Student Teaching Seminar — On-line

Legal issues answers

Here are the course units:

Please make sure the answers you gave to the Legal Issues Study Questions match the answers below. Again, this is important stuff so please take it seriously. When you're done, if you want to see something pretty interesting, go to the TSPC website to this link to see the disciplinary actions taken against teachers who violated certain legal and ethical practices. Pretty interesting... Anyway... once you've read all about legal issues in schools, answered the self-study questions, and checked yourself against the answers provided - download the following afidavit that is required to be on file here at Western when you apply for a license. The afidavit states that you are aware of the legal issues described here and that you will act in accordance with them. Download the afidavit, sign it, and bring it with you to our next class meeting. (When you click on the afidavit link - you won't go anywhere but the .doc will download to your desktop. If it doesn't work - let Mark know when you come to campus and he'll get you one.)

VIII.  DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR SELF-STUDY QUESTIONS

1.   May be a violation of state and federal law.  Federal regulations under Title IX of the Education Amendments require equal opportunity in sports for men and women.  34 CFR §106.41.  If a school sponsors a team available to only one sex (and opportunities for members of that sex have previously been limited), members of the excluded sex must be allowed to try out for the team unlessthe sport is a contact sport.  Field hockey is probably a contact sport.  But there still must be an equal opportunity available for girls to participate in a fall sports program.  If there are no field sports of any kind for girls, the school is probably not meeting its obligations.  Recommendation: the school should assess whether there is interest in field hockey or another field sport among the female students.  If the interest is strong and if girls' participation in a fall sports program is noticeably less than boys, then the school should offer the sport to girls.

2.   This is a probable violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and ORS 659.150.  The teacher is using national origin as a basis for placing students.  She has assumed all children of Hispanic origin need to be in a special reading class.  Each child's abilities should be objectively assessed before placement.  Recommendation: Explain the law to the teacher; Juan and other students should be individually assessed; if necessary, Juan should be reassigned based on the assessment results. 

3.   This is a probable violation of Section 504, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act.  To the extent possible, children with disabilities must be allowed to participate in activities with their non-disabled peers, and the school has an obligation to make reasonable accommodations to ensure participation.  The IDEA requires that physical education be provided to students with disabilities.   Recommendation: 1) Jane should be admitted to a physical education class that includes non-disabled students to the extent practicable.  2) Jane and the other boy should be allowed to eat lunch with all the other students.  (Perhaps the school could allow them to move to the front of the line or make other accommodations to make sure they will have time to eat lunch with the other students.)  3) Jane should not be denied access to the playground based on vague concerns about safety.  If necessary, the school should assign an aide or make other accommodations to assure tat Jane can safely interact with other children during playground activities.

4.   If the school does nothing, it is a probable violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.  The students' actions have the effect of depriving Tan of an equal opportunity to participate in educational programs because of Tan's national origin.  When the school has notice that Tan is being harassed by other students, the school has an obligation to investigate the matter; failure to do so has the effect of sanctioning or tolerating the other students' conduct.  Recommendation: Investigate the complaint.  If the investigation shows that harassment is occurring, the school must take corrective action against the offending students.  While the school cannot control conduct that occurs on the street or at a shopping mall during non-school hours, the school should make efforts to be sure students are not subject to harassment or other threats that limit a student's access to the school program.  The school should adopt policies and make sure students are aware of policies that racial harassment will not me tolerated.  The school should also consider increasing education programs on cultural diversity and respect for other students.  These efforts can help create a climate among students against harassment of students from minority groups.

5.   If the school does nothing, it may be a violation of Title IX of the Education Act Amendments.  The school has an obligation not only to prevent sexual harassment by its teachers and employees, but also take affirmative steps to prevent sexual harassment by student's peers.  Moreover, the source of the objectionable materials are through the school supplied computer programs.  In this case, the students are engaging in conduct, i.e. distributing the sexually oriented materials, that may create a hostile learning environment in the computer class.  This conduct may have the effect of excluding Susan from the school program.  Recommendation: Allowing Susan to transfer to another class is probably not an adequate solution.  The school should investigate whether the activity in the classroom could reasonably be considered to constitute sexual harassment and a hostile learning environment.  If so, the teacher should prohibit students from accessing the sexually oriented materials, and the teacher should certainly prohibit students from disseminating any sexual materials that reasonably could create a hostile environment among the students. 

6.   This is a probable violation of Title IX of the Education Act Amendments.  The different treatment of Melinda will discourage her from taking these courses and may effectively deny her access to the class.  Recommendation:  The teacher should be instructed on the requirements of the law and be required to treat Melinda the same as the male students.  If possible, Melinda should be allowed to transfer to another class with a different teacher.

7.   This is a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and of ORS 659.150.  The textbooks are racially discriminatory.  Recommendation:  The textbooks should be replaced.  Until this is accomplished, alternative books and supplemental materials should be used.

8.   Possible violation of Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act.  Many persons from different parts of the United States or from different racial or ethnic groups speak differently.  This should not be the basis for denial of opportunity unless the student teacher was unable to carry out her responsibilities to the children in the class.  If Ms. Jones was sufficiently communicating and carrying out her duties effectively, the cooperating teacher may have simply been expressing her personal bias against a "Black accent."    Recommendation:  The administration should observe the student teacher in the classroom to evaluate her effectiveness in communicating with students.  Ms. Jones should not be denied access to the teaching program only because her speech patterns are different from most teachers in the school.