Chalk and Gavel

   Sheet1Sheet2When can educators use materials created by someone else? What happens when a teacher creates a learning activity packet for her class that includes 11 pages copied straight from a copyrighted work? What do Chris and Jamie know about cake decorating? Turns out, not much (except what we've learned from The Great British Baking Show and Nailed It!). In this episode, we’re going back to the 70s and 80s for our first...

What happens when a student with a disability graduates high school with a 3.4 GPA but is unable to read? When does an Individualized Education Program provide a Free and Appropriate Education as required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act? Are you ready for another round of special education acronym bingo? We were ready AF. This is the case of William A. v. Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, a case inv...

When can schools punish students for the unauthorized use of AI? Is the use of AI sufficiently covered by schools’ existing academic integrity policies? Today, we’re covering a very recent case from November of 2024. Imagine a student using an AI chatbot to help them with their homework. It's almost inconceivable, right? Sure, of course. This is Harris v. Adams, a case involving a student who was punished for using AI to comple...

When are public high schools required to officially recognize student groups? Can a school stop students from forming a Gay-Straight Alliance? In today's episode, we’re covering a 2003 case that allows us to lay out lots of the characteristics and guidelines of the 1984 Equal Access Act. This case concerns a proposed Gay-Straight Alliance club that was denied the opportunity to operate like the other non-curricular clubs at the...

What happens when a state fails to meet its constitutional obligation to provide all students with a sound basic education? If a court tells the state that it’s failing to appropriately fund public schools, how do we fix it within our system of checks and balances? In this episode, we’re joined by school finance expert and all-around super dude Eric Houck to help us make sense of the Leandro case, North Carolina’s decades-long scho...

When do a school district’s employment decisions violate Title VII’s prohibition against racial discrimination in employment? Where is the line between interpersonal conflict and impermissible retaliation? What happens when local politics run a muck in a school district? In this episode, we unpack a rather complex case with a ton of history to it. While this is primarily a case about a principal whose contract was not renewed and w...

What does the Constitution say about how schools should navigate situations where a student and their parents disagree about the student’s gender identity? How can schools promote the interests of LGBTQ students while also respecting parental rights? This is a tricky subject, and it often puts schools in a sticky situation. Which is why we’re doing this podcast, right? To help educators un-stick themselves as much as possible. Toda...

Do students have First Amendment rights to avoid potentially controversial school assignments and activities? When does a school assignment cross the line between legitimate educational activity and being inappropriate? Today’s case is about a Las Vegas high school drama teacher who “rolled the dice” and asked students to write a monologue and have it performed in front of the class. But here's the twist, the teacher asked students...

Happy New Year! To celebrate, we've got something a little different for you! We've gone live to kick off the Education Law Association's 2024 Annual Conference. This is "Not Your Typical Ed Law Update!" We're thrilled to be joined by Tiffany Puckett and Suzanne Eckes to share some interesting, wild, and unbelievable stories in education law. Whether it's a promposal gone wrong or sword fighting in the science classroom, these are ...

What does Title IX require of schools to ensure equal athletic opportunities for the sexes? When do schools need to recognize student demand and create new athletic opportunities for female athletes? In today's episode, we’re taking the ice with another athletics case! This time, we’re skating our way through a Title IX claim involving some female athletes who were denied the opportunity to play hockey in their school-sanctioned cl...

What First Amendment rights to free speech do students have in the elementary school classroom? How can schools teach the essential values of kindness, tolerance, and respect for others? In our first-ever live episode, recorded at the Education Law Association's Annual Conference in front of a "live studio" audience, we discuss B.B. v. Capistrano Unified School District. This is a recent case involving a first-grade student who, af...

When are schools legally responsible for student injuries during athletic activities? Where is the line between a creative drill and an unnecessary risk? Was the school out of bounds? It’s no slam dunk, but these cases might have you crying foul! Today's episode is a double-header! We’re heading down to the athletic department to talk about two cases where sports practices resulted in students getting injured. From a basketball dri...

What does the law say about the appropriate placement for students with disabilities? What happens when parents and schools disagree about a student’s IEP? Who's ready for more special education acronyms? We are because today we’re talking about when, under the IDEA, a PPT’s IEP, considering a student’s FBA and ATE, provides FAPE in the LRE. That’s right, we’re going to cover the interesting case of a young student with disabilitie...

Can schools censor student speech that promotes illegal drug use? What authority do schools have to regulate student speech that contradicts the educational goals of the school? How do you celebrate your one-year anniversaries? In honor of Chalk and Gavel’s 1st anniversary, we’re going back about 20 years to cover a classic! This is a landmark Supreme Court case, Morse v Frederick… or as most of us call it, the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" ...

Can a school deny academic credit as part of school discipline for work that has already been completed? How far does a school’s authority go? At what point during the semester should you play it safe and leave your marijuana at home? In this episode, we go back to South Gibson High School in Indiana in 1998, where a zero-tolerance drug policy set off a chain of events that sparked a pretty interesting legal battle with some fascin...

What happens when a teacher’s religious beliefs clash with a district's policy to support transgender students? When are schools legally required to accommodate teachers’ sincerely held religious beliefs? In this episode, we discuss Kluge v. Brownsburg Community School Corporation, a controversial case that rocked an Indiana school district. You’ll hear about John Kluge, a high school music teacher who challenged his district’...

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 ...

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 S...

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. ...