Students Rights and
libraries, have been sued for using
Responsibility
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
 Students are free to express their
views except when such conduct
disrupts class work, causes disorder,
or invades the rights of others. eg.
Tinker v.Des Moines Independent
Community School District (1969).
Which can also be seen in:
o Student Internet Use
- The Internet has generated
legal issues that educators
will be contending with for a
long time to come. Like
businesses and other
organizations, most schools
have “acceptable use
policies” that govern the
online behavior of students
and staff provided that
statutory and constitutional
requirements protecting free
speech and other rights are
not thereby violated.
Developments include the
following:
■ Schools have installed software to
inhibit access to Internet sites that
programmers have classified as
pornographic, obscene, or otherwise
undesirable for children or youth.
■ Some students have been punished
for sending e-mail or posting
webpages that school officials
considered threatening, defamatory,
exclusionary, obscene, or potentially
disruptive or destructive.
■ Libraries, including school
filtering software to screen out
sexually oriented Internet sites.
o Dress Codes and
Regulations
- Many courts have had to
determine whether dress codes
and regulations constitute an
unconstitutional restriction on
students’ rights to free
expression.
 A school newspaper is not a public
forum and can be regulated by
school officials.
 Schools need not permit offensive or
disruptive speech.
SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION
 Suspension from school requires
some form of due process for
students. eg. Goss v. Lopez (1975)
CLASSROOM DISCIPLINE AND
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
 Corporal punishment is not cruel or
unusual punishment and is permitted
where allowed by state law.
SEARCH AND SEIZURE
 To be constitutional, searches of
students and students’ property must
meet a two-pronged test.
o Controversy Regarding
Students with Disabilities
- Disabled students who
are disruptive must be
retained in their current
placement until official
hearings are completed.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT OR
MOLESTATION OF STUDENTS
 School districts are not legally at
fault when a teacher sexually
harasses a student unless the school
acted with “deliberate indifference”
in failing to stop it.

STUDENT RECORDS AND PRIVACY

RIGHTS
 Private notes and memoranda of
teachers and administrators
(including grade books) are exempt
from view. In addition, records kept
separate from official files and
maintained for law enforcement
purposes (for example, information
about criminal behavior) cannot be
disclosed. Nothing may be revealed
that would jeopardize the privacy
rights of other pupils. Last, schools
may disclose directory-type
information without prior consent;
however, students or their families
may request that even this
information be withheld.

PROTECTION FROM VIOLENCE

 Educators have a duty to protect

students against violent actions that
occur at school or at school-
sponsored events, which frequently
extends to off-campus events such as
graduations, proms, and parties.
Depending on the circumstances, the
courts may find school districts or
their employees legally liable for
failing in this duty.

COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE AND

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