by-school
approach until recently, when it changed
the policy to let students have a phone,
but only if it is turned off and out of sight.
Los Angeles lets kids have cell phones,
but they can use them only during lunch
and breaks.
• A group of parents fighting New-York City's
Mayor Bloomberg's ordinance against cell
phone use in city schools just lost their
case in a State Supreme court (May
2007). But they are willing to appeal to a
higher level. "It's not over yet", they told a
New York Sun reporter, underscoring their
concern for their child's safety.
• A group of parents seeking to overturn
Mayor Bloomberg's ban on cell phones in
city schools is likely to appeal a state
Supreme Court judge's decision yesterday
to dismiss their lawsuit against the city.
• The group's lawyer, Norman Siegel, said
he was disappointed, but vowed to
continue to fight the city over the ban,
which he has argued is unconstitutional.
• In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs had argued
that the ban on the possession of cell
phones violates the constitutional rights of
students, although they had conceded that
a ban on the use of phones in schools was
justified. They have been supported by
dozens of City Council members, along
with the teachers union.
• The Court held that the Department of
Education had a rational basis to adopt its
Cell Phone Policy and that the policy does
not violate any constitutional right of
students or their parents.
• Students at many schools have said they
defy the ban by keeping their phones
stowed out of sight in pockets and purses.
Others reportedly pay delis and other
shops outside their schools to keep their
phones while they are in school.
• The city has sought to reach a compromise with
opponents of the ban with a proposal to build
lockers outside schools where students could
pay a small fee to store their phones during the
day — an idea that has been criticized by some
parents.
• A department spokesman, David Cantor, said
several private vendors had expressed interest
in building the lockers and that the department
had "an eye toward implementing a pilot
program in the next school year."
Florida Law
• Three years after Florida passed a unique law allowing
students to carry phones on campus, school districts
from the Panhandle to Palm Beach are considering
some of the most extreme measures yet: penalties that
put misusing a cell phone on par with stealing, devices
that scramble phone signals inside the school building
and pressure to persuade the Legislature to reverse its
decision and allow a ban.
• "This was the worst law passed in my 30 years in
education," said Michael Horne, principal of Manatee
County's Southeast High School, where a student used
a cell phone to snap photos of the Florida
Comprehensive Assessment Test last year. "We're trying
to educate kids, not trying to be cyber cell phone cops."
The 2004 state law allowing cell phones - still the only
one of its kind in the nation - was pitched as way to add
security in an era of latchkey kids, school shootings and
kidnappings.
• Parents and students initiated the
campaign to permit cell phones in schools.
Sen. Eveyln Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, who
took up their cause, said lack of school
enforcement is the problem, not the law.
"Teachers are supposed to have eyes in
the backs of their heads," Lynn said.
"That's your responsibility when you're a
teacher."
• One principal plans to spend nearly $100
to purchase either a cell phone jammer, a
device that blocks all cell phone signals in
the school or a single classroom, or a cell
phone detector that lights up when a
student's cell phone is on. One of his
teachers recommended a wall paint that
could block calls.
Beyond Cellphones
• Some schools are also targeting digital media
players, such as iPods and Zunes as potential
cheating devices
• Mountain View High School in Meridian, Idaho
recently banned them when school officials
realized some students were downloading
formulas and other material
• Duke University began providing iPods to
students three years ago to see how the devices
could enhance learning
• Tim Dodd, director of Duke’s Center for
Academic Integrity, said, “Trying to fight
technology without a dialogue on values
and expectations is a losing battle. I think
there’s a kind of backdoor benefit here. As
teachers are thinking about how
technology has corrupted, they’re also
thinking about ways it can be used
productively.”
Turnitin.com
• A company that many schools use to help them
combat plagiarism
• Students in Fairfax County are required to turn in
papers which are checked and then maintained
in an electronic archive for future comparisons
• Two students at McLean High School (two in
Arizona) have filed a lawsuit in Virginia federal
court saying archiving their papers is a violation
of copyright law.
• Asking for $900,000 for copyright infringement
(they registered their work before submitting)
Electronically Stored Information
• School divisions must have a system to
archive email. They must be able to
produce “electronically stored information”
during the discovery process (the process
in which opposing sides of a legal dispute
must share evidence before trial). Emails
between board members and with the
superintendent and their constituents must
be made available under FOIA.