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ADMS 611
SCHOOL LAW
Mondays, January 14 - May 5, 2008
Chickahominy Middle School

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR
Jonathan D. Becker, J.D., Ph.D.
jbecker@vcu.edu
804-827-2655

COURSE TOPICS:
• Schools and the Law
• Students and the Law
• Professional Staff and the Law
• Contemporary Federal and State Education Legislation
• Governance of Schools in Virginia

TEXT: Vacca and Bosher, Law and Education: Contemporary Issues and Court
Decisions, sixth edition (Lexis Law Publishers, 2003). Cost: $81.25
Supplemental readings will be assigned.

COURSE INFORMATION

Conceptual Framework:
CF I.1: Candidates demonstrate content knowledge in their disciplines by
explaining major concepts and structures of inquiry of the disciplines and
fields of study.
CF III.3: Candidates demonstrate commitment to diversity by recognizing the
importance of the social context of schooling.
CF IV.1: Candidates demonstrate critical reflection by utilizing critical thinking in
framing and solving educational problems.
CF IV.4: Candidates demonstrate critical reflection by adhering to a professional
code of ethics in decision-making.
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ADMS 611
SCHOOL LAW
Mondays, January 14 - May 5, 2008
Chickahominy Middle School

Course Objectives:
Students successfully completing the Course will: ELCC ISLLC
STANDARDS STANDARDS
Be familiar with the judicial branch of government
(federal, state, local)
6.1 6
Be familiar with the legislative branch of government
(federal, state)

Understand the legal structure of public education in 6.1 6

Virginia

Know the statutory and regulatory authority and 6.1

responsibilities of the General Assembly, the Board 3, 6
of Education, local school boards, and building
principals
6.1
Describe the processes by which federal, state, 6
school division, and school building policies are
formulated

Use research tools to seek court decisions

Appropriately use legal words and phrases

Research and write competently

Use appropriate written and verbal communication in 3.2, 6.2 5

dealing with school-related matters …

Frame and analyze legal questions using appropriate 4.2, 6.1 6

problem-solving techniques 6.2
2
Effectively apply the law in drafting and managing 6.2, 6..3 2, 5, 6
legal agreements/documents 5.3

Use statutory and case law to develop and 5.3

administer policies for:
providing a safe school environment 3.2 2
promoting multicultural and gender awareness 6.3 2
supervising staff and making employment decisions 3.3 5
developing fiscal responsibility 3.2, 3.3 3
involving stakeholders in policy development 4.1, 4.2 4
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ADMS 611
SCHOOL LAW
Mondays, January 14 - May 5, 2008
Chickahominy Middle School
VCU POLICIES

Students with Disabilities

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires Virginia Commonwealth
University to provide a reasonable accommodation to any individual who advises
us of a physical or mental disability. If you have a physical or mental limitation
that requires an accommodation or an academic adjustment, please arrange a
meeting with me within the first two weeks of class.

Religious Observances
It is the policy of Virginia Commonwealth University to accord students, on an
individual basis, the opportunity to observe their traditional religious holidays.
Students desiring to observe a religious holiday of special importance must
provide advance written notification to each instructor by the end of the second
week of classes.

Academic Integrity
Students are responsible for refraining from committing any act of cheating,
plagiarizing, facilitating academic dishonesty abusing academic materials, or
soliciting others to engage in any of these acts. Specifications of the VCU Honor
System can be found in the University Resource Guide and can be located
online at http://www.vcu.edu/provost/univ_policies/honor.htm

Student Safety
What to know and do to be prepared for emergencies at VCU:
1. Sign up to receive text messaging alerts (http://www.vcu.edu/alert/notify).
Keep your information up-to-date.
2. Know the safe evacuation routes from each of your classrooms.
Emergency evacuation routes are posted in on-campus classrooms.
3. Listen for and follow instructions from VCU or other designated
authorities.
4. Know where to go for additional emergency information
(http://www.vcu.edu/alert).
5. Know the emergency phone number for the VCU Police (828-1234).
Report suspicious activities and objects.

VISIT OUR ADVISING WEB PAGE AT:

http://www.soe.vcu.edu/departments/el/advising.html
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ADMS 611
SCHOOL LAW
Mondays, January 14 - May 5, 2008
Chickahominy Middle School

DISCLAIMER

I, Professor Becker, am an attorney at law licensed to practice in the state of

New Jersey (not Virginia!). However, I am an attorney by education only. That
is, I have a law degree and I am admitted to the Bar of the State of New Jersey.
However, I have never practiced law and I am currently officially “retired
completely from the practice of law” in every jurisdiction. Therefore, I cannot,
among other things, “render advice on the law or legal assistance.” As a result,
all discussions and communications related to this course should be considered
academic in nature; I will answer questions and offer opinions (readily), but they
should be considered answers and opinions based on my education and
understanding of information, and not legal advice.
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ADMS 611
SCHOOL LAW
Mondays, January 14 - May 5, 2008
Chickahominy Middle School

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS:

Expectations for Students:

Class participation is essential not only as an assessment tool, but also as a
means of including the personal and professional experiences of students to
enrich class discourse. The class will be conducted primarily as a seminar with
considerable emphasis on critical discussion of the material and related issues.
Also, on occasion, a modified version of the Socratic method may be used.
Thus, please come prepared for lively dialogue.
More specifically:
• You are expected to attend all classes and to arrive on time. I respect
that you lead busy and important professional and personal lives, and I will
try to accommodate you in times of crisis or emergency. Otherwise,
please respect the learning experience I’ve worked hard to create for you
all by attending classes regularly.
• You will read all of the assigned chapters and/or cases prior to class.
• You will be prepared to critically discuss the material for each and
every class.

Assignments and Grading

In addition to the readings, there are three main assignments for this course:
Case Briefs, Discussion Board and a semester-long project (a Scenario analysis)
that counts as a final exam and towards fieldwork requirements.

Case Briefs:
Early in the semester, we will discuss how to do a case brief. During Parts III-V
of the semester, we will discuss two Supreme Court decisions each week for a
total of eight weeks. For each of those 8 weeks, half of the class will be
responsible for briefing the cases (i.e. formal case briefs will be submitted
through Blackboard). Within the half of the class responsible for the briefs, half
of those students will be responsible for briefing one of the cases and the other
half will be responsible for briefing the second case. In other words, each week
¼ of the class will brief one case and ¼ will brief the second case; the other half
of the class is still responsible for reading the cases so as to be prepared
to participate in class discussions. In the end, each student will have
submitted a total of 4 case briefs. Briefs will be worth five points each and will be
scored according to the following scale: 1= seriously flawed; 2 = barely
adequate; 3 = satisfactory, 4= good, 5=excellent.
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ADMS 611
SCHOOL LAW
Mondays, January 14 - May 5, 2008
Chickahominy Middle School

Discussion Board
Shortly after each class (starting on January 28), students will be asked to offer
brief reflections on the topic of class discussion. However, instead of the
traditional paper-based submission method, we will be using the Discussion
Board made available through the Blackboard site assigned to this course. The
Discussion Board is a medium for asynchronous, electronic communication; it is
a good test of the notion of the Internet as a form of computer-mediated
communication capable of creating a virtual community (a notion about which Dr.
Becker has written).

The Discussion Board is a series of forums and threaded discussions. A forum

will be created for each week, and at least one threaded discussion will be
created for a given week. The instructor will start a thread. The topic for that
thread may pose a specific question for you to address, or it may simply ask for
your general thoughts/reflections. In addition to responding to the initial
instructor-generated thread, students are welcome to start new/additional threads
around alternate ideas or questions related to the class readings and/or
discussions.

These discussion board reflections are largely unstructured. The only

requirement is that every student must post at least one message in
response to the initial instructor-generated thread. Also, as much as
possible, students should reflect on specific points made in the reading and/or
during class.

Scenario Analysis
In addition to the case briefs and the discussion board, learning will be assessed
through a research-based project called a Scenario Analysis. Details about this
semester-long project will be discussed during the course of the semester and in
separate documents.

Finally, since this class is primarily structured as a seminar-style course, there is

significant emphasis on participation in class discussions. In the end, then, final
grades will be determined according to the following formula:

• Briefs - 20%
• Class participation - 20%
• Online Discussion participation - 20%
• Final Exam / Scenario Analysis - 40%
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ADMS 611
SCHOOL LAW
Mondays, January 14 - May 5, 2008
Chickahominy Middle School

Class Meetings:
DATE TOPIC Book Case(s) OTHER
Chapter(s)
PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SCHOOL LAW
Jan. 14 *INTRODUCTIONS
*OVERVIEW OF COURSE
REQUIREMENTS
*INITIAL EXERCISE
*SOURCES OF LAW
*AN INTRODUCTION TO THE
CONSTITUTION
Jan. 21 NO CLASS – MLK DAY
Jan. 28 THE FOUNDATIONAL 1-3 • Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 US 510
EDUCATIONAL LAWS: Attendance, (1925)
Assignment and Placement 9 (§9.0-§9.3) • Plyler v. Doe, 458 US 1131 (1982)

INTRODUCTION TO CASE
BRIEFING
PART II: SCHOOLING AND THE CONSTITUTION
Feb. 4 SCHOOLING AS A 6 • San Antonio v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (1973) First Case Brief
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT: The due
Constitution, Equity, and School
• Funding of Standards of Quality
(http://www.cepionline.org/backupsite-11-01-
Finance
06/policy_issues/SOQ/funding_standards_quality.
html)
PART III: THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Feb. 11 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF 12 • Lee v. Weisman 505 US 577 (1977) Feedback on first
RELIGION IN SCHOOLS: The • Zelman v. Harris, 536 US 639 (2002) case analysis.
Establishment Clause of the 1st
Amendment
Feb. 18 CONDUCTING LEGAL RESEARCH ONLINE CLASS
Feb. 25 RELIGION AND ACCESS TO 12 • Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 US 205 (1972)
SCHOOLS: The free exercise of • Board of Education of Westside Community
religion and the Equal Access Act
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ADMS 611
SCHOOL LAW
Mondays, January 14 - May 5, 2008
Chickahominy Middle School
DATE TOPIC Book Case(s) OTHER
Chapter(s)
Schools v. Mergens, 496 US 226 (1990)
Mar. 3 FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND 11 • Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 Choose Scenario
EXPRESSION US 260 (1988)
• Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. __ (2007)

PART IV: SCHOOL SAFETY AND STUDENT RIGHTS

Mar. 10 SCHOOL SAFETY: Privacy and §10.0 & §10.4 • New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 US 325 (1985)
Student Searches • Pottawatomie v. Earls, 536 US 822 (2002)
Mar. 17 SCHOOL SAFETY: Punishment and §10.1-§10.3 • Goss v. Lopez, 419 US 565 (1972)
Procedural Due Process • Layshock v. Hermitage Sch. Dist., No. 06-116
(2007)
Mar. 24 NO CLASS – SPRING BREAK
(Hanover)
Mar. 31 SCHOOL SAFETY: Sexual §10.8 & §7.10 • Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School OPTIONAL::
Harassment District, 524 US 274 (1998) Scenario
draft/outline due
• Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education,
526 US 629 (1999)
PART V: EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
Apr. 7 RACE AND EDUCATIONAL EQUITY: §9.3-§9.6 • Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483
Desegregation (1954)
• Milliken v. Bradley, 418 US 717 (1974)
Apr. 14 RACE AND EDUCATIONAL EQUITY: §9.3-§9.6 • Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 US 306 (2003)
Student Placement • Parents Involved in Cmty. Schools v. Seattle
Sch. Dist. No. 1
PART VI: OTHER FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS
Apr. 21 TORT LIABILITY 4
Apr. 28 IDEIA and SPECIAL EDUCATION 13 SCENARIO DUE

May 5 WRAPUP AND DISCUSSION OF

SCENARIO ANALYSIS
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ADMS 611
SCHOOL LAW
Mondays, January 14 - May 5, 2008
Chickahominy Middle School
NOTE: In the event of inclement weather, we will NOT meet if school is closed for students OR if after-school activities for students are cancelled.
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ADMS 611
SCHOOL LAW
Mondays, January 14 - May 5, 2008
Chickahominy Middle School

CASE BRIEF TEMPLATE

 CASE BRIEF

Original Plaintiff: Original Defendant:

Citation: Date:

Facts of the Case: (What are the essential facts of the case? i.e. facts that bear upon or lead
up to the issue.)

Issue(s) and Cause(s) of Action: (What is(are) the dispute(s) to be resolved by this
particular court? Which rule(s) of law should be used?)
Procedural Status of the Case: (What has happened in the courts to this point? Who
“won” in the lower courts?)
Trial Court’s Decision Appellate Court Decision

Current Court Decision:

Majority Opinion
Written by: Joined by:

Concurring Opinion #1 Concurring Opinion #2 Concurring Opinion #3

Written by: Joined by: Written by: Joined by: Written by: Joined by:

Dissenting Opinion #1 Dissenting Opinion #2 Dissenting Opinion #3

Written by: Joined by: Written by: Written by: Joined by: Written by:

Court Holding: (What was the decision of the court in this case?)
Rationale (Reasoning of Court, Ratio Dicidendi): (What was the court's reasoning
for its decision? Was the court reasoning based on precedent, economics, politics, sociology,
fairness, etc.)

Significance: (What are the implications of this decision with regard to future actions by
policymakers?)