A235: Legal Issues in K-12 Education

This course is designed to provide an overview to legal issues impacting K-12 education in the United States. We will begin by learning how the legal system works, generally, and how to navigate legal tools, e.g., cases, statutes, regulations. We will then begin to address specific legal topics in K-12 education, including sections on the First Amendment, which historically protects speech and expression; the Equal Protection Clause, which historically prohibits different treatment on the basis of race, gender, and other similar categories; related non-discrimination laws like Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments; finally, we'll discuss other legal issues that may arise at the K-12 level (e.g., due process and discipline, search and seizure issues, etc.). There is also a separate disability law module, as that is a very big area, so we may or may not incorporate disability law into the class depending on time. (*Note that other countries have different legal systems that operate differently from the United States. Because there is so much to cover, we do not explore other legal systems in any real depth.)