Shows
Chalk and Gavel50 | Tinker v. Des Moines with Mary Beth TinkerWe've got a special episode for you to celebrate our 50th episode! We're joined by none other than Mary Beth Tinker, one of the plaintiffs in the famous 1969 Supreme Court case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. We've talked about Tinker so many times on this show; this is the case that set the standard for students’ free speech rights in schools. And to help us explore this case, who better than Tinker herself? Listen in as Mary Beth shares her story and talks about how she has spent her life supporting children and advocating for their ri...2025-08-121h 10Chalk and Gavel49 | Student Protests and Don't Say "Gun"Can schools control what students say at student protests? When is a student walkout a school-sponsored event? What’s the first rule about protesting against gun violence in schools? Apparently, the first rule of protesting gun violence is “don’t talk about gun violence.” At least according to the Shawnee Mission School District. Today’s case is another First Amendment student speech case. We’re heading to Kansas to look at what happened when students planned a walkout after the Parkland shooting, and the school, let’s say, got rather involved in that event, telling them what they could or could not t...2025-07-2949 minChalk and Gavel48 | Mahmoud v. Taylor and the Right to Opt OutJamie and Chris return for the third episode on the Mahmoud v. Taylor case! This time, we break down the recent Supreme Court Decision that came out at the end of the term. It was an interesting decision made by the Court's conservative majority, adding another (ambiguous) layer to decades of parental rights and school curriculum case law. We also discuss the AJT v. Osseo Supreme Court decision that eliminates the higher bar that parents needed to sue under the ADA and Section 504. --- Need some education law content for your courses...2025-07-151h 03Chalk and Gavel47 | FERPA and Peer GradingWhat does the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, say about the practice of peer grading? When does something become an “educational record” protected under FERPA? Do you think the people who wrote FERPA knew we were going to call it 'FERPA'? Couldn’t they have come up with a better acronym? This is our first FERPA episode! This is the law that’s designed to protect the privacy of student records. So, what information is protected under FERPA, and what isn’t? Today’s case involves a parent who took issue with a teacher’s use of peer-gradin...2025-07-0144 minChalk and Gavel46 | DEI and Injunction JunctionCan the U.S. Department of Education require schools to stop all DEI programs and activities? What do they actually mean when they say “DEI?” Are you ready to go three rounds on the injunction junction? We’ve got a three-fer for you today. Three cases for the price of none! We’re covering how three courts are dealing with the Trump Administration’s education directives to curtail DEI programs and initiatives in schools. In our bell-ringer for Episode 39, we talked about a Dear Colleague Letter from the U.S. Department of Education that purported to “reiterate existing legal requirements...2025-06-1754 minChalk and Gavel45 | iPhone Photos and Teacher DismissalWhen can a school dismiss a teacher for good or just cause? What happens when a teacher’s iPhone with some, let's say, risque pictures, automatically syncs with his district-issued iPad? What could possibly go wrong? We've got another interesting case here today! This one involves a teacher who took some “naughty” pictures on his personal iPhone while on vacation, which later happened to be synced to a school-issued device (don't worry, though, no students saw them). Well, the proverbial cat got out of the bag, and he was reported to child protective services, who called school officials, and we’ll...2025-06-0355 minChalk and Gavel44 | Inside the Courtroom: The OK Religious Charter School Oral ArgumentsIs a charter school a public school? Does the Free Exercise Clause require taxpayers to fund charter schools that teach religion as truth? Is a charter school just a private organization with a state contract, or is it a state actor or even a governmental entity? Is Oklahoma on the brink of establishing the country’s first religious public school? Today, we’re tackling the oral arguments from another consequential Supreme Court case with some major implications for education. We usually only see these kinds of big ones every few years, but the Supreme Court is all-in on education thes...2025-05-201h 02Chalk and Gavel43 | Inside the Courtroom: The Mahmoud v. Taylor Oral ArgumentsDoes it burden a family’s religion to have their child exposed to views with which they disagree? Where is the line between exposure and coercion? Who gets to draw that line? Should public schools be a place where students encounter and acknowledge a variety of viewpoints, even if they don’t agree with them? Or should parents have the power to opt their kids out of anything that might conflict with their religious views? Can a diverse, inclusive curriculum co-exist with ever-increasing parental rights? Is opting out going to become a constitutional right? This all seems pretty straightforward, huh...2025-05-061h 15Chalk and Gavel42 | Cakes and Copyrights Sheet1Sheet2When can educators use materials created by someone else? What happens when a teacher creates a learning activity packet for her class that includes 11 pages copied straight from a copyrighted work? What do Chris and Jamie know about cake decorating? Turns out, not much (except what we've learned from The Great British Baking Show and Nailed It!). In this episode, we’re going back to the 70s and 80s for our first case about copyright and fair use in education. We're discussing Marcus v. Rowley, a case that involves a teacher who copied some material from a copyr...2025-04-2246 minChalk and Gavel41 | Inappropriate Goals and Inadequate IEPsWhat happens when a student with a disability graduates high school with a 3.4 GPA but is unable to read? When does an Individualized Education Program provide a Free and Appropriate Education as required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act? Are you ready for another round of special education acronym bingo? We were ready AF. This is the case of William A. v. Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, a case involving whether or not a school failed to provide a free and appropriate public education to a student who graduated without the ability to read. We also discuss the 11th...2025-04-0840 minChalk and Gavel40 | AI and Academic DishonestyWhen can schools punish students for the unauthorized use of AI? Is the use of AI sufficiently covered by schools’ existing academic integrity policies? Today, we’re covering a very recent case from November of 2024. Imagine a student using an AI chatbot to help them with their homework. It's almost inconceivable, right? Sure, of course. This is Harris v. Adams, a case involving a student who was punished for using AI to complete a History project. His parents fought back, saying that the punishment violated his rights, but did they have a case? In this episode, we break down this...2025-03-2558 minChalk and Gavel39 | Student Clubs and the Equal Access ActWhen are public high schools required to officially recognize student groups? Can a school stop students from forming a Gay-Straight Alliance? In today's episode, we’re covering a 2003 case that allows us to lay out lots of the characteristics and guidelines of the 1984 Equal Access Act. This case concerns a proposed Gay-Straight Alliance club that was denied the opportunity to operate like the other non-curricular clubs at the high school. While it seemed that many school officials in this case were well aware of their obligations under the Equal Access Act, pressure from the community led to school officials ki...2025-03-111h 14Chalk and Gavel38 | North Carolina and Funding the Right to a Sound Basic EducationWhat happens when a state fails to meet its constitutional obligation to provide all students with a sound basic education? If a court tells the state that it’s failing to appropriately fund public schools, how do we fix it within our system of checks and balances? In this episode, we’re joined by school finance expert and all-around super dude Eric Houck to help us make sense of the Leandro case, North Carolina’s decades-long school finance case. Eric is a Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He's also a past...2025-02-251h 15
Chalk and Gavel37 | School Board Drama and Employment DiscriminationWhen do a school district’s employment decisions violate Title VII’s prohibition against racial discrimination in employment? Where is the line between interpersonal conflict and impermissible retaliation? What happens when local politics run a muck in a school district? In this episode, we unpack a rather complex case with a ton of history to it. While this is primarily a case about a principal whose contract was not renewed and who claimed it was for discriminatory and retaliatory reasons, there’s a lot more to it. You may remember some news from about 15 years ago about a Mexican Americ...2025-02-111h 00Chalk and Gavel36 | Transgender Students and Challenges to School Support PlansWhat does the Constitution say about how schools should navigate situations where a student and their parents disagree about the student’s gender identity? How can schools promote the interests of LGBTQ students while also respecting parental rights? This is a tricky subject, and it often puts schools in a sticky situation. Which is why we’re doing this podcast, right? To help educators un-stick themselves as much as possible. Today's case illustrates a constantly changing and hotly debated legal landscape: the balance of parental rights, the rights and interests of LGBTQ students, and the authority of schools to prom...2025-01-2844 minChalk and Gavel35 | Explicit Monologues and Compelled SpeechDo students have First Amendment rights to avoid potentially controversial school assignments and activities? When does a school assignment cross the line between legitimate educational activity and being inappropriate? Today’s case is about a Las Vegas high school drama teacher who “rolled the dice” and asked students to write a monologue and have it performed in front of the class. But here's the twist, the teacher asked students to randomly pick another student’s monologue to perform, and as it turned out, one of those monologues was sexually explicit. Feeling compelled to complete the required activity, one student read tha...2025-01-141h 24Chalk and Gavel34 | Sidebar: Not Your Typical Ed Law Update - Live From ELA 2024!Happy New Year! To celebrate, we've got something a little different for you! We've gone live to kick off the Education Law Association's 2024 Annual Conference. This is "Not Your Typical Ed Law Update!" We're thrilled to be joined by Tiffany Puckett and Suzanne Eckes to share some interesting, wild, and unbelievable stories in education law. Whether it's a promposal gone wrong or sword fighting in the science classroom, these are the stories you need to hear to believe. As Suzanne says, "You can't make this [stuff] up!"
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Need...2024-12-3138 minChalk and Gavel33 | A Club Hockey Face-Off and Equal Athletic OpportunitiesWhat does Title IX require of schools to ensure equal athletic opportunities for the sexes? When do schools need to recognize student demand and create new athletic opportunities for female athletes? In today's episode, we’re taking the ice with another athletics case! This time, we’re skating our way through a Title IX claim involving some female athletes who were denied the opportunity to play hockey in their school-sanctioned club sports program. We’re going to dive into some of the intricacies of Title IX in the 2022 case of Brooks v State College Area School District. We also discus...2024-12-1749 minChalk and Gavel32 | Young Students and Free Speech: Live from ELA 2024!What First Amendment rights to free speech do students have in the elementary school classroom? How can schools teach the essential values of kindness, tolerance, and respect for others? In our first-ever live episode, recorded at the Education Law Association's Annual Conference in front of a "live studio" audience, we discuss B.B. v. Capistrano Unified School District. This is a recent case involving a first-grade student who, after a lesson about Martin Luther King Jr., gave a “Black Lives Matter” drawing to her friend and was disciplined by the school for including the phrase "any life" on the draw...2024-12-0344 minChalk and Gavel31 | Athletic Mal-"Practices" and Student InjuriesWhen are schools legally responsible for student injuries during athletic activities? Where is the line between a creative drill and an unnecessary risk? Was the school out of bounds? It’s no slam dunk, but these cases might have you crying foul! Today's episode is a double-header! We’re heading down to the athletic department to talk about two cases where sports practices resulted in students getting injured. From a basketball drill gone wrong to an errant baseball throw, what happens when a school allegedly “drops the ball” with school safety? These are the cases of Secky v. New Paltz Ce...2024-11-1950 minChalk and Gavel30 | Inclusion and Students with DisabilitiesWhat does the law say about the appropriate placement for students with disabilities? What happens when parents and schools disagree about a student’s IEP? Who's ready for more special education acronyms? We are because today we’re talking about when, under the IDEA, a PPT’s IEP, considering a student’s FBA and ATE, provides FAPE in the LRE. That’s right, we’re going to cover the interesting case of a young student with disabilities whose parents were not too pleased with his school’s determination of how much inclusion in the general education classroom was appropriate. This case wres...2024-11-0556 minChalk and Gavel29 | "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" and 1 Year of Chalk & GavelCan schools censor student speech that promotes illegal drug use? What authority do schools have to regulate student speech that contradicts the educational goals of the school? How do you celebrate your one-year anniversaries? In honor of Chalk and Gavel’s 1st anniversary, we’re going back about 20 years to cover a classic! This is a landmark Supreme Court case, Morse v Frederick… or as most of us call it, the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case! Stick around as we head up to Juneau, Alaska, as the 2002 Olympic torch heads through the town and high school students are allowed to go che...2024-10-221h 09Chalk and Gavel28 | Marijuana Crumbs and Denial of Academic CreditCan a school deny academic credit as part of school discipline for work that has already been completed? How far does a school’s authority go? At what point during the semester should you play it safe and leave your marijuana at home? In this episode, we go back to South Gibson High School in Indiana in 1998, where a zero-tolerance drug policy set off a chain of events that sparked a pretty interesting legal battle with some fascinating implications. We have a student who got caught with marijuana crumbs in his truck and was expelled in the last few da...2024-10-0843 minChalk and Gavel27 | Transgender Students and Teachers' RightsWhat happens when a teacher’s religious beliefs clash with a district's policy to support transgender students?
When are schools legally required to accommodate teachers’ sincerely held religious beliefs? In this episode, we discuss Kluge v. Brownsburg Community School Corporation, a controversial case that rocked an Indiana school district. You’ll hear about John Kluge, a high school music teacher who challenged his district’s student name and pronoun policy. The policy required teachers to address students by the names and pronouns listed in the district’s database, and it allowed parents and students to self-select those names and pronouns...2024-09-241h 06Chalk and Gavel26 | Teacher Speech Rights and Social MediaWhen can a school discipline a teacher for their social media use? What happens when a teacher’s problematic tweets go viral? Imagine waking up to an email detailing a teacher’s history of retweeting and commenting on some rather controversial posts. That's exactly what happened to a West Virginia school board’s communications director when one of the district’s high school teacher's Twitter activity sparked a firestorm in the community. In this episode, we're diving into the case of Durstein v. Alexander, a legal battle that challenges the boundaries of free speech for educators and explores what happens...2024-09-101h 04Chalk and Gavel25 | Sidebar: 2024 Update on the Supreme Court and EducationWelcome to our 25th episode! To celebrate, we invited Supreme Court and education law reporter Mark Walsh back to discuss the Supreme Court's 2023-24 Term and look forward to next year's docket. We discuss the Court's cases from this past year that could impact education, including O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier (which dealt with public employees blocking individuals from their social media accounts); Muldrow v. City of St. Louis (a case dealing with the question of when employee transfers trigger the nondiscrimination protections of Title VII); Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (a case that we've covered before about the authority of...2024-08-271h 08Chalk and Gavel24 | Masking Tape and TreesWhat’s the difference between creative discipline and excessive punishment? How does a five-minute punishment set off six years of litigation? What does the law say about fastening students to trees? It's definitely frowned upon! But that’s exactly what happened in today’s case, Doe v. the Hawaii Department of Education. This is the story of how a vice principal got into a sticky situation by taping a student’s head to a tree. We got pretty attached to this case. We will not be masking any facts here. It turns out that this vice principal’s bark was just a...2024-08-1335 minChalk and Gavel23 | Oklahoma and ReligionCan a state authorize a religious virtual charter school? Where is the line between the religious liberties of individuals and prohibitions on the government establishing a religion? Oh, what a beautiful morning! Oh, what a beautiful day. I've got a beautiful feeling everything's Oklahoma today! In this episode, we’re talking about a recent case that made waves in Oklahoma. An application was submitted for a virtual charter school. But not just any virtual charter school. This was going to be a Catholic school. That's right, a Catholic virtual public charter school. This is the case of an attempt to...2024-07-3052 minChalk and Gavel22 | Online Petitions and Responding When They Go ViralHow and when should schools distinguish between teenage banter and offensive language? How does extensive media attention impact the handling of sensitive incidents in schools? In this episode, we tackle a case that you might have heard about. The story went viral and sent shockwaves through a Kansas City community. This is the case of Plaintiff A v Park Hill School District. You might know it as the incident where some students started a Change.org petition to reinstate slavery. The students were ultimately disciplined, and they challenged their discipline as violating their free speech, due process, and equal...2024-07-161h 04Chalk and Gavel21 | Red Ryder BB Guns and Remote LearningWhat privacy rights do students have during virtual instruction? How should schools enforce school rules in the remote classroom?
What happens when Big Brother thinks, "You’ll shoot your eye out"? That's right; this case involves a Red Ryder BB gun and a 5th-grade student (who is probably not named Ralphie). In this episode, we explore the intersection of privacy and technology with the case of Lancaster v. Board of Education of Baltimore County. Stay tuned as we discuss the complicated situation that unfolded after a student's school noticed what they thought could be firearms in the student's background during re...2024-07-0254 minChalk and Gavel20 | School Bells, Jail Cells, and Student AbsenteeismWhen can parents be criminally prosecuted for failing to send their kids to school? What role do teachers and administrators play in addressing school non-attendance and truancy? In this episode, we’re cutting class to dive into the murky waters of student absenteeism with the case of the State of Missouri v. Williams. While truancy cases don’t really grab the headlines like student protests (or the state of Florida), they do prompt us to think pretty hard about those fundamental questions regarding the role of the state in education and family life. Missing school can come with a heft...2024-06-1858 minChalk and Gavel19 | Student Sit-ins and MoreWhen are student sit-ins protected by the First Amendment? How can coaches maintain team cohesion and discipline without becoming draconian? Why is it always the cheer squad? In this episode, we tackle the case of Gonzales v. Burley High School, a fascinating case involving a new cheer coach and some very displeased cheerleaders. This one is pretty wild. It has to do with students being punished for protesting, but wait, there's more! It also has favoritism, retribution, grudges, and a coach's rulebook that reads more like a dictator's manifesto than a cheerleading guidebook. It's got a laundry list of...2024-06-0458 minChalk and Gavel18 | Title IX's New Regs & Sexual HarassmentWhen can schools be held legally responsible for failing to address student sexual harassment? What's in the Biden Administration's new Title IX regulations? In this special themed episode, we talk about all things Title IX! For our bellringer, we talk about the new Title IX regs and how they increase protections for LGBTQ+ individuals as well as streamline investigations of sex discrimination and sexual harassment. We then do a deep dive into the Supreme Court case of Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, which set the standard for when schools must respond to allegations of peer-to-peer sexual harassment.
...2024-05-2156 minChalk and Gavel17 | FAPE and More Special Education AcronymsWhat is an 'appropriate' education for students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act? How many acronyms are too many acronyms? In this episode, we are thrilled to be joined by Dr. Janet Decker, a school law professor and expert in special education law, to discuss Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District. This case raised the bar for when an IEP provides students a FAPE under the IDEA. See what we mean about the acronyms? We also talk about recent developments in a lawsuit challenging Florida's law that prevents teachers from using pronouns that differ from...2024-05-071h 17Chalk and Gavel16 | Politics and PaddlingWhen can schools curtail students' political speech? Can a student be paddled for simply writing "Trump 2016" on a classroom whiteboard? We discuss T.S. v. Talladega County Board of Education, a fascinating case about a school navigating the political tensions following the 2016 presidential election. This one has it all! Politics, free speech, discipline, corporal punishment, and, of course, Ricky Bobby quotes. We also talk about recent efforts to promote diversity in Seattle Public Schools and a new law in West Virginia that we term a "hydra law" because it cropped up after previous efforts to inject creationism into schools...2024-04-231h 08Chalk and Gavel15 | Searches and CigarettesWhen can school officials search students' belongings? In this episode, we branch out into the world of true crime! We go back to the early 80s to discuss the landmark Supreme Court case that defined the boundaries of privacy and authority in schools. We discuss New Jersey v. TLO, a delinquency case involving a search of a 14-year-old freshman's purse that continues to influence how we balance students’ rights with school authority. We also talk about a recent settlement in one of the cases challenging Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, or as it's commonly known, "Don't Say Gay."
Ke...2024-04-0955 minChalk and Gavel14 | School Admissions and DiversityHow can a school district seek to achieve a diverse student body at its elite magnet school? We discuss the case of Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board, another case in the evolving legal battle over race-conscious admissions and the pursuit of diversity in school admissions. At issue in this case was whether the Board's race-neutral admissions policy violated the Equal Protection Clause by having a disparate impact on Asian American students and being motivated by an invidious intent to discriminate based on race. We briefly covered this case when the Supreme Court denied review, but it...2024-03-261h 03Chalk and Gavel13 | Tort Liability and ScalpelsWhen are schools legally responsible for student injuries? What responsibilities do teachers have to keep kids from getting hurt in the classroom? Middle schoolers and scalpels, what could go wrong? We discuss the case of Heuser v. Community Insurance Corporation, a Wisconsin state court case involving (you guessed it) a middle school student who cut himself with a scalpel during a science lab. We also talk about the Supreme Court's docket for this term and an African American student in Texas who was suspended for wearing his hair in locs.
Keywords: Tort Law, Negligence, School Liability, Student Injuries, Immunity...2024-03-1247 minChalk and Gavel12 | LGBTQ-Inclusive Books and Parental RightsDo parents have the right to opt their children out of a curriculum they find objectionable? We discuss the case of Mahmoud v. McKnight, a complicated case that weighs a district's choice to adopt books inclusive of LGBTQ characters against parental rights to opt their children out of such content. We also talk about a recent wave of litigation where school districts are suing social media companies for alleged harms caused by students' social media use.
Keywords: Parental Rights, LGBTQ, Religion, First Amendment, Free Exercise Clause, Fourteenth Amendment, Substantive Due Process, Community Involvement, Curriculum2024-02-271h 04Chalk and Gavel11 | Religion in Schools and the Praying Coach, Part 2Does a high school football coach have a First Amendment right to engage in a private moment of prayer after a football game? What about a not-so-quiet, not-so-private, religiously infused post-game speech given directly to players on the 50-yard line? How should schools navigate the relationship between the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment? In Part 2, we continue the conversation with Richard Katskee, one of the attorneys who argued the Kennedy v. Bremerton School District case before the Supreme Court. Here, we'll dive into the decision and its impacts on schools!2024-02-201h 07Chalk and Gavel10 | Religion in Schools and the Praying Coach, Part 1Does a high school football coach have a First Amendment right to engage in a private moment of prayer after a football game? What about a not-so-quiet, not-so-private, religiously infused post-game speech given directly to players on the 50-yard line? How should schools navigate the relationship between the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment? We're joined by Richard Katskee, one of the attorneys who argued the case before the Supreme Court, to discuss Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. This is the case of the praying football coach, which has huge implications for religion and...2024-02-1349 minChalk and Gavel9 | Zero Tolerance and Due ProcessCan a student be subjected to a mandatory one-year expulsion for a knife he didn't even know he had? We discuss Seal v. Morgan, a case that deals with the constitutionality of zero-tolerance policies and how to balance students' rights with the safe and orderly operation of schools. We also talk about a recent case out of Iowa that struck down a curricular gag order on LGBTQ+ content in the curriculum and school libraries. 2024-01-3044 minChalk and Gavel8 | School Funding and the Right to EducationIs there a fundamental constitutional right to education under the U.S. Constitution? Does a state's school funding system violate the Constitution when it results in stark inequalities between districts? We discuss the seminal Supreme Court case of San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, which analyzed the constitutionality of Texas's inequitable funding system that relied heavily on local property taxes.2024-01-1643 minChalk and Gavel7 | Teachers and Drama Over the CurriculumDoes a drama teacher have a First Amendment right to choose a play for her students to perform? We discuss Boring v. Buncomb County Board of Education, a case that deals with teachers' academic freedom and the question of who has the authority to make curricular decisions in public schools. We also discuss the newly released 2020-2021 Civil Rights Data Collection from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, which you can explore at https://civilrightsdata.ed.gov/. 2024-01-0240 minChalk and Gavel6 | Sidebar: The Supreme Court and EducationHappy holidays! In Chalk & Gavel's first "Sidebar," Supreme Court Education Reporter Mark Walsh joins Chris and Jamie to discuss the Court and its role in shaping education. We'll discuss the inner workings of the Court, recent cases related to education, and what to watch for in the near future.2023-12-2653 minChalk and Gavel5 | Cell Phone Searches and Angry ParentsWhen can a school search a student's cell phone? How can schools manage disuptive, inappropriate, or excessive parental involvement? We discuss Jackson v. McCurry, a case about the fallout from a school principal's search of a student's cell phone.2023-12-1951 minChalk and Gavel4 | Personal Pronouns and Student SpeechCan a school enforce its policy that forbids students from intentionally misgendering others? We discuss the case of Parents Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District, a timely case that addresses the interplay of transgender students' rights and antidiscrimination law with students' free speech rights.
***The original title of this episode included the phrase "preferred pronouns," which we also use sporadically in the episode to describe the pronouns with which someone self-identifies. We've since become aware that norms regarding this terminology have changed and the term has been problematized due to the implication that...2023-12-0537 minChalk and Gavel3 | The Cussing Cheerleader and Off-Campus Student SpeechWhen can schools discipline students for their off-campus speech? We discuss the recent Supreme Court case, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., a case with a very familiar situation: a student used social media (and expletives) to express her frustrations about school.2023-11-2146 minChalk and Gavel2 | Sarcasm and Teacher DisciplineCan attempts at humor support a teacher's termination? We discuss Sheldon Community School District v. Lundblad, a teacher dismissal case based on the teacher's misguided comments to students. We also chat about a situation involving a principal who changed athletes' grades and the high proportion of school board candidates who run unopposed.2023-11-0733 minChalk and Gavel1 | Charter Schools and Dress CodesAre charter schools bound by the U.S. Constitution? Does a charter school dress code that requires girls to wear skirts violate the Equal Protection Clause or Title IX? We discuss Peltier v. Charter Day School, a dress code case with significant implications for the school choice movement.2023-10-2431 minChalk and GavelChalk and Gavel: TrailerComing October 24! 2023-10-1601 min