School District Did Not Violate Teacher’s Constitutional Rights When It Ordered Religious Banners Removed From His Classroom

In Johnson v. Poway Unified School District (658 F.3d 954, C.A.9 (Cal.), September 13, 2011)), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit considered whether a California school district violated a teacher’s First Amendment rights by ordering him to remove banners from his classroom that contained references to “God” and the “Creator.”  The Ninth Circuit concluded the school district did not violate the teacher’s rights when it ordered him “not to use his public position as a pulpit from which to preach his own view on the role of God in our Nation’s history to captive students in his mathematics classroom.”

For more coverage, read our Legal Alert.

Meghan Covert Russell

Florida School Finds Creative Way to Encourage Fitness

The Apollo Beach Elementary School in Hillsborough County, Florida recently started the "Morning Mile Club" to encourage student fitness.  Seventy-five elementary school students along with about about a dozen parents participate in the Club, which meets four days a week at 6:30am to run around the school's half-mile track.  The Club is run by the school's PE teacher, Wendy "Ski" Smiarowski.  The program is modeled after Fitness International's "Morning Mile," a national program aimed at fighting childhood obesity and increasing fitness among children. 

Students keep track of their distance by earning a rubber band for each lap; after the day's walk/run, they turn them in and Ms. Smiarowski records their distance.  Once students reach five miles, they earn a necklace and colorful foot charm, with additional charms earned for every five miles thereafter.  Any student who eventually reaches 100 miles will earn a special charm and the highly-coveted prize of being able to throw a pie at Ms. Smiarowski during the school's closed circuit morning show.  Two students have already logged more than fifty miles since the Club began in January!

What creative ideas have your school implemented to keep students engaged in physical fitness and encourage healthy lifestyles?

For in depth coverage on the Apollo Beach "Morning Mile Club", visit the Tampa Bay Online story here.

Meghan Covert Russell

February is African American History Month!

February is African American History Month and this year's theme is "black women in American culture and history."  The theme, which was selected by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, honors African American women and the roles they played in shaping our nation. 

Visit the African American History Month website to find resources for teachers, including historical documents and images.  The website brings together resources from the Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, and the Smithsonian Institution, among others.

Meghan Covert Russell

Top 12 Issues in Education for 2012

The nonpartisan group Education Commission of the States (“ECS”) has compiled a list of the top 12 issues to move education forward in 2012.  They include:

1. Pre-K: Expanding the focus to P-3.

2. K-12 finance: Creating and maintaining efficiency and financial accountability without lowering expectations.

3. Blended learning: Getting moving. Getting it right.

4. Common Core State Standards: From talking to doing.

5. Developing civic engagement in PK-12: State action in the absence of federal funding.

6. Teaching quality: Fasten your seatbelts!

7. Rural: Enhancing the potential of education in rural America.

8. Data: Access to what teachers and leaders need to improve student outcomes (and the skills to use it).

9. Individualized instruction: Faster. Cheaper. Smarter.

10. Performance funding: Building a model without a blueprint?

11. Remedial education: We know more now than we ever have.

12. Credentials of value: Some are better than others.

Which of these issues do you think are the most important for California?  Would you add any issues that aren’t on this list?

For in depth coverage on these issues and to read ECS’s complete forecast, “12 for 2012,” click here.

Meghan Covert Russell

Legal Alert: Dear Colleague Letter, Clarifying 2008 ADA Amendments Act

On January 19, 2012, the US Department of Education’s (“DOE”) Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a Dear Colleague letter and Questions and Answers regarding the impact of the 2008 amendments to Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) on public school districts.  These documents provide guidance on the requirements of the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (“Section 504”) in light of the changes made by the 2008 ADA Amendments Act (“Amendments Act”).  Generally these amendments have the effect of broadening the definition of what constitutes a disability, and thus who will receive special education services from school districts.

For more information please see our complete Legal Alert here.

Meghan Covert Russell

Legislature Restores Home-To-School Transportation Funding

On Thursday, February 2, 2012, the California Legislature approved SB 81, which restores $248 million for home-to-school transportation funding.  The bill will now be sent to Governor Brown for his signature. 

The budget cut will no longer be targeted at transportation, which opponents argued had a disparate impact on rural and urban students who rely heavily on busing students.  Instead, the cut will be a general-purpose reduction that affects all school districts evenly.  Whereas some rural districts were poised to lose more than $1,000 per student due to the transportation cut, now all districts will lose about $42 per student under SB 81.  Although SB 81 does not eliminate the budget cuts to education, it more equitable spreads the cuts across all school districts.

The full text of the bill can be accessed here.

Meghan Covert Russell

Federal Appeals Court Rules Weeknight Scheduling of Girls Basketball Games May Violate Title IX

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently ruled in Parker v. Franklin County School Corporation (7^th Cir. Jan 31, 2012), that two female basketball players have presented sufficient evidence to proceed to trial on their Title IX claim of denial of equal athletic opportunity based on the disparate scheduling of girls basketball games.  The suit alleges that several Indiana school districts have treated boys and girls basketball teams differently when scheduling their games.  The suit alleges that the boys teams were given “primetime” games on Friday and Saturday nights, while the girls games were often scheduled for weeknights.  The suit alleges that these differences resulted in several negative implications, including (1) placing female student-athletes at an academic disadvantage, (2) the girls team receiving less support from school and community-members at games, and (3) the girls feeling inferior or as if they had “second class status.” 

The Seventh Circuit determined that the scheduling disparity was systematic in nature.  Moreover, the Indiana High School Athletic Association had received notice from the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in 1997 that the difference in scheduling “could be found by OCR to be out of compliance with the scheduling of games and practice times component of the athletic provisions of Title IX if they reserve Friday nights for boys basketball games and schedule girls basketball games on other nights.”

Districts may want to review how their schools schedule boys and girls games to ensure equal athletic opportunity in light of this recent court decision.

For more information, see the National School Boards Association’s coverage on their blog.

Meghan Covert Russell