NSBA Legal Clips
Archived entries for procedural due process

Ohio federal court dismisses peer bullying/harassment suit against district in student suicide case

An Ohio federal district court has granted a school district’s motion for summary judgment in a suit brought by the parents of a high school student who committed suicide, claiming that the student was repeatedly subjected to peer bullying and harassment in violation of her Fourteenth Amendment substantive and procedural due process rights, Fourteenth Amendment equal protection rights, Title VI and Title IX rights, and under Section 1983 related to a municipal liability claim based on the failure to train.

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Federal appellate court rules Wisconsin district did not violate former student’s due process rights by banning him from school property

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled that a school district did not violate a former student’s substantive due process by indefinitely banning him from school property.

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Students sue Missouri district after discipline based on off-campus blog

Brian and Linda Wilson, the parents of the twin honor roll students, have filed a federal lawsuit against Lee’s Summit R-7 School District (LSR-7SD), says Courthouse News Service, alleging the school district violated their sons’ First and Fourteenth Amendment when it suspended them for 180 days for setting up and running a nonviolent website on their own time and on their own computers. The suit asks a federal court to reinstate the students and remove the suspension from their permanent records.

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New Jersey administrative law judge upholds suspension of football players for off-campus brawl; they may not play in state championship

The New Jersey of Office of Adminsitrative Law (OAL) has denied the petition of a group of students for emergency relief in which they requested that the OAL lift their suspension from participating in extracurricular activities, including the state championship football game. The school board had issued the suspension based on the students’ participation in an off-campus altercation that resulted in the students facing criminal charges.

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Federal appellate court rules district’s decision not to renew contract did not violate employee’s due process or free speech rights

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has ruled that an Oklahoma school board did not a violate a former high school secretary’s procedural due process rights by failing to conduct an impartial non-renewal hearing. The panel also concluded that the employee had failed to state a valid claim for First Amendment retaliation, or age or sex discrimination.

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Federal appellate court holds Iowa school district did not violate noncustodial parent’s constitutional rights by denying access to children and records

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has ruled that a school district did not violate a noncustodial parent’s substantive due process, procedural due process, or equal protection rights when school officials denied her access to her children during school hours and denied her access to their educational records.

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Federal appellate court reverses award of attorney’s fees to defendants because one of plaintiff’s claims had merit

In a unpublished, nonprecedential per curiam (unsigned) decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that a district court’s awarding of attorney’s fees to the defendants on the grounds that all of the plaintiff’s claims were frivolous was erroneous. The panel found that the plaintiff had made a colorable, although ultimately unsuccessful, First Amendment claim.

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Alternative school teachers whose positions were eliminated when school board outsourced to private religious school have valid Establishment Clause claim

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (MI, OH, KY, TN), sitting en banc (all active judges participating in considering and deciding the case), has ruled that teachers at a Tennessee school district’s alternative school, who lost their positions when the school board decided to close the school in favor of outsourcing services to a private religious school, have standing to file suit claiming the board’s decision violated the federal and state constitutions’ Establishment Clause. It rejected the teachers’ procedural and substantive due process claims, however, and held that the individual board members enjoyed legislative immunity from the suit. Because of the court’s decision regarding legislative immunity, it did not reach the question of whether individual board members were entitled to qualified immunity

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Principal failed to state valid claim of constructive discharge without due process after being placed on administrative leave for insubordination and reassigned

A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (CO, KS, NM, OK, UT, WY) three-judge panel, in a 2-1 split, has ruled that a principal failed to raise a valid claim that she was constructively discharged without due process when the school district relieved her of her duties as a middle school principal for insubordination and later reassigned her to dean of students at a high school because she failed to show that the district’s actions amounted to either affirmative termination or constructive discharge.

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