Legislative efforts to allow armed teachers have mixed results
Legislative efforts to allow armed teachers have had mixed results.
Continue reading...Archived entries for Arkansas
Arkansas school choice bill would make desegregation a goal, not a mandate
According to the Arkansas News, a bill has been introduced in the Arkansas legislature to replace the state’s public school choice law that placed racial restrictions on where students could attend school.
Continue reading...Federal district court rules that provision in Arkansas Public School Choice Act limiting student school transfers based on race is unconstitutional
A federal district court in Arkansas has ruled that a provision in the state’s Public School Choice Act of 1989 that limits a student’s statutory right to transfer from one public school district to another in the state based on the race of the student seeking the transfer violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment.
Continue reading...Federal court declares Arkansas district unitary
The Associated Press reports in The Republic that a federal district court judge has declared the North Little Rock School District substantially desegregated, complying with a federal appellate court ruling last year that the schools could be released from court supervision.
Continue reading...Arkansas district sued after student is cut from high school basketball team
Arkansasmatters.com reports that the mother of a student cut from the boys’ basketball team at Maumelle High School (MHS) has filed suit against MHS, the Pulaski County Special School District (PCSSD), and the state.
Continue reading...Arkansas Supreme Court strikes down law criminalizing consensual relationships between teachers and adult K-12 students
The Arkansas Supreme Court, in a 4-3 split, has ruled that a state law making it a crime for a K-12 teacher to engage in consensual sexual contact with a student who is an adult violates the state constitution.
Continue reading...Arkansas attorney general asks federal court to end state desegregation payments
Arkansas Attorney General (AG) Dustin McDaniel has asked a federal court to terminate the annual payment the state makes to fund desegregation programs in Pulaski County’s three public school districts, reports the Arkansas News.
Continue reading...Federal appellate court reinstates jury verdict in favor of white former employee on her claim of constructive discharge
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (ND, SD,MN, NE, IA, MO, AR) has ruled unanimously that a federal district court erred in overturning a jury’s verdict in favor of a white former employee that claimed the majority African-American school board constructively discharged her from her position as the Arkansas school district’s financial coordinator. The panel also reversed the lower court’s ruling overturning the jury’s award of punitive damages.
Continue reading...Federal appellate court reinstates desegregation funding to three Arkansas districts
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (ND, SD, MN, NE, IA, MO, AR) has reversed a federal district court’s order ending most of Arkansas’ funding obligations to three school districts under a 1989 desegregation settlement agreement. The panel concluded that the state’s funding responsibilities may only be terminated after a formal evidentiary hearing, “followed by comprehensive and detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law.”
Continue reading...Federal appellate court rules Title IX student-plaintiff must prove harassment motivated by his gender
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has ruled that a student, who was subjected to anti-gay taunts by classmates, was not entitled to a jury instruction that Title IX’s requirement that discrimination be “on the basis of sex” was met by such taunts regardless of proof that the taunts were motivated by the student’s sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation. It concluded that Title IX requires proof of sex-based motivation for a Title IX deliberate indifference claim.
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