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DEL.ICIO.USLawyering Up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Are public schools getting choked by laws, policies and regulations? A self-described bipartisan group called Common Good (“Restoring Common Sense to American Law”) thinks so. In a report titled, “Over Ruled: The Burden of Law on American Public Schools,” the organization showshow complicated it is to fire an inept teacher, suspend a student with disabilities, replace a heating system and organize an athletic event.
Manuals spell out the proper procedures for reporting suspected child abuse, understanding the federal law guaranteeing a free and appropriate education to every child and making sense immigration laws. Charter schools, teacher contracts, food safety … all potential legal landmines. Sure, a school board attorney can get involved once a lawsuit is filed, but those on the frontlines, teachers and principals, need to know an awful lot to avoid getting into legal trouble in the first place. It seems if you work in a school, a law degree would come in handy.
Common Good founder Philip K. Howard writes: “Intractable problems usually have a silent partner, some assumption that everyone takes for granted. In education, the practice of reformers has been to identify a worthy goal—say, safety or fairness—and then to create a detailed legal structure to make sure it happens. Taken alone, each legal requirement seems reasonable. Together, they present an insurmountable legal barrier, blocking even the simplest choices.”
Comments
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By chuck
March 7, 2005 10:10 AM | Link to this
We have one special ed teacher who stays each evening until almost 7:00 just doing the paperwork involved with teaching special ed students. In my regular ed classroom I don’t have to teach any differently than I would if I didn’t have any special ed students, but it takes about 3 times as long to do the paperwork involving anything to do with the special ed student. I have to make copies of everything and send it to 3 different people. I have to document EVERYTHING I do with them for fear of being sued. I make anecdotal records of all meetings with the student and/or his parents. It is a royal pain. I love my special ed kids and I do a pretty good job teaching them, but the meetings and paperwork are time killers. That time has to come from somewhere.
Then we have NCLB, ESOL, The new bullying and sexual harassment laws. All teachers should be immune from lawsuits unless they physically abuse or injure students…PERIOD. The school district has to take responsibility for disciplining teachers who are out of line in or who in other ways are not carrying out their duties. The courts are not the place to handle those things.