SCHOOL LAW - EDLD 5344

Course Embedded Reflection

Student Management

The student management issue that I found most relevant was student use of the internet. The internet is now a necessary education tool that all students need to access, but it also poses unknown threats to students through criminal activity and misuse. It also effects a student’s (and their family’s) privacy and safety.

In the book Cyber Law, the author states, “Schools need to help students understand the long-term effect of today’s blogging, postings, and practical jokes. Talking to students and educating them about appropriate Internet conduct not only will help prevent student free speech disputes and potential school liability but will help students become better Internet citizens.” (Bissonette, p. 27)

The knowledge gained in understanding the law regarding student free speech rights and the liability of schools to respond to bullying, will guide me as I try to discern problems faced in the schools. I hope to use this knowledge to create an internet manners unit that can teach both teachers and students proper internet behavior. I think students will really be helped just by understanding how permanent and long lasting the postings they make on Facebook really are.

Bissonette, A. (2009) Cyber Law: Maximizing Safety and Minimizing Risk in Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA, Corwin.

Personnel Management

This course has taught me about the different kinds of contracts that teachers may possess. I have also learned that these contracts are the teacher’s property and that they cannot be broken arbitrarily. When teachers are performing poorly in the classroom or are showing a lack of conscientiousness toward their jobs, it is very important for the campus principal to start documenting the undesirable behavior and placing it in a file for reference later. If the teacher is poor at his/her job, under a provisional contract or at the end of a term contract, they can be non-renewed at the end of the year as long as they are given 45 days notice. If the teacher is on a term contract, it would be necessary for the principal to document the problems and incidences and then confront the teacher with the problems identified - that they are not measuring up. If the teacher feels the documentation accumulated is enough to support a termination, they may choose to ask for the ability to resign. If you and the teacher think that they might improve through a growth plan to develop better teaching strategies and skills - that is one option. And then again, the teacher may protest and they can appeal your attempt to terminate them to the superintendent and then school board and beyond. In the lecture for week 3, Dr. Hopson states, “The teacher has a right to appeal to the state level, but only if he or she can prove that the board decision was arbitrary, unlawful, or not supported by evidence. So the lower legal bar to support a teacher’s non-renewal makes it a considerably easier process than terminating that same teacher during his or her contract term.”

One area of teacher management that I would like to know more about is the options for creating a growth plan for a teacher. Is it just more professional development or is it a mentor that follows you around? How can a growth plan help a teacher who just has a bad attitude or dislikes their job, but are trapped in it?

Hopson, Michael. (2010) EDLD 5344 Lecture Series, Lamar University, Beaumont retrieved November 5, 2010 from Epic Courseware online.

Improving Professional Practice

Cyber ethics is a topic that will need greater emphasis as technology changes and becomes more advanced and varied. Ethical treatment of other persons and their property is what defines us as people of integrity. Integrity is a characteristic that is necessary for all those working in and associated with education to have. Since we are instilling in students the values and mores of our society, we must choose the high road or higher ground in our behavior. Whether it is in person or on the internet, our behavior is being modeled to our students. Aimee Bissonette, in her book Cyber Law, writes “the cyber pitfalls associated with technology confronting today’s students are numerous. They include cyber bullying; misrepresenting one’s age or identity on social-networking sites, in chat rooms, or to access pornography; misrepresenting oneself or others by doctoring and posing digital photos; plagiarism and cheating (often with the assistance of electronic devices like cell phones and iPods); and overuse of the Internet to the extent that it affects one’s social and physical well-being (sometimes referred to as Internet addiction)” (pg. 85)

To train students to be responsible citizens on the internet, we must begin at an early age. I do like the “Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics” given in the Cyber Law book. (pg. 85) These ideas could be used to come up with a Cyber Manners Unit that could be taught in age appropriate ways beginning in Pre-K. If Texas is going to write Pre-K TEKS for computer introduction, it should expect that these students are thinking about how they can use the internet and technology in social settings. And we need to start early telling kids “play nice”.

Bissonette, A. (2009) Cyber Law: Maximizing Safety and Minimizing Risk in Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA, Corwin.