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Case Law:

Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962) This 1962 U.S. Supreme Court decision established that an official state prayer for public schools is unconstitutional--even if the prayer is denominationally neutral and pupils who wish to do so may remain silent or be excused from the room while the prayer is being recited	School Dist. of Abington Township v. Schempp, 403 U.S. 602 (1963) Prepare and enter capsule here
Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992) Text of the 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared prayer at public school graduations to be in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.	Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971) Text of the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared spending public funds for religious schools constitutes the establishment of religion and therefore violates the U.S. Constitution.
Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985) In proceedings instituted in Federal District Court, appellees challenged the constitutionality of, inter alia, a 1981 Alabama Statute ( 16-1-20.1) authorizing a 1-minute period of silence in all public schools "for meditation or voluntary prayer." Although finding that 16-1-20.1 was an effort to encourage a religious activity, the District Court ultimately held that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment does not prohibit a State from establishing a religion. The Court of Appeals reversed. Text of the 1981 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared public school "moments of silence" for "meditation or voluntary prayer" constitute the establishment of religion and thus violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.	Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896) Text of the 1896 Supreme Court decision that established a legal basis for segregated public facilities and services, thereby ushering in the era of de juresegregation in America.
Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, 305 U.S. 337 (1938) Prepare and enter capsule here	Sweatt v. Painter 339 U.S. 629 (1950) Prepare and enter capsule here
Brown v. Board of Education I 347 U.S. 483 (1954) Text of the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision. It states that the "separate but equal" doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson "has no place in the field of public education."	Brown v. Board of Education II 349 U.S. 294 (1955) Text of the landmark 1955 U.S. Supreme Court decision considering the complexities arising from the transition to a system of public education freed of racial discrimination.
Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education 396 U.S. 19 (1969) Prepare and enter capsule here	Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education 402 U.S. 1 (1971) Were federal courts constitutionally authorized to oversee and produce remedies for state-imposed segregation? In a unanimous decision, the Court held that once violations of previous mandates directed at desegregating schools had occurred, the scope of district courts' equitable powers to remedy past wrongs were broad and flexible. The Court ruled that 1) remedial plans were to be judged by their effectiveness, and the use of mathematical ratios or quotas were legitimate "starting points" for solutions; 2) predominantly or exclusively black schools required close scrutiny by courts; 3) non-contiguous attendance zones, as interim corrective measures, were within the courts' remedial powers; and 4) no rigid guidelines could be established concerning busing of students to particular schools. (source: OYEZ.com U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia)
Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garret F., No. 96-1793 (1999) In a 7-2 ruling, the court said the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires districts to provide one-on-one nursing services to students with serious disabilities who need such care in order to attend school. The court said such care was a required "related service" under the law and not an excluded "medical service."	Hendrick Hudson Central School District Board of Ed. v. Rowley, No. 458-176 (1982) Prepare and enter capsule here
Irving Independent School Distr. v. Tatro, 468 U.S. 883 (1984) The United States Supreme Court addressed the issue of the line between school health services required as related services [see IDEA 20 U.S.C. § 1401, 1997] and medical services that are not required.	Florence County School District Four et al. v. Carter, No. 91-1523 (1993) The Court of Appeals for the fourth circuit held that "a court may order reimbursement for parents who unilaterally withdraw their child from a public school that provides an inappropriate education under IDEA and put the child in a private school that provides an education that is otherwise proper under IDEA, but does not meet all of § 1401(a)(18)'s requirements.
Air Line Pilots Association v. Miller, No. 97-428 (1998) Nonunion workers who object to "agency fees'' may challenge the fees in federal court without first exhausting an arbitration procedure favored by unions. The court's 7-2 ruling was a victory for "right to work'' forces who frequently battle teachers' unions over the amount of collective bargaining service fees assessed to nonmembers.	Bragdon v. Abbott, No. 97-156 (1998) People infected with the human immunodeficiency virus but with no symptoms of full-blown AIDS have a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the court said in a 5-4 ruling. School districts are subject to both the ADA and, if they receive federal funds, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Before this case, the high court had never ruled whether people with an infection such as HIV but without acute symptoms were considered disabled under either law.
City of Chicago v. Morales, No. 97-1121 (1999) The court struck down a Chicago ordinance that prohibited loitering by suspected street-gang members and allowed police to arrest anyone who refused an order to disperse. In a 6-3 ruling, the court said the law was unconstitutionally vague because it covered a substantial amount of innocent conduct. Some school districts enforce loitering prohibitions and other rules targeted at gang activity, and some courts have said that such rules have greater leeway than criminal statutes.	Gebseret al. v. Lago Vista Independent School District, No. 96-1896 (1998) In the most significant decision of the term for educators, the court limited the circumstances under which a school district can be held liable for money damages for a teacher's sexual harassment of a student. The court ruled 5-4 that a district cannot be held liable under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 unless a district official with the authority to take corrective action had actual knowledge of teacher misconduct and was deliberately indifferent to it.
Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, No. 97-843 (1999) Districts may be sued under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 in cases alleging student-on-student sexual harassment. In a 5-4 ruling, the court held that districts may be found liable under Title IX only when they are "deliberately indifferent" to information about such harassment and when the harassment is so "severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive" that it bars the victim's access to an educational program or benefit.	University of California Regents v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978) Prepare and enter capsule here
Clyde K. v. Puyallup School District, 35F.3d 1396 (9th Cir. 1994) Prepare and enter capsule here	New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325 (1985) Prepare and enter capsule here
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969) Prepare and enter capsule here	Bethel School District No. 403 v, Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986) Prepare and enter capsule here
HazelWood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988) Prepare and enter capsule here	Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565 (1975) Prepare and enter capsule here
Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925) Prepare and enter capsule here	McDuffy et al. v. Secretary, 415 Mass. 545, 615 N.E.2d 516 (1993) Text of the 1993 Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that effectively laid the groundwork for the Education Reform Act of 1993.On June 18, 1993 the Massachusetts Education Reform Act was signed into law. Within months of this historic occasion, the Board of Education approved the Department of Education's Implementation Plan which translated the Education Reform Act into action. With its March, 1995 approval of the Five-Year Master Plan for Education, the Board extended the scope of Education Reform into the next century. An outline of the Massachusetts Department of Education's Five-Year Plan broken down into five goals each containing several initiatives. Each initiative highlights a different component of Education Reform and demonstrates how the Department of Education is supporting that initiative.
Hopwood v. Texas, 5th Cir., 78 F.3d 932, (1996) The ruling in Hopwood v. Texas held that the use of race as a criterion in admissions was unconstitutional. "[T]he University of Texas School of Law may not use race as a factor in deciding which applicants to admit in order to achieve a diverse student body, to combat the perceived effects of a hostile environment at the law school, to alleviate the law school's poor reputation in the minority community, or to eliminate any present effects of past discrimination by actors other than the law school." Visit theTarlton Law Library Archives for further materials regarding this case.	Wessmann v. Gittens, 1st Cir., No. 98-1657, (1998) Prepare and enter capsule here
Bercovitch v. Baldwin School Inc., No. 97-1739 (1998) Prepare and enter capsule here	Bercovitch v. Baldwin School Inc., No. 98-2281 (1999) Prepare and enter capsule here
Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, No. 99-62 (2000) In a 6-3 ruling, the court said that student-led prayers at football games violated the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against a government establishment of religion. The majority said the Texas school district's authorization of a student vote on whether to have an invocation before games and the election of a student speaker amounted to government sponsorship of prayer. The ruling potentially could apply to student-led prayers at graduation ceremonies and other school events. (Edweek, 07.12.00, p.39)	Mitchell v. Helmes, No. 98-1648 (2000) The court voted 6-3 to uphold a federal program that provides aid to public and private schools, including religious schools, in the form of computers and library books. No opinion of the court commanded a majority, but six justices were in agreement in overruling two Supreme Court precedents from the 1970s that barred the government provision of maps, charts, overhead projectors, and other instructional materials to religious schools. (Edweek, 07.12.00, p.39)
Good News Club et. al. v. Milford Cenral School No. 99-2036 (2001) This case presents two questions. The first question is whether Milford Central School violated the free speech rights of the Good News Club when it excluded the Club from meeting after hours at the school. The second question is whether any such violation is justified by Milfords concern that permitting the Clubs activities would violate the Establishment Clause. We conclude that Milfords restriction violates the Clubs free speech rights and that no Establishment Clause concern justifies that violation. Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.	Falvo v. Owasso Independent School District, No. 00-1073 (July 2000) "In the instant case, this court must decide whether a practice employed by pre-secondary school1 teachers in the Owasso Independent School District (the "School District") of allowing their students both to grade one another's tests and other work and to call out their own grades in class (the "grading practice") violates either the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution or the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA"). Exercising jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we conclude that although the Fourteenth Amendment does not preclude the grading practice, FERPA does. The individual defendants, however, are entitled to qualified immunity because it was not clearly established law that the grading practice violated FERPA. This court therefore affirms the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of all defendants on the constitutional claim and reverses the grant of summary judgment in favor of the School District on the FERPA claim." The US Supreme Court decided the Owasso Independent School District No. I011 v. Falvo case on February 19, 2002.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. � 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) Regulations The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. � 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.	Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Legislative History of Major FERPA Provisions Congress has amended FERPA a total of six times in the past 25 years, as follows: P.L. 93-568, December 31, 1974, effective Nov. 19, 1974 (Buckley/Pell Amendment), P.L. 96-46, August 6, 1979, P.L. 101-542, November 8, 1990 (Campus Security Act), P.L. 102-325, July 23, 1992, P.L. 103-382, October 20, 1994 (Improving America's Schools Act), P.L. 105-244, Oct. 7, 1998 (Higher Education Amendments of 1998)
No. 00-1751, No. 00-1777, No. 00-1779 In The Supreme Court of the United States: Susan Tave Zelman, et al., Petitioners, v. Doris Simmons-Harris, et al., Respondents Hanna Perkins School, et al., Petitioners, v. Doris Simmons-Harris, et al., Respondents Senel Taylor, et al., Petitioners, v. Doris Simmons-Harris, et al., Respondents. On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit The Supreme Court will review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which held that the Cleveland, Ohio school voucher program violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Family Research Council's Senior Director of Legal Studies Jan LaRue joined on an amicus brief with the Christian Legal Society to argue that Cleveland's program is constitutional because it disburses funds to parents who make a private choice of the school their child will attend. The Cleveland voucher program provides up to $2,250 toward tuition, which is used by low-income parents at participating schools, including public, private and religious schools.	Gonzaga University etal. v. DOE, No. 01-679 (June 2002) The court ruled 7-2 on June 20 that individual parents or students may not go to court to enforce the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, or FERPA, which requires schools and colleges that receive federal funds to protect the educational records of students from unauthorized disclosure.
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, No. 00- 1751 (June 2002) Cleveland's state-enacted school voucher program does not violate the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 5-4 decision.	Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie City . v. Earls, No 01-332 (June 2002) In a 5-4 decision affecting schools, the Supreme Court has upheld drug testing of students involved in a range of extracurricular activities, expanding the potential for such scrutiny beyond athletics.
School District of Beverly v. James Geller, 435 Mass. 233 (October 2001) The school district of Beverly (district) appealed from the order of a Superior Court judge affirming an arbitration award reinstating James Geller, a sixth grade teacher, who had been discharged for physically and verbally abusing his students on multiple occasions. The district asserts that the award reinstating Geller was beyond the arbitrator's authority, contrary to the best interests of the students, and violative of a public policy prohibiting teachers from using physical force against students. The Superior Court judge concluded that the arbitrator acted within the scope of his authority in ordering reinstatement. The Appeals Court reversed and vacated the arbitrator's award, holding that Geller's reinstatement offended "a clear and well defined public policy against the use of physical force, however slight, by a teacher against students." School Dist. of Beverly v. Geller, 50 Mass. App. Ct. 290, 297 (2000). This court granted Geller's application for further appellate review.	KATHLEEN GONCALO vs. SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF FALL RIVER. (May 2002) The plaintiff, Kathleen Goncalo, appeals from a decision dismissing her application to vacate an arbitration award in favor of the Fall River school committee. She was a school teacher in Fall River teaching Spanish at the Talbot School in grades seven and eight. As a result of her union activity, she alleged, offerings in Spanish were cancelled at the end of June, 1984, and in the 1984-1985 school year she was reassigned to teach English -- a subject for which she lacked requisite training. In circumstances that were in dispute, she stopped teaching in March, 1985...
Newdow v. United States Congress (22 F.3d 597 (2002)) In a controversial holding, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in June 2002 that the "under God" portion of the Pledge of Allegiance is in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. constitution. In Newdow v. United States Congress (22 F.3d 597 (2002)) Mr. Newdow asserted that the California state law that required that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited in all public schools every morning harmed his daughter. While the 2-1 panel decision generated a great deal of debate, discussion, and press; the judgment was stayed (put on hold) until the full panel of the Ninth Circuit can hear the case. Regardless of whether the full panel affirms or overturns the June 26, 2002 decision it is likely that the case will be appealed to the Supreme Court for final review. In its opinion, the Ninth Circuit panel stated that by adding the words "under God" in an a 1954 Act modifying the Pledge, Congress' "sole purpose was to advance religion, in order to differentiate the United States from nations under communist rule." Since the purpose of adding such words was not secular, the Court declared that the Pledge failed the Lemon test [Lemon v. Kurtzman (403 U.S. 602, 1971)]. The panel also declared that by requiring public school teachers to lead school children in the recitation of the Pledge the teachers are inculcating, and thereby endorsing, the ideals set forth in the Pledge of Allegiance. The inclusion of "under God" and the subsequent participation by teachers in the recitation led the Court to determine that the practice in question fails the Endorsement Test [County of Allegheny v. ACLU (492 U.S. 573, 1989)]. In addition the Court said that students, especially at a young age, may not understand that they have the option to not follow their teacher and fellow students as they recite the Pledge and that, "the mere fact that a pupil is required to listen every day to the statement, 'one nation under God' has a coercive effect." As such, the Ninth Circuit panel held that the practice of reciting the pledge is impermissibly coercive [Lee v. Weisman (505 U.S. 577, 1992)]. The Supreme Court faced the issue of religion in schools last term when it decided Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (122 S.Ct. 2460, 2002) and upheld Ohio's voucher program which allows parents to use federal funds to enroll their children in schools of their choice, including religiously affiliated private schools. While the Newdow decision presents a different problem regarding separation of church and state, if heard by the Supreme Court, the Court will once again attempt to clarify and better define the definition of the Establishment Clause as it affects schools presently. (source http://principals.org)	NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES et al. v. HIBBS et al., No 01-1368 (May 2003) The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA or Act) entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave annually for any of several reasons, including the onset of a "serious health condition" in an employee's spouse, child, or parent. 107 Stat. 9, 29 U.�S.�C. �2612(a)(1)(C). The Act creates a private right of action to seek both equitable relief and money damages "against any employer (including a public agency) in any Federal or State court of competent jurisdiction," �2617(a)(2), should that employer "interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of�" FMLA rights, �2615(a)(1). (Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.)
GRUTTER v. BOLLINGER et al., No 02-241 (June 2003) The justices on June 23 ruled 5-4 in favor of an affirmative action plan at the University of Michigan Law School that reviews each applicant's file in pursuit of creating and preserving a "critical mass" of African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans in the school's student body. But the court ruled 6-3 to strike down racial preferences in the university's undergraduate admissions program, which automatically awarded a significant point-scale advantage to minority applicants. (capsule source Edweek, June 23rd Edition)	GRATZ et al. v. BOLLINGER et al., No 02-516 (June 2003) In Gratz v. Bollinger, the Court noted the holding in Grutter that diversity is a compelling state interest, but concluded that the undergraduate (LSA) admissions policy was not narrowly tailored and thus violated the Equal Protection Clause, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and 42 U.S.C. � 1981. (source: Hogan & Hartson L.L.P.)
OCR: Race-Neutral Approaches to Diversity, March 2003 The Office for Civil Rights seeks to provide educational institutions with information about the race-neutral options available to them. Educational institutions will find that there are dozens of race-neutral options available... [and] that the early results from these programs are promising. Moreover, the full advantages of many race-neutral alternatives will not be fully felt until they are... implemented and several classes of students have been able to benefit from them.	Case Title Case Capsule