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This chapter discusses legal ramifications of administrative decisions in schools involving bombs and bomb threats, false fire alarms, searches and seizure, and police investigations in the schools. In the case of bomb threats, the principal and not the police must take the legal responsibility for making the decision of whether or not to evacuate a building and for how long. In the case of false fire alarms, the paper suggests some steps a principal can take to minimize the problem and discourage the abuse. Recent court decisions involving searches of a student's person and locker are also reviewed in depth. Finally, a discussion of the principal's role when police are involved in investigating a student crime points up the importance of protecting students' rights. The paper concludes that a principal should anticipate any legal, physical, and social problems in advance of an emergency by preparing school policy procedures. Thus the principal and his or her staff will be protected against charges of negligence and the rights of each student will be safeguarded. (Author/LDT)

This first chapter of "The Yearbook of School Law, 1986" summarizes and analyzes over 250 state and federal court decisions handed down in 1985 affecting the legal rights of employees of public schools and state education agencies. Among the topics examined are discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, age, and handicap; employees' constitutional rights to feeedom of speech, association, religion, and privacy and substantive due process; and employees' procedural due process rights related to liberty and property interests, the provision of notice of charges, and appropriate hearings. Other topics addressed are permissible personnel actions in cases involving claims of insubordination, unprofessional conduct, immorality, incompetence, and failure to comply with policies and statutes; legal questions raised by reductions in force and involuntary leaves of absence; contractual disputes over board policies, contract stipulations, administrative regulations, and statutory provisions; matters of tenure including tenure by default or by acquiescence; and requirements related to certification. Cases focusing on salaries, employment benefits, criminal acts, torts, collective bargaining, or purely procedural issues are not covered or are dealt with in other chapters of the yearbook. (PGD)

This report seeks to answer two questions: (1) What has been the impact of litigation, and especially Ford Foundation supported litigation, on the women's rights movement? (2) How effective is litigation as a tool in promoting equality for women? The analyses, conclusions, and recommendations are based on interviews with the Ford grantees and other experts on women's rights, and examination of judicial opinions, and legal and social science literature concerned with women's rights. The report begins by looking at the historical context in which the women's rights litigative effort evolved, and then analyzes the existing economic data to see if any objective changes have occurred. Key litigated issues are examined to separate hopes from realities, and to determine whether there has been a pattern to the victories and defeats, and whether there has been an overall net gain or loss. Finally, some conclusions are offered on the litigators' achievements and an assessment of whether or not there is cause for disenchantment. Recommendations are then offered as to how litigation should be structured in the future in order to take advantage of the lessons of the past. (Author/MLF)

The paper documents regulations issued by New York's Commissioner of Education dealing with children with handicapping conditions. The 15 subsections of the regulations cover: (1) definitions; (2) board of education responsibilities; (3) committee on special education; (4) procedures for referral, evaluation, individualized education program development, placement, and review; (5) procedural due process; (6) continuum of services; (7) educational program standards for handicapped pupils attending private schools and State-operated or State-supported schools; (8) State assistance for instruction of pupils with handicapping conditions; (9) State reimbursement to private schools and special-act school districts; (10) reimbursement to certain State-operated and State-supported schools for blind, deaf, and severely handicapped children; (11) admission to public schools of children residing in facilities of the Office of Mental Health and the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities or child care institutions; (12) State assistance for transportation of pupils with handicapping conditions; (13) educational programs for autistic pupils; (14) day treatment programs certified by the Office of Mental Health; and (15) procedures for prevention of abuse, maltreatment, or neglect of children in residential placements. (JDD)

This paper, which was presented as testimony at the State of New York hearing on dropouts, presents three causes for the high dropout rates of Black and Hispanic students and offers some solutions. It is noted that in large cities dropout rates range from as high as 50% to 70% among Blacks and Hispanics. The reasons cited for these high rates are: (1) personal and cultural dehumanization in the schools; (2) academic humiliation; and (3) drug addiction. These three problems are examined in some detail. Suggested solutions to the problem are given: (1) early childhood education; (2) implementation of effective schools programs; (3) curricula that are based on the cultural heritage of the affected ethnic groups; (4) academic vocational, interpersonal, and cultural counseling; (5) providing employment to students after graduation as an inducement to finish school; (6) education of the parents and community in order to provide a support network for the students; (7) assertion of political power in minority neighborhoods; (8) major financial commitment; and (9) prevention of drug abuse through education, and cutting off the availability of drugs. (CG)

Standards of practice are described in this book which pertain to the care of children whose needs cannot be met in their own families or in foster families and who can benefit by the experiences and help that residential services can offer them and their families. The term "residential" as used here refers to group care only. Standards presented were developed with the help of a technical committee having expert knowledge about the provision of residential care. These guidelines have been critically reviewed by agencies with residential services, state departments of welfare, other organizations interested in this kind of care for children, and the Child Welfare League of America's board and staff. Designed so that readers can easily obtain needed information, the book includes a table of contents which provides a rapid review of the general areas covered. These areas include (1) the residential center as a child welfare service, (2) total services for children and parents, (3) the program for care, (4) education for children in a residential center, (5) child care in a residential center, (6) social work in a residential center, (7) group work in a residential center, (8) plant and equipment, (9) organization and administration of a residential center, and (10) community planning and organization of a residential center. (RH)