Module 10

Teachers' Rights and Responsibilities

The situation that I chose to discuss was situation 3. The reason that I choose this situation is because I fall under this type of category. I am not married and I am living with my boyfriend. I found this situation interesting because I had no idea that something like this could happen in the United States.

This situation began with a teacher who was well liked by her students and her colleagues. Her teaching was said to be effective and creative. The school officials, however, did not appreciate her life outside of the classroom because she was unmarried and living with her boyfriend. The officials felt that she was a poor role model for the students. The school system, then, publicly announced that her cohabitation was having a negative influence on her students. She was ultimately suspended for her actions.

The legal decision said that it was wrong for the school system to have made a public announcement. They said it was unfair to do this in order to gain community support. The court ruled that her behavior outside of the classroom did not interfere with her effectiveness with the students. The board lost it's case and the teacher kept her job because there was neither loss of creditibility nor a significant disruption of the educational process.

Students' Rights and Responsibilities

The second situation that I chose to discuss was situation 15. The reason that I chose this situation was because drugs are a definite problem in many schools across the US. I think school officials should have definite rights when it comes to searching the school for drugs. In my opinion, once a student decides to bring drugs into a school some, not all, of his/her rights should be surrendered.

It starts out with a school that apparently has been having a lot of drug related issues. School authoritites order a locker search. Trained police dogs are brought in to expedite the process. The dogs sniff suspiciouly at several students and those particular students are brought into the locker rooms and strip-searched.

Immediately after reading this I thought that the strip-searching part was uncalled for and illegal. After reading the legal decision which did, in fact, say that the officials were acting illegally when conducting the strip-searches, my opinion was confirmed. The locker searches were said to be appropriate. The decision also spoke about the dogs sniffing people, rather than things. This type of situation is allowable only if the dogs are reliable and the student, being sniffed, is a reasonable suspect.