When can a school discipline a teacher for their social media use? What happens when a teacher’s problematic tweets go viral? Imagine waking up to an email detailing a teacher’s history of retweeting and commenting on some rather controversial posts. That's exactly what happened to a West Virginia school board’s communications director when one of the district’s high school teacher's Twitter activity sparked a firestorm in the community. In this episode, we're diving into the case of Durstein v. Alexander, a legal battle that challenges the boundaries of free speech for educators and explores what happens when personal beliefs collide with professional responsibilities. We also discuss a recent wave of cell phone bans in K-12 schools. --- We're building a Teaching Guide! You can check it out at our website, ChalkandGavel.com. We'd also greatly appreciate it if you would consider showing your support for Chalk and Gavel by becoming a subscriber on Patreon. Your support will help us keep delivering the education law content you want to hear! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/chalkandgavel --- Keywords: First Amendment, Free Speech, Teacher Speech Rights, Teacher Discipline, Social Media, Politics, Prior Restraint, Heckler's Veto, Qualified Immunity, Cell Phones

Welcome to our 25th episode! To celebrate, we invited Supreme Court and education law reporter Mark Walsh back to discuss the Supreme Court's 2023-24 Term and look forward to next year's docket. We discuss the Court's cases from this past year that could impact education, including O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier (which dealt with public employees blocking individuals from their social media accounts); Muldrow v. City of St. Louis (a case dealing with the question of when employee transfers trigger the nondiscrimination protections of Title VII); Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (a case that we've covered before about the authority of federal agencies); and Snyder v. United States (which is a case about the proper scope of federal anti-bribery laws). We also look at the cases the Court decided not to address this term, like cases about alleged racial discrimination in school admissions and bathroom access for transgender individuals. Finally, we look forward to next term. The Court has already taken an important case about the constitutionality and lawfulness of bans on gender-affirming care that could profoundly impact how those topics are addressed in schools. In addition, we're watching a few other petitions for cases the Court may take up, particularly about public funding for religious schools and religious charter schools (check out Episode 23 to hear more). In our bellringer, we discuss ongoing litigation around the new Title IX regulations, including several injunctions that prevent the new regulations from taking effect in certain states and districts. This is one episode you don't want to miss! --- We're building a Teaching Guide! You can check it out at our website, ChalkandGavel.com. We'd also greatly appreciate it if you would consider showing your support for Chalk and Gavel by becoming a subscriber on Patreon. Your support will help us keep delivering the education law content you want to hear! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/chalkandgavel --- Keywords: The Supreme Court, Mark Walsh, Title IX, Title VII, Social Media, Bribery and Corruption, Administrative Law, Religion and Public Schools

What’s the difference between creative discipline and excessive punishment? How does a five-minute punishment set off six years of litigation? What does the law say about fastening students to trees? It's definitely frowned upon! But that’s exactly what happened in today’s case, Doe v. the Hawaii Department of Education. This is the story of how a vice principal got into a sticky situation by taping a student’s head to a tree. We got pretty attached to this case. We will not be masking any facts here. It turns out that this vice principal’s bark was just as bad as his bite. We're all rooting for the student in this case. We also discuss a recent settlement agreement between a Tennessee school and the Satanic Temple, stemming from a First Amendment challenge related to the Satanic Temple's request to start an After School Satan Club at the school. --- We're building a Teaching Guide! You can check it out at our website, ChalkandGavel.com. We'd also greatly appreciate it if you would consider showing your support for Chalk and Gavel by becoming a subscriber on Patreon. Your support will help us keep delivering the education law content you want to hear! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/chalkandgavel --- Keywords: Student Discipline, Masking Tape, Search and Seizure, Fourth Amendment, Qualified Immunity, Substantive Due Process, Religion, First Amendment, After School Satan Club

Can a state authorize a religious virtual charter school? Where is the line between the religious liberties of individuals and prohibitions on the government establishing a religion? Oh, what a beautiful morning! Oh, what a beautiful day. I've got a beautiful feeling everything's Oklahoma today! In this episode, we’re talking about a recent case that made waves in Oklahoma. An application was submitted for a virtual charter school. But not just any virtual charter school. This was going to be a Catholic school. That's right, a Catholic virtual public charter school. This is the case of an attempt to create the first religious public school in the United States. Get your legal pads ready; this is Drummond v. the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board. We also discuss a related situation in Oklahoma where the State Superintendent published a memo stating that all Oklahoma schools are required to incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments, as an instructional support into the curriculum. --- We're building a Teaching Guide! You can check it out at our website, ChalkandGavel.com. We'd also greatly appreciate it if you would consider showing your support for Chalk and Gavel by becoming a subscriber on Patreon. Your support will help us keep delivering the education law content you want to hear! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/chalkandgavel --- Keywords: Religion, Oklahoma, Musicals, Free Exercise, Establishment Clause, First Amendment, Charter Schools

How and when should schools distinguish between teenage banter and offensive language? How does extensive media attention impact the handling of sensitive incidents in schools? In this episode, we tackle a case that you might have heard about. The story went viral and sent shockwaves through a Kansas City community. This is the case of Plaintiff A v Park Hill School District. You might know it as the incident where some students started a Change.org petition to reinstate slavery. The students were ultimately disciplined, and they challenged their discipline as violating their free speech, due process, and equal protection rights. We also discuss the Supreme Court's recent decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which has the potential to fundamentally alter the balance of power between executive agencies, the legislature, and courts. --- We're building a Teaching Guide! You can check it out at our website, ChalkandGavel.com. We'd also greatly appreciate it if you would consider showing your support for Chalk and Gavel by becoming a subscriber on Patreon. Your support will help us keep delivering the education law content you want to hear! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/chalkandgavel --- Keywords: Student Speech, Racism, First Amendment, Due Process, Equal Protection, Fourteenth Amendment, Bullying and Harassment, Chevron, Administrative Law, Balance of Powers

When can parents be criminally prosecuted for failing to send their kids to school? What role do teachers and administrators play in addressing school non-attendance and truancy? In this episode, we’re cutting class to dive into the murky waters of student absenteeism with the case of the State of Missouri v. Williams. While truancy cases don’t really grab the headlines like student protests (or the state of Florida), they do prompt us to think pretty hard about those fundamental questions regarding the role of the state in education and family life. Missing school can come with a hefty price tag. From school bells to jail cells, truancy is anything but trivial. We also discuss the emerging and pressing issue of AI deepfakes in schools.

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We're building a Teaching Guide! Check it out here.

We'd also greatly appreciate it if you would consider showing your support for Chalk and Gavel by becoming a subscriber on Patreon. Your support will help us keep delivering the education law content you want to hear! https://www.patreon.com/chalkandgavel Keywords: Truancy, Chronic Absenteeism, Compulsory Attendance, State Law, Criminal Law, Artificial Intelligence, Deepfakes

When are student sit-ins protected by the First Amendment? How can coaches maintain team cohesion and discipline without becoming draconian? Why is it always the cheer squad? In this episode, we tackle the case of Gonzales v. Burley High School, a fascinating case involving a new cheer coach and some very displeased cheerleaders. This one is pretty wild. It has to do with students being punished for protesting, but wait, there's more! It also has favoritism, retribution, grudges, and a coach's rulebook that reads more like a dictator's manifesto than a cheerleading guidebook. It's got a laundry list of discipline, but it's also got a little youth resilience in the face of injustice. Grab your pompoms. This episode has a lot of S.P.I.R.I.T. We also discuss an update on the Mahmoud v. McKnight case that we covered in Episode 12: LGBTQ-Inclusive Books and Parental Rights, dealing with a district's decision to remove parents' ability to opt out of the use of newly adopted LGBTQ-inclusive texts in the elementary school classroom. Keywords: First Amendment, Free Speech, Student Protest, Extracurriculars, Student Discipline, Parental Rights, LGBTQ, Religion