School Law
For Teachers
Dr. Tony Evangelisto
Professor of Educational Administration and Secondary Education
The College of New Jersey
Ewing, NJ
This presentation is intended to
provide an overview of the major
legislation and legal principles
that apply to public schools in the
U.S.
The material presented is organized
around four major focal points:
A. Legal concepts
B. The U. S. Constitution and
Amendments that apply to the
schools
C. Specific mandates and
restrictions based on court cases
at the U.S. Supreme Court level
D. New Jersey laws and their
impact
A. Legal Concepts
Legal Concepts
• Laws themselves and their application to specific
situations are best understood within the context of the
legal principles which are at their basis.
• In recorded history, there has been an evolution in the
way in which humans have regarded the law and how it
applies to those who govern and who are governed by
it.
Lex Talionis
• This is the “Law of the Jungle”
• The powerful use their strength and
ferocity to subdue and rule over those
who are weaker
• Those who have strength to dominate
over others become the leaders and
impose their will by physical force
The Code of Hammurabi
• Hammurabi ruled in Mesopotamia around 1,700 B.C.
(between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers, a region
known as the “fertile crescent”)
• He created a code of 282 laws arranged under headings
such as trade, family, labor, real estate, and personal
property – it was chiseled onto a stone pillar, or stele,
and placed where everyone could see it
• The basic principle behind Hammurabi’s Code was “an
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”
This is the
Code of Hammurabi
Found in 1902 by DeMorgan
It is currently included
in the collection of
the Louvre, in Paris
The Laws of the
Twelve Tables of
Ancient Rome
• In 451 B.C., Rome’s first written law code was
carved onto 12 stone tablets that were set up in the
Forum.
• The Twelve Tables of Law showed the strict
separation between patricians and plebeians.
• Laws prohibited plebeians from serving as Consuls,
entering the Senate, or marrying patricians.
• Yet, by listing laws and punishments, the Twelve
Tables protected all citizens from unfair treatment.
The Divine Right of Kings
• This was a clever invention of rulers in
the Middle Ages when Europe was under
Church influence
• The concept was: The King’s power is
granted directly from God and must be
obeyed in the same way that God
requires submission and obedience;
disobeying the King is tantamount to
disobeying God, with dire
consequences……punishment in Hell for
all eternity.
The Magna Carta
• On June 15, 1215, King John of England made
peace with barons (who were rebellious over loss
of lands in Normandy and heavy taxation) by
putting his seal on the Magna Carta.
• It established the principle that the king had to
obey the law of the land; i.e., that power is shared
with those who are governed.
• In effect, The Magna Carta is the prototype of what
evolved into constitutional government.
Constitutional Law
Since the signing of the
Magna Carta, many
nations have developed
systems of laws based on
written constitutions
created with the consent
of the governed.
Remember that Law represents a system whereby human
beings attempt to resolve disputes within the context of a legal
system….the laws themselves, the court system, and the
procedures proscribed in the legal system created in a political
entity (country or state)
Truth and justice, two monumental and wonderful ideals in
the human realm, are not necessarily involved when cases are
decided by the courts and when rulings are handed down
From the one-room schoolhouse at Roscoe Village, Ohio, Circa 1915
1. You will not marry during the
term of your contract.
2. You are not to keep company
with men.
3. You must be home between the
hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
4. You may not loiter downtown
in ice cream stores.
5. You may not travel beyond the
city limits unless you have
permission of the chairman of
the board.
6. You may not ride in a carriage
or automobile with any man
unless he is your father or
brother.
7. You may not smoke cigarettes.
8. You may not dress in bright colors.
9. You may under no circumstances
dye your hair.
10. You must wear at least two
petticoats.
11. Your dresses must not be any
shorter than two inches above
the ankle.
12. To keep the schoolroom neat and
clean, you must sweep the floor at
least once daily, scrub the floor at
least once a week with hot, soapy
water; clean the blackboards at
least once a day; and start the fire
at 7 a.m. so the room will be warm
at 8 a.m.
Elements of School
• Curriculum
Law that affect
• Speech
teachers and
• Discipline
administrators
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Race & Gender
Special Needs
Personnel
Teacher Rights
Contracts
Torts
Certification
Copyright & Fair Use
Forms of Law
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United States Constitution
State Constitutions
Federal and State Statutes
Regulations
Common Law
School Board Policies
B. The Constitution of the United
States of America
Constitutional Amendments with
Impact on Schools
• Amendment I - Congress shall
make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the
press; or the right of the
people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of
grievances
Constitutional Amendments With
Impact on Schools
• Amendment IV The right of
the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not
be violated, and no Warrants
shall issue, but upon probable
cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or
things to be seized.
Constitutional Amendments
With Impact on Schools
• Amendment V - No person shall be held to answer for a
capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
presentment or indictment of a Grand Judy, except in cases
arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when
in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall
any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put
in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any
criminal case to be witness against himself, nor be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor shall private property be taken for
public use without just compensation.
Constitutional Amendments With
Impact on Schools
• Amendment VI - In all criminal prosecutions,
the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy
and public trial, by an impartial jury of the
State and district wherein the crime shall
have been committed, which district shall have
been previously ascertained by law, and to be
informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses
against him; to have compulsory process for
obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the
Assistance of Counsel for his defense.
Constitutional Amendments With Impact
on Schools
• Amendment VIII Excessive bail shall
not be required, nor
excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel
and unusual
punishments
inflicted.
Constitutional Amendments With Impact on Schools
• Amendment XIV - All persons
born or naturalized in the United
States and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, are citizens of the United
States and of the State wherein they
reside. No State shall make or enforce
any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of
the United States; nor shall any State
deprive any person of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law;
nor deny to any person which its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws.
Constitutional Amendments With Impact
on Schools
• Amendment X -The
powers not delegated to
the United States by the
Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to
the States respectively,
or to the people.
Article Six of the Constitution of the United
States
This Constitution and the Laws of the United States which
shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made,
or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United
States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the
judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing
in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary
notwithstanding.
The State Court System in New Jersey
Supreme Court
Located in Trenton
Superior Court, Appellate Division
Hears appeals from Law and Chancery Division
cases, administrative agencies, and Tax Court
Law Division
Civil Division
*Hears cases where
suing person wants
more than $ 5,000
*Special civil part
hears cases for
less than $ 5,000
*Landlord-tenant
cases
*Small claims (less
than $ 1,000
Administrative Law
Criminal Division
* Hears cases where
person is accused
of a serious crime
* Hears appeals
from municipal
court
Chancery Division
General Equity
Hears cases where
the person suing
does not want
money
Family Part
Hears divorces,
child custody,
adoptions, and
juvenile
matters
Probate Part
Hears matters
involving
estates and
challenges to
wills
The Ultimate Perspective to remember regarding the law:
i.e., what will be the ruling in any given case?
The outcome of any case ultimately depends on:
•The facts of the case and proof to support them
•The ability of the lawyers to make a strong, convincing case
•The legal precedents and the extent to which they apply
•The perceptions of the judge regarding the case and the precedents
•The social, ethical, political, moral temper of the times
•Rules of procedure and rules related to evidence
C. Specific Mandates….Court Cases
• The most far-reaching
and comprehensive
rulings that affect
schools have resulted
from cases adjudicated
by the United States
Supreme Court.
• What follows is a review
of the Top Ten U.S.
Supreme Court rulings
that affect public schools
in this country
Authors: Charles L. Russo, Julie Underwood, and Nelda CambronMcCabe. Published in International Journal of Educational Reform,
Volume 9, No. 1. January, 2000.
Authors’ note: the cases are ordered
by the year in which they were decided
rather than by significance -- except
that Brown v. Board of Education is
considered to be the most important
case among these.
The Fourth Amendment applies to search of students
by school officials, but search must be reasonable.
Police must have “probable cause” for searches -a much higher standard.
T.L.O., and a friend were accused of
violating school rules by smoking in the h.s.
lavatory. The assistant principal opened her
purse and found cigarettes; upon further
search, he found: marijuana, a clay pipe,
plastic bags, and written material that
implicated her in dealing marijuana. The
family claimed search was violation of TLO’s
Fourth Amendment rights. The Supreme
Court ruled in favor of the school.
the first case involving special
education in the Supreme Court
The Court ruled that a school
district does not have to provide a
program that maximizes the
potential of a child with a disability;
the district is required to provide one
that is appropriate and meaningful
(I.e., more than trivial)
In 1975, the Texas legislature passed a
statute withholding state per pupil
allocations for students who were not
legally admitted into the U.S. The law
also allowed districts to refuse to admit
these children. In Plyler v. Doe, the
Supreme Court struck the statute down
as unconstitutional. The Court believed
that refusing to admit these resident
children to schools denied them an
important governmental interest.
This is the leading case on the due process rights
of students who face short-term suspensions due
to their misbehavior.
High school students in Columbus, Ohio,
were suspended without hearings for a
variety of infractions. The Supreme Court
held in favor of the students. It decreed that since the
state conferred a property right on students to
receive an education, it could not be withdrawn due
to misconduct absent fundamentally fair procedures
to determine whether the misbehavior had, in fact,
taken place. Notice of the charges and an opportunity
to respond are essential.
This is the first and only equal protection suit on school
finance examined by the Supreme Court. Parents of
Mexican-American children filed a class-action suit on
behalf of minority and poor students in Texas,
alleging that the state’s system of funding,
based on the value of taxable property in
local school districts, was
unconstitutional. The court
ruled that the funding
scheme did NOT violate the
equal protection clause
of the l4th Amendment.
This is the seminal case on the First Amendment free speech
rights of students in public schools. In this case, junior and
senior high school students were suspended for refusing to
remove black armbands they wore to protest American
involvement in the Vietnam conflict. The Supreme
Court ruled in favor of the students.
The Court ruled that wearing armbands as a
form of passive, nondisruptive protest was the
type of symbolic act that placed the students’
actions within the Free Speech Clause of the
First Amendment. The Court ruled that
school officials lack absolute power and that pupils
do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom
of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
The Court ruled that the reading of the Bible or the recitation of the
Lord’s Prayer in public schools violated the Establishment Clause of the
First Amendment. It maintained that in order “to withstand the strictures
of the Establishment Clause there must be a secular legislative purpose
and a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion.”
The Court later struck down as
unconstitutional:
* recitation of state composed prayer
in public schools
* statute requiring Bible reading
and recitation of prayers
* mandatory posting of Ten
Commandments in schools
* statute mandating “moment of silence”
in public school classrooms
In Everson, the Court upheld a statute from New Jersey that permitted local boards
of education to reimburse parents of children who attended religiously affiliated
non-publicschools for the costs of transportation. The Court upheld the statute on
the basis that, since education satisfied a secular state purpose, and transportation fit
in the general category of other public services that are available to all, the benefit
primarily accrued to the children and not to their religiously affiliated schools.
In ruling on two cases [one from Rhode Island and
one from Pennsylvania], the Court created the
tripartite test that it has since relied on in virtually
all subsequent cases involving the Establishment Clause:
1) the statute must have a secular legislative purpose.
2) its primary effect must be one that neither advances
nor inhibits religion
3) the statute must not foster “an excessive government
entanglement with religion.”
At issue was the constitutionality of a
statute from Oregon which required
children to be sent to public schools.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of two
nonpublic schools that challenged the law
on the grounds that it violated their
14th Amendment Due Process right
to the ownership of their property.
This is the most important Supreme
Court case dealing with non-public
schools and parental rights to direct
the education of their children.
In Brown I, the Court ruled that de jure
desegregation in public schools on the
basis of race deprived minority children
of equal educational opportunities in
violation of the Equal Protection Clause
of the Fourteenth Amendment. This
overturned the earlier ruling, in Plessy
v. Ferguson, upholding separate/equal.
A year later, in Brown II, the Court
began dismantling segregated systems
“with all deliberate speed.”
Selected highlights from U.S.
Supreme Court rulings
• School may regulate dress as long as
the rules are designed to promote the
educational mission of the school
• Schools have authority to maintain
discipline and order…as long as the
rules are written and “not overbroad”
[nebulous]
• Schools may use reasonable force to
maintain order and discipline
• When safety…is involved, schools may have a duty to
investigate…including surveillance, questioning, and
searching students, their possessions, or their lockers.
• Searches: there is no expectation of privacy if someone
loses a backpack or purse…very thorough and intrusive
searches may be justified
• Random drug testing of athletes is constitutionally
permissible
• Schools may suspend or expel students…but due
process requirements must be adhered to
• As long as procedural requirements are met, most
school punishments, including corporal punishment,
raise no Constitutional issues [about half of the states
in the U.S. permit corporal punishment
Federal Statutory Restrictions on School
Programs
• The Copyright Act of 1976
– Excessive duplication without permission
of copyrighted materials can violate the law
– The law does allow teachers [the “fair use”
doctrine] to make multiple copies for
classroom use, but the use must be brief,
spontaneous, and not impact on the
potential market for or value of the material
The Hatch Amendment of 1990
• All instructional materials used by schools in
connection with research or experimentation must be available for parental inspection
• No student may be subjected to psychiatric or
psychological testing or treatment which may
reveal information concerning political
affiliation, psychological problems, sexual
behavior or attitudes, or illegal, antisocial,
self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior
The Buckley Amendment
Family Education Rights and Privacy Act
• Parents must be granted access to all records
maintained by the school concerning their child
• Parents have a right to request modification of
records they believe to be false, misleading, or
violative of their child’s privacy
• School records are to be confidential from all
others [with limited exceptions]
• Schools may provide directory information
• At age 18, the child, not the parent, has access to
the record
D. New Jersey Laws
• New Jersey
Administrative
Code [NJAC]
Title 6
• Title 18A -Discipline
New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 6 – Department of Education
• This Code provides
the context that
governs schools in the
State of New Jersey.
• The Code provides
guidelines for all
facets of schools:
curriculum, personnel,
facilities, services,
administration, et al.
Selected Chapter titles from Title 6
• Thorough and efficient system
of free public schools
• Educational programs for pupils
in state facilities
• Personnel
• Professional licensure and
standards
• Business services
• Pupil transportation
• Controversies and disputes
• Special education
• Health, safety and physical
education
• Adult education programs
• Bilingual education
• Vocational and technical education
programs and standards
• County superintendents of schools
• Library network services
• Evaluation
• Academic credentials
Title 18A – New Jersey Laws
Chapter 37 – Discipline of Pupils
• 18A:37-1 Submission of
pupils to authority -----“ Pupils…shall comply with the
rules established…and submit
to the authority of the teachers
and others in authority over
them.”
18A:37-2 Causes for suspension or expulsion
of students
“Any pupil who is guilty of continued
and willful disobedience, or of open
defiance of the authority of the
teacher or person having authority
over him, or of the habitual use of
profanity or of obscene language, or
who shall cut, deface or otherwise
injure school property, shall be liable
for punishment and to suspension or
expulsion from school.”
Conduct which shall constitute good cause for
suspension
• Continued and willful disobedience
• Open defiance of authority…
• Conduct…[that] constitute[s] a continuing
danger to the physical well-being of other
pupils
• Physical assault upon another pupil
• Taking, or attempting to take, personal
property or money from another pupil…
• Causing substantial damage to school
property
• Participation in an unauthorized
occupancy
• Incitement which…result(s) in
unauthorized occupation
• Incitement which…result(s) in
truancy by other pupils
• Knowing possession or knowing
consumption without legal
authority of alcoholic beverages or
controlled dangerous substances
on school premises, or being
under the influence…while on
school premises
Corporal Punishment in New Jersey
• New Jersey’s corporal punishment law holds that
“No person employed or engaged in a
school…shall inflict or cause to be inflicted
corporal punishment upon a pupil attending such
school…”
• The 1867 law was modified in 1967 to limit the
effect of the statute only to punishment or
discipline: “But any such person may, within the
scope of his employment, use and apply such
force as is reasonable and necessary,” to:
[continued on next slide]
• Force may be used to:
– Quell a disturbance that threatens physical
injury to others
– Obtain possession of weapons or other
dangerous objects upon the person or within
the control of a pupil
– For the purpose of self defense
– For the protection of lives and property
Thus, a distinction is made between bodily
punishment for wrongdoing (forbidden) and
necessary restraint to prevent injury
(permissible)
Know the law and follow it
• A dictum in the courts is that “Ignorance of the
law is no defense.”
• This means, we are all bound by laws, even when
we are not aware of them
• The wise person makes it a point to become
familiar with the law --- including school board
policies --- and abide by it
• Remember, the law is there to protect the
vulnerable from harm….and students are
vulnerable by virtue of their youth and ignorance
Thank you for your attention