Briefly Noted

Bully Policy: Michigan Debates Legislation

Michigan State Representative Samuel Thomas introduced a bill that would require school districts to have a specific policy and discipline code to address bullying.

School districts would choose either to set their own policy or adopt a model policy developed by the state Department of Education. Teachers, administrators and parents would participate in developing the local discipline code.

According to the Detroit News, each district would have to submit its policy to the state superintendent by September 1, 2002. The bill, HB 4746, is before the House Education Committee.

For more information on HB 4746, visit the Michigan Legislature at www.michiganlegislature.org and click on “Bill by Number. Search for HB 4746.

(Back To Top)

Disabled Students Must Pass Indiana Exam

A court of Appeals in Indiana has ruled that students with disabilities are required to pass the same high school exam as their peers who are not disabled.

In a 1998 lawsuit, four disabled students claimed their due process rights were violated, since they were not given sufficient notice needed to adjust their curriculum to pass the exam required to graduate. The students also argued that the state violated the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) because they were denied test-taking accommodations.

The Court’s unanimous opinion supported that the state had given the students enough time—three years—to prepare for the exam and that opportunities to retake the test were available to students who did not receive sufficient notice. The justices also ruled that the state did not violate IDEA, stating that federal law only requires that students receive a free and appropriate education.

For more information, visit www.in.gov/ai/gov/state/html. Click on Judicial Branch and then Indiana Court of Appeals.

(Back To Top)

NY Professor Receives Supreme Court Book Prize

Professor Edward A. Purcell, Jr., a legal historian and the Joseph Solomon Distinguished Professor of Law at New York Law School, was recently honored by the Supreme Court Historical Society’s Book Prize. In an address delivered in the Chamber of the Supreme Court, Professor Purcell talked about “Brandeis, Erie, and the Emergence of Stricter Scrutiny,” and focused on the impact Brandeis’ jurisprudence made in expanding the role of federal courts in closely examining government actions that restricted civil liberties and civil rights. The topic was an extension of the analysis undertaken in his highly acclaimed work, Brandeis and the Progressive Consultation: Erie, the Judicial Power, and the Politics of the Federal Courts in Twentieth Century America.

He has also authored more than a dozen articles and two other books, Litigation and Inequality: Federal Diversity Jurisdiction in Industrial America, 1870-1958 and The Crisis of Democratic Theory: Scientific Naturalism and the Problem of Value. He teaches courses on civil procedure, federal courts, complex litigation, and civil rights at New York Law School, where he has taught since 1989.

(Back To Top)

Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001. Tel: (212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919. Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of the publisher. © 2001.