Teachers' Rights and Responsibilities 1

Teachers' Rights and Responsibilities

Hunter Spragno

Edu 210

January 29, 2018

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Abstract

In court cases some of them support the school's and some support the teacher's.
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Teachers' Rights and Responsibilities

In the United States teachers have not always had the rights that they do today. There

have been many court cases that have changed education for the better. There have been

some that have benefited the school's side of an argument and some court cases that have

benefited the teacher's side of an argument. Two of the court cases that have benefited the

schools are Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudernill. and Chalk v. U.S. District Center Dist. of

California. Two court cases that have benefited teachers are Connell v. Higginbotham and Knox

County Educ. Ass'n v, Knox county Board of Educ.

One of the court cases that supported a school's side is Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v.

Loudernill. According to the book "School Law for Teachers" it states, "The school board

terminated a school security guard after it discovered he had lied on his job application about

his criminal record" (pg. 65). At this school they did not even investigate what the security

guard arrested for, they just terminated him right away. The Cleveland Board of Education did

this for the safety of the students. They had to keep their students safe for the time being. At

the same time, it also violated the rights of the security guard. When they were in court the

supreme court justice took that into mind.

A second court case that supported a school's side is Chalk v. U.S. District Center Dist. of

California. In the book "School Law for Teachers" it states "The U.S. district court relied heavily

on the significant risk standard to determine when a contagious disease would prevent an

individual from being 'otherwise qualifies'" (pg. 27). The disease that they are referring to in

that statement is AIDS. This benefited the health of the schools. With the science that they had
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discovered they came to a conclusion The school concluded that Chalk was a risk to the

students.

One of the court cases that supported teacher's rather than the school's is Connell v.

Higginbotham. According to the book "School Law for Teachers" it states, "A teacher was

dismissed from her position after she refused to sign a loyalty oath required of all public

employees" (pg. 51). This had violated the teacher's rights. Every person has a right rather they

are a teacher or not. This benefited the teacher because it was her right if she wanted to sign

the oath or not. In this case she should not have to.

The second court case that supported teacher's is Knox County Educ. Ass'n v, Knox

county Board of Educ. In the book "School Law of Teachers" it states, "The Supreme Court let

stand a decision of the Sixth Circuit that allowed mandatory urinalysis of all applicants that the

policy was justified because educators were on the 'frontline of school security' and because

they occupy so-called 'safety sensitive' positions" (pg. 54). This benefited the teachers in a way

they might not have known. This helps them be clear to teach students. The urinalysis makes

sure that they are fit to be teachers.

All in all, both sides have good arguments with the cases they have. The argument that

was stronger would be the school's. The schools have a stronger case because with the court

cases Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudernill. and Chalk v. U.S. District Center Dist. of California

they were just trying benefit the students. At the end of the day the students are what is most

important. The teacher's do not have a weak argument with the court cases being Connell v.

Higginbotham and Knox County Educ. Ass'n v, Knox county Board of Educ. and more. The

teacher's argument is strong, but not as strong as schools.

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References

Underwood, J. (2003). School Law for Students. Library of Congress Cataloging.