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Student Rights

Student Rights. Common Law, Due Process, and Statutory Protection. Student Rights v State Rights. Education is not a fundamental right Students do have 1 st and 14 th Amendment rights Balancing responsibility Public schools respect the rights of the student

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Student Rights

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  1. Student Rights Common Law, Due Process, and Statutory Protection

  2. Student Rights v State Rights • Education is not a fundamental right • Students do have 1st and 14th Amendment rights • Balancing responsibility • Public schools respect the rights of the student • Students respect their obligations to the state

  3. Common Law • Reduction in some personal freedoms • Obligations on the part of both the teacher and the student • Reasonableness is the common law watch word of the teacher-student relationship

  4. Reasonableness Two aspects : the reach of the school’s authority, and the nature and degree of the discipline • Conduct that is: Proper, rational and fair • Not: conduct that is immoderate, excessive, and unsuitable to the conditions

  5. In loco parentis • In the place of the parent • BUT school official’s rights are not co-extensive with those of the parent

  6. Wiemerslage v. Maine

  7. Constitutional Due process • State can deprive an individual of a life, liberty, or property so long as the individual is given due process • 14th Amendment – no state … shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property w/out due process of law.

  8. What Process is Due? • Depends on the circumstances • General touchstones are: • notice • hearing • results and findings open to inspection

  9. SUBSTANTIVE Valid objective of the state Means must be reasonable Does the state have a valid objective to take away someone’s right to life, liberty or property? PROCEDURAL Proper notice Opportunity to be heard Fair hearing Did the state provide proper notice of the deprivation of life, liberty or property and did the person have an opportunity to be heard, and was the hearing conducted fairly? Due Process

  10. Substantive Due Process • State has no power to deprive a person of life, liberty, or property by an action that has no reasonable relationship to any proper governmental purpose • State must have a valid objective and the means used must be reasonably calculated to meet the objective • Meyer v Nebraska 1923 liberty interest • Dixon v Alabama 1961 property interest • Tinker v Des Moines 1969 property interest • Goss v Lopez 1975 property and liberty interest

  11. Constitutional Due Process • Dunn v Fairfield 7th Circuit - 1998

  12. Corporal Punishment • 8th Amendment issue – • Liberty interest Ingraham v Wright SC 1977

  13. Procedural Due Process • Dixon v. Alabama 5th Circuit 1961 • Goss v Lopez SC 1975 • McClain v Lafayette 5th Circuit 1982

  14. You be the Judge • An 11 year old 6th grader brought a 2 CD’s to school with a song created and performed by the student and a friend. The song was titled “Gonna kill Mrs. Cox’s baby” Mrs. Cox was the student’s science teacher and was pregnant at the time. On the disc the lyrics were unintelligible, he was asked to write them down. He admitted he wrote them, and burned the songs onto the CDs. He was suspended for 2 weeks and at hearing was expelled for the remainder of the year. The parents argued that the evidence was arbitrary and capricious, and unreasonable and that the discipline was too severe. • Was it too severe? Was the behavior egregious enough? Were his rights violated?

  15. You be the Judge! • A high school has a zero tolerance drug policy. A small amount of marijuana was found in a student’s car on campus. Student was expelled 3 days from the end of fall semester for the remainder of the year, including summer school. He received no credit for fall or spring classes. The longstanding (20 years) district practice was to expel the student caught with drugs. The school board upheld the discipline. The student filed for a judicial review. The trial court found that the expulsion must end on the last day of school and not include summer school; and that school board’s action was arbitrary and capricious. The School Board appealed and the Appeal Court agreed that the last day of school did not extend to summer school and that the district’s actions were arbitrary and capricious.

  16. Sexual Harassment • Title IX of Educational Amendments, 1982 • Quid pro quo • Hostile environment • Deliberate indifference standard

  17. Sexual Harassment Cases Teacher to Student Student to Student Davis v. Monroe SC 1999 Baynard v Malone 4th Circuit 2001 • Franklin v. Gwinett SC 1992 • Gebster v Lago Vista SC 1998

  18. Important Concepts • Damages are available under Title IX • School official must have actual notice of circumstances and acted with deliberate indifference • Liability is limited to situations in which school has substantial control over the harasser and the context • Harassment must be so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive

  19. Child Abuse • Reporting of suspected abuse is mandatory • Case: Arkansas v. Caldwell 1992

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