Case notesBy William Bradley Colwell & Chris MattocksApril 2002On May 29, 2001, the United States Supreme Court further defined what constitutes a "prevailing party" under federal law for the purposes of collecting attorney fees.
Editors’ noteBy Phil Milsk & Lawrence WeinerNovember 2002This issue of the Education Law Section newsletter features a timely and informative article on the No Child Left Behind Act, a complex and often confusing new federal law that school districts, teachers, parents and education policymakers will be trying to figure out for the foreseeable future
Editor’s noteJuly 2002This issue of our newsletter is a comprehensive summary of legislation that passed both houses of the Illinois General Assembly in the Spring 2002 session that concluded just a few weeks ago.
Julie K. Hughes, 1950-2002November 2002The Illinois legal community, the ISBA and the Education Law Section Council lost a valued member last summer when Julie Hughes passed away on July 1, 2002 after a battle with cancer
Legislative summaryJuly 2002An initiative of The American Jewish Committee's Chicago Chapter, the bill provides that, beginning with the 2002-2003 school year, public elementary and secondary schools may incorporate activities to address intergroup conflict, with the objectives of improving intergroup relations on and beyond the school campus, defusing intergroup tensions, and promoting peaceful resolution of conflict.
National teacher certificationBy William CrawfordApril 2002The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards was created in 1987 after the Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy's Task Force on Teaching as a Profession released, A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century.
Private right of action for federal privacy violations barredBy Phil MilskNovember 2002On June 20, 2002, the United States Supreme Court held, in the case of Gonzaga University v. Doe, that parents and students who claim to be aggrieved by violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) have no private right to sue under FERPA.
School referenda: 61 pecent pass, 39 percent fail— March 19, 2002By Marcy DuttonMay 2002Results of the March 19 referenda on questions to raise school district tax rates and to issue bonds reveal that 69 of the 114 questions, or 61 percent, were successful and that 45 or 39 percent of the questions were defeated.
Supreme Court approves expansive random drug testing of studentsBy Steve RittenmeyerNovember 2002In one of its final decisions of the 2002 term, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-4 majority, found constitutional a public school district program compelling all students who participate in any extracurricular activity to submit to a wide range of drug screening procedures, including random testing