Some Amazing Stories of School Law

The cartoon at left doesn't have anything to do with this posting - other than it shows who things have changed since my generation was in school.

The American School Board Journal has some interesting "school law" stories from the past year. A couple of them are below:


Student capers
Standardized tests are a really big deal these days and the contents are secure, right? Consider the story of a 10-year-old Pennsylvania boy who faxed an order to a test maker from his house using two special codes he plucked from the Pennsylvania Education Department’s website.
The tests were mailed to the school’s warehouse, which officials interpret as a good sign the security system worked. And what about the creative kid? A district spokeswoman said the boy was not trying to cheat.
“He purposely requested the tests to come on the last day [of testing] because he didn’t want to see the test before he took it,” Rebecca Costello, director of pupil services for the Hempfield School District, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “He wants to be a teacher. He wanted to play school.”
Bus drivers gone wild
A Loudoun County, Va., school bus driver was charged with seven misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Her offense: offering $20 to anyone on the bus who would pelt wayward passengers with snowballs.
Two students were arguing on the way home, and the driver tried to intervene. Frustrated, she allegedly grabbed a microphone and announced a reward for anyone who would throw snowballs and push snow down the 13-year-old boy’s shirt. At his stop, the boy’s fellow riders grabbed handfuls of snow and the barrage was on.
The snowball throwers are not facing criminal charges, but they also didn’t collect any cash.
Making ends meet?
Police in Bellefontaine, Ohio, accused a fourth-grade teacher of holding a second job as a prostitute, posting sex-for-money ads on the craigslist website. The 35-year-old teacher, Amber Carter, allegedly once even used a school district computer to arrange an afternoon delight.
When the 13-year teacher took half of a sick day to fulfill the commitment, police waited for her in the motel parking lot. Police charged Carter with misdemeanor prostitution and a felony for unauthorized use of school property. The district sent letters home to parents about the incident.