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Common Good’s School Rules
Many educators spend their days complying with burdensome regulations and fearing lawsuits and non-compliance. Common Good has put together a list of ten school rules to help teachers and principals stay compliant and lawsuit free. Click on each rule for more information.
Are there any nonsensical school rules you are aware of? If so, please send them to hq@cgood.org, and we will share them with our supporters.
10. A student may challenge any grade he or she receives.
9. No valedictorian shall be named without due process of the law.
8. The assignment of homework shall be subject to judicial review.
7. The allocation of funds shall not be done according to common sense and need--thus, teachers must purchase their own supplies.
6. Since merit pay would violate teacher-tenure rules, the best and most dedicated teachers will just be awarded gold stars.
5. Students may be expelled for possession of kitchen utensils, scissors, sunscreen, or other items that vaguely resemble weapons or drugs.
4. Principals shall not decide who does and does not work at their schools. Since legal constraints don't allow principals to use their judgment, they shall fill staff positions by closing their eyes and pointing.
3. Teachers found guilty of criminal behavior shall be immediately transferred to another school.
2. To avoid lawsuits and injury, students will take virtual field trips and no running will be tolerated during recess.
1. Teachers must devote equal time to instruction and paperwork.
10. A student may challenge any grade he or she receives.
Judge Throws Out School Grade Case, The Herald Sun (NC), April 12, 2005 (A North Carolina judge has thrown out a lawsuit over "capricious" grading. Research scientist Luping Qu says his daughter's teacher "made a grading error" that caused her to fail her junior-year evolution course. Qu's daughter (admittedly) failed to "turn in three homework assignments in the second half of the year." Special Deputy Attorney General Thomas Ziko had argued that the law "provides no avenue for suing a school over 'capricious' grading," and Judge Orlando F. Hudson rightly refused to allow this lawsuit, which would have further undermined teachers' authority to make reasonable decisions. This article is no longer available online.)
Parents of Girl Expelled for Cheating Sue to Get 'F' off Private School's Transcript, Associated Press, February 8, 2005
Father Sues Over Grade, Benjamin Niolet, The News & Observer (NC), February 1, 2005 (After failing in a "five-month quest to have teachers, administrators and state officials" change a bad grade given to his daughter, Luping Qu of Horse Shoe, NC, decided to file a lawsuit. Common Good found this story on Overlawyered.com. This article is no longer available on-line.)
9. No valedictorian shall be named without due process of the law.
Top Three Finishers to Attend State Spelling Bee, Carla Roccapriore, Reno Gazette-Journal, February 10, 2006
Best in Class: Students Are Suing Their Way to the Top, Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, June 5, 2005
8. The assignment of homework shall be subject to judicial review.
Judge Tosses Homework Lawsuit, Associated Press, March 9, 2005 (A high school student's lawsuit against summer homework has been thrown out by Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Richard J. Sankovitz. Sankovitz rightly declined to subject educators' everyday decisions to judicial review, ruling that "it's up to school boards to decide such things." This article is no longer available online.)
Lawsuit Seeks to Ban Homework During the Summer, Associated Press, January 20, 2005 (Most high school students complain about homework, but 17-year-old Peer Larson of Milwaukee, WI, is doing something about it. Larson and his father have filed a lawsuit seeking to bar the assignment of summer homework. They argue that "school officials have no legal authority to make students do homework over the summer because the state-required 180-day school year is over." Whitnall School Board member Mary Ann Lindberg said, "Sometimes those kinds of decisions are best made at the building level with the teachers and the principal and perhaps someone in administration, because they know best what they're trying to achieve." Added Superintendent Karen Petric, "Court is not the place to solve it. It doesn't belong there." This article is no longer available online.)
7. The allocation of funds shall not be done according to common sense and need--thus, teachers must purchase their own supplies.
District Ordered to Shift More Cash to Classrooms, Terrence Stutz, The Dallas Morning News, April 7, 2006
25% of City Teachers Short on Credentials Janey Says, V. Dion Haynes, The Washington Post, April 5, 2005 (Principals cannot "purchase supplies without having to go through central administration," a process that "takes 30 to 40 days.")
The Burden of Law, Diane Ravitch, Miami Herald, March 1, 2005 ("Schools today are being strangled by a ton of laws, regulations, contracts, mandates and rules. If we do not figure out how to restore authority to teachers and principals, then our schools will continue to become ever more expensive and ever less effective.")
Teachers Hit the Bankbooks, Joe Williams, New York Daily News, November 9, 2004
6. Since merit pay would violate teacher-tenure rules, the best and most dedicated teachers will just be awarded gold stars.
Tenure Helps Good Teachers and Shelters the Bad Ones, Maya Kremen, The Record, July 19, 2006
The Dropout Problem: Not Students, but Teachers, Rachel Proctor May, Austin Chronicle, August 12, 2005 (In a 2003 study of "why [Texas] teachers leave the profession, 61% cited salaries.")
5. Students may be expelled for possession of kitchen utensils, scissors, sunscreen, or other items that vaguely resemble weapons or drugs.
Student Faces Expulsion Over Pellet Gun, Joe Snapper, The Saginaw News, February 26, 2006 (A 10th-grader with no disciplinary history is now facing expulsion under a "zero tolerance" policy for accidentally bringing a pellet gun to school. The gun, which officials have verified could not have discharged, had been left in the student's car glove compartment and was discovered after a teacher overheard him talking about hunting with a classmate. District law requires that the school recommend expulsion, regardless of the student's clean behavioral record. The police sergeant who investigated the case acknowledged that "there was no intention of doing anything with the gun," but explained that in cases like this "[z]ero tolerance is the easier way." This article is no longer available online.)
First-grader Suspended for Sex Harassment, Associated Press, CNN.com, February 9, 2006 (Officials at Downey Elementary School in Brockton, MA, extended an apology to the parents of a 6-year-old boy who had been suspended for sexual harassment after he “put two fingers inside a classmate’s waistband.” The young boy’s mother was outraged that the school district, which defines sexual harassment as “‘uninvited physical contact such as touching, hugging, patting or pinching,’” made no exception for the child’s age. Because of his young age, his mother says, she was unable to clearly explain the situation to him: “‘He doesn’t know those things. He’s only 6 years old.’” Experts note that “only in rare, troubling cases can children that young truly sexually harass one another.” This article is no longer available online.)
At Schools, Less Tolerance for 'Zero Tolerance', Marilyn Elias, USA Today, August 9, 2006
Discipline Bill on Perry's Desk, Helen Eriksen, Houston Chronicle, June 10, 2005 (Students who "possess or exhibit weapons ... are routinely expelled and placed in alternative education programs, regardless of the student's knowledge or intent.")
Bill Would Legislate Maryland Students' Use of Sunscreen, Daniel de Vise, The Washington Post, April 11, 2005 (A recent survey of 24 Maryland school systems found that four "require a doctor's order for students to apply sunscreen. Eleven require at least a parent's note. Eight systems require students to leave the product with the school health officer." Montgomery (MD) County, schools "treat sunscreen as an over-the-counter medicine. A student must bring in a doctor's note to apply it, and only older students are allowed to carry it with them at school.")
4. Principals shall not decide who does and does not work at their schools. Since legal constraints don't allow principals to use their judgment, they shall fill staff positions by closing their eyes and pointing.
How Do I Fill a Teacher Vacancy in My School?
3. Teachers found guilty of criminal behavior shall be immediately transferred to another school.
Measure Shakes Teacher Stability, Duke Helfand and Joel Rubin, Contra Costa (CA) Times, August 9, 2005 (Over the last ten years, the Los Angeles Unified School District "has attempted to dismiss just 112 permanent teachers--or about one-quarter of 1 percent of the district's 43,000 instructors." This article is no longer available online.)
Appeals Court Says Teacher Arrested as Drug Suspect Should Lose Job, Samuel Maull, Associated Press, July 7, 2005 (Michael Campbell was employed as the administrator of "an anti-substance abuse program" at Intermediate School 72 in Staten Island, NY, when he was arrested in April 2002 for having "a bag of marijuana on his person [and] sitting in a car containing 10 aluminum bags of cocaine." While Campbell arranged a plea deal with prosecutors, agreeing to complete a drug-counseling program, the school district moved to terminate his employment. But termination proceedings were stopped when a hearing officer found that Campbell's completion of the counseling program entitled him to be reinstated. Now, more than three years after Campbell was arrested, the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division has overruled the hearing officer's decision. Returning Campbell to his position would "be irrational" and "defy common sense," the judges wrote. Said a spokesman for the city Law Department, "[W]e shouldn't have to spend years on litigation to remove an individual convicted of serious drug charges." This article is no longer available online.)
Class Clowns, David Andreatta, New York Post, January 24, 2005 ("Nearly half of all public-school teachers brought up on disciplinary charges over the past five years--with offenses ranging from drug use to corporal punishment--are still in the school system and earning full salaries. ... In about one out of 10 cases, teachers beat the rap or charges against them were dropped. But in 37 percent of cases now closed, teachers held onto their jobs either by order of an independent arbitrator or by settling their cases with the city Department of Education." This article is no longer available online.)
2. To avoid lawsuits and injury, students will take virtual field trips and no running will be tolerated during recess.
Not It! Mass. Elementary School Bans Tag, The Associated Press, October 18, 2006 (“[F]or fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable,” administrators at Willett Elementary School in Attleboro, MA, “have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess.” And as The Associated Press relates, this is just the latest rule to affect school recess. A few years back, Attleboro school officials “took aim at dodgeball … saying it was exclusionary and dangerous.” Bans on tag have also been recently put into effect at elementary schools in Cheyenne, WY, and Spokane, WA. And outside Charleston, SC, a school has banned “all unsupervised contact sports.” At least one Willett Elementary parent is unhappy with the school’s decision. Debbie Laferriere tells the AP: “‘I think that it’s unfortunate that kids’ lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they’ll never develop on their own …. Playing tag is just part of being a kid.’” This article is no longer available online.)
School-trips confined to school grounds due to fears of legal action, Evening Standard, November 28, 2006
Wailupe School Bridge Was 'a Long Time Coming', Suzanne Roig, The Honolulu Advertiser, August 27, 2005 (Parent-signed consent forms are required for students to visit a community park adjacent to school. It took four years to build a small pedestrian bridge from Wailupe Valley (HI) Elementary School to an adjacent community park--a delay partly due to liability concerns. The new bridge "will enable students to use the park for physical-education classes and May Day celebrations, and offers a safe meeting place in case of emergency." Ironically, the fear of being sued also played a role in the decision to build the bridge. Before its construction, students could not be taken to the park unless their parents signed a consent form; the short walk "was considered a field trip" and field trips are fraught with liability concerns. This article is no longer available online.)
Safety Always an Issue on School Trips, Martha Irvine, Associated Press, June 11, 2005 (In the litigious and safety-conscious atmosphere surrounding our public schools, field trips to "faraway destinations" are being curtailed in some locations. The key question facing school administrators is, do the gains from these "valuable learning experience[s]" outweigh the legal and safety risks? If not, the key question for society becomes, do we need to reevaluate our thinking on what is and what is not a reasonable risk? [See "Danger!" by Common Good chair Philip K. Howard, and the speech on risk and the state by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.])
1. Teachers must devote equal time to instruction and paperwork.
NCLB: The local effects, Elizabeth Martin, Eagle Times, November 11, 2006 (School officials at all levels find frustrations with No Child Left Behind)
Let Teachers Teach, New York Times, October 27, 2005
Job Conditions Create Shortages, Special Ed Teachers Say, Ray Hagar, Reno Gazette-Journal, August 28, 2005 (In 2002, a national study found that special education teachers have to do more than double the paperwork of teachers in general education. Special education teachers do an average of five hours of paperwork a week--completing forms and doing administrative paperwork--compared to two hours for a general education teacher.)
The Dropout Problem: Not Students, But Teachers, Rachel Proctor May, Austin Chronicle, August 12, 2005 (Teachers in Texas are quitting for three big reasons: "pay, administrative (or administrator) hassles, and classroom management issues.")
Mobile's Schools Sued by Teachers, Rena Havner, Mobile Register, March 4, 2005 (Last fall, 2,300 teachers filed a formal grievance with the school board over having too much paperwork and too little pay. Now, some teachers who say the board ignored the grievance have filed a class-action lawsuit against the board and Superintendent Harold Dodge.)
Bill Would Help Cut a Teacher's Paperwork, Isabel Mascarenas, Tampa Bay's 10 News Now, February 10, 2005 (Tampa Bay's 10 News Now reports, "Teacher[s] often leave the profession because of the low pay, now some teachers are considering quitting because of the excessive paperwork. Fourth grade teacher Patricia Widoff says she stays an extra hour or two after school catching up on all the forms the school, school district and state require teachers to fill out. Many times the Davis Elementary teacher says the paperwork becomes her homework. Widoff says the paperwork is 20 times greater than when she started teaching 34 years ago. 'We're drowning, absolutely drowning in paperwork,' [Widoff said.] 'We want to do what we're here for. We want to teach children. That seems to be forgotten along the way. We're here for the children.'" A bill introduced in the Florida State House would establish a task force to investigate reducing the paperwork overload. This article is no longer available online.)
 Click here for Common Good's complete collection of news and commentary illustrating how litigation, due process and other regulatory requirements are affecting public education.
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