Recent Cases

Resources

• Board of Educ. of the City of Sea Isle City, No. A-37-07 (N.J. July 21, 2008) [HTML 6,436kb]
  The New Jersey Supreme Court has upheld the removal of a school board member who was engaged in a dispute with the school district over the special education of his child.
  
• Sherry v. Radnor Township Sch. Dist., No. 07-08995 (Pa. Ct. Com. Pl. Jun. 20, 2008) [HTML 3,299kb]
  A Pennsylvania court has ordered Radnor Township School District (RTSD) to disclose two documents board members relied on in deciding to raise the salaries of four school district administrators.
  
• Sahli v. Woodbine Bd. of Educ., No. A-92-06 (N.J. Jan. 30, 2008) [HTML 3,199kb]
  The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that a school board’s attorney who acted as secretary pro tem during an executive session of the board was entitled to district indemnification in that capacity, but not in his capacity as the board’s attorney.
  
• Board of Educ. of the City of St. Louis v. Missouri State Bd. of Educ., No. 07-00488 (Mo. Cir. Ct. Jan. 23, 2008) [HTML 1,956kb]
  A Missouri trial court has ruled that the Missouri State Board of Education (MBOE) did not act either arbitrarily or capriciously in declaring the St. Louis Public Schools unaccredited and handing power to govern the school district over to an unelected school board appointed by MBOE.
  
• In re Recall Charges Against Seattle Sch. Dist. Dir. Butler-Wall, No. 79869-9 (Wash. Dec. 12, 2007) [HTML 1,480kb]
  The Washington State Supreme Court has rejected a petition for a recall election of members of the Seattle School District No. 1’s school board.
  
• Doe v. Tangipahoa Parish Sch. Bd., No. 05-30294 (5th Cir. July 25, 2007) [HTML 2,511kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc (with all active judges hearing the case), has ruled that the plaintiffs in a suit challenging a Louisiana school board’s practice of opening meetings with an invocation lacked legal standing to maintain their suit.
  
• Mendoza v. State of Calif., No. B195835 (Cal. App. April 17, 2007) [HTML 4,648kb]
  A California state appeals court has ruled that the recently enacted state law giving the mayor of Los Angeles partial control over the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) violates several provisions of the state constitution.
  
• Mendoza v. State of Calif., No. 105 481 (Cal. Super., L.A. Cty. Dec. 21, 2007) [HTML 5,023kb]
  A California state court has ruled that the recently enacted state law, AB 1381, giving the mayor of Los Angeles partial control over the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) violates several provisions of the state constitution.
  
• In re Removal of Kuehnle, 2005 WL 1131759 (Ohio App. May 16, 2005) [HTML 4,969kb]
• Velez v. Levy, No. 03-7875 (2d Cir. Mar. 11, 2005) [HTML 4,936kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that a school board member had no constitutionally protected property interest in her board position under the Fourteenth Amendment.
  
• Bd. of Educ. of the Rancocas Valley Regional High School District v. New Jersey State Bd. of Educ. [HTML 3,036kb]
  The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court has ruled that the “equal proportions” method utilized by a county superintendent of schools to reapportion the number of seats among municipalities on a regional board of education did not violate the state’s statutory directive that apportionment be made “as nearly as may be according to the number of their inhabitants.”