In a recent opinion the Supreme Court of the United States recognized that for many communities "school sports play a prominent role." Whatever purpose they serve, school sports also raise a number of legal issues that a school district must carefully handle in order to operate its athletics program with minimal risk of liability. This handbook is designed to help school attorneys and school officials with these various issues and to suggest possible means of avoiding legal problems. Following the foreword by Benjamin J. Ferrara, contents include the following articles: (1) "Discipline of Athletes: Due Process Considerations" (David B. Rubin); (2) "Playing Fair: Litigating State and Local Athletic Eligibility Rules Protecting High School Athletes" (Margaret A. Chidester); (3)"Participation of Disabled and Nonpublic School Students in Public School Athletic Programs" (Mary Kay Klimesh); (4) "Drug Testing of Interscholastic Athletes in Public Schools" (Timothy R. Volpert); (5) "Participation in Athletic Programs: Clearing the Title IX and Equal Protection Hurdles" (Cynthia Lutz Kelly); (6) "Public School Sports and Religion" (Pilar Sokol); (7) "Student Injuries During Physical Education Classes and Extracurricular Athletic Activities: A Survey of Potential Tort Liability of Public School Activities" (Mark S. Northcraft and Charles A. Willmes); (8) "Spectator Issues in Public School Athletics" (John G. Moyer, Jr.); (9) "Student Athletics and Insurance Issues" (Martin Semple and Franklin A. Nachman); and (10) "Athletic Personnel and Volunteer Issues" (James B. Gessford, Gregory H. Perry, and Michael I. Levin). (LMI)