The political influences on three decisions of importance to University of Maryland faculty are examined. They are the dismissal of Edgar Beall, a physics teacher; the rejection of Marxist Bertell Ollman to head the government and politics department; and the rehiring, under threat of a budget cut, of the governor's sister, an English instructor.…

Contains a summary of the events leading to the firing of teacher Cissy Lacks and her successful court battle to win her job back with compensations. Presents Lacks' own reflections on censorship, discrimination, tenure, publicity, legal representation, and constitutional issues. (TB)

A possible sex scandal involving a teacher and a teenage student rocked the community in Anchorage, Alaska. Privacy and labor laws and union contract forbade board members from discussing the retirement deal that had been negotiated with the accused teacher. Hindsight suggests board members should have shared what information they could with the…

Focuses on what associations and unions can and should do to address teacher evaluation issues in collectively bargained agreements. (MLF)

Explores whether using a review board to approve the use of a movie infringes on a teacher's right to academic freedom. Also examines, in the absence of such a policy, whether teachers can be disciplined for showing movies that some parents, board members, or administrators regard as inappropriate. (68 footnotes) (MLF)

Workplace violence has not bypassed schools. Stories are surfacing about disgruntled school employees threatening, attacking, and sometimes killing administrators. This article shows how school leaders can develop greater awareness of potential problems and design cautionary measures. Contributing factors, warning signs, legal consequences,…

In a case involving questionable canine search-and-seizure practices, a circuit court upheld a school board's decision to terminate a teacher's contract. While touting zero tolerance, the board fired an honored teacher 3 years from retirement who may not have known about the marijuana cigarette in her car. (MLH)

This paper reviews legal risks associated with staff layoffs at institutions of higher education and methods for managing those risks and describes planning steps designed to minimize institutional legal exposure. Legal risks include claims of breach of contract, discrimination, tortious conduct, and violation of labor laws, collective bargaining…

Provided here is advice to principals concerning the documentation that should be used in the teacher evaluation process and presented at a hearing to support a recommendation for termination. The booklet presents a system of documentation intended to be simple but effective and which can be used in conjuction with any school district's evaluation…

The legal status of tenure rights threatened by financial exigency and the role of the American Association of University Professors in protecting those rights are considered. Accommodations of competing managerial, employee, and institutional interests that must be addressed are also discussed. Court cases are reviewed that deal with managerial…

A case study of 1100 high school teachers in a large urban district that has experienced declining enrollment for eight years illustrates several of the exit options and career mobility effects of riffing (reduction in force). The findings show that during decline, freely chosen movement out (exit), or laterally (moderate number of location…

The most frequently cited causes for teacher dismissal are immorality, incompetence, and insubordination. The discussion in this chapter concerning these three causes encompasses the general judicial principles found in teacher dismissal cases. The discussion of dismissal for immorality focuses on three controversial areas of litigation: sexual…

Since employee salaries and fringe benefits make up the major part of school budgets, any reduction in budgets must be accomplished by reducing personnel. Concentrating on Oklahoma, but citing legal decisions in other states as well, a legal summary is presented for reduction in force when funds are unavailable to complete a school budget. As in…

Dismissals for ineffective teaching, as distinguished from insubordination, immorality, or improper treatment of students, are rare because standards of teaching against which to juxtapose an individual teacher's behavior have not been available. However, abstract performance standards for teachers are beginning to emerge from research on teaching…

The use of seniority in current school layoff and transfer practices and the impact of seniority provisions on school operations are examined in this paper. The data for the study came from two sources: interviews with teachers, principals, union leaders, and district administrators in four school districts (drawn from a national sample) facing…