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 Third Annual Conference On
Education Law:
Legal Issues from Hazing To Prayers In School
 The legal line
between church and state has been more blurred in
recent years according to Martha McCarthy, the
riveting keynote speaker at this year's third
Annual School Law conference at UB on April 6.
McCarthy, a professor at Indiana University who
specializes in education law and policy, spoke
before a crowd of about 180 Connecticut educators
and high school administrators and delivered an
informative and lively message to an audience
seeking legal guidance on issues from hate speech
to special education.
Mark Stapleton, Chief of
Legal and Governmental Affairs for the State
Department of Education.
In
recent years, the courts have been more lenient
in allowing student led prayers in public
schools, McCarthy noted. However, while many
parents wish to see the Ten Commandments adorning
classroom walls, others see this type of
religious display in violation of the
Establishment Clause in the First Amendment,
which established the separation of church and
state. McCarthy believes the legal pendulum will
wind up somewhere in the middle between strict
separation of church and state - which dominated
the 60s and 70s - and allowing students free rein
to pray at any and all school occasions.
Many conference attendees were there to learn
about the legal fine points of such issues as
mandating community service for students,
conducting student searches, student use of the
Internet and the potential impact of a proposed
high-stakes exit test for seniors.
Luncheon speaker Mark Stapleton, chief of legal
and governmental affairs for the state Department
of Education, gave a sweeping overview of the
legal issues facing the state. He said that
mandatory exit exams for high school graduates
was on the horizon for Connecticut public schools
and he discussed the legal implications of the
state takeover of the Hartford School District.
While the secondary school system has gotten more
creative in recent years with the opening of
magnet and charter schools, they raise a host of
legal issues, notably in the area of racial
quotas. Hazing, bullying, sexual harassment and
sexual discrimination are also the hot-button
legal issue facing school administrators today,
he said.
THE UB TEAM AT
THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COMPARATIVE AND
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SOCIETY
 A team of doctoral
students and professors attended the Annual
Conference of the Comparative and International
Education Society held in San Antonio, Texas in
March.
They presented papers on the topics " From
Modernity to Globalization: Clash of
Civilizations in the Emerging World Order."
Photo left to right: Theodora Kachergis, Mary Ann
Indorf, Jennifer Cosgrove, Cathy rice, Professor
T.Mathai Thomas(chair), and Pat Kicullen.
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