School law in the High Court: students 2, school districts 0

In the latest ISBA Education Law newsletter, authors describe a pair of U.S. Supreme Court cases from last term in which students prevailed over their local school districts. In Forest Grove School District v. T.A., the high court held that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act lets parents recover the cost putting their child in private school even though the student didn't previously receive special ed through the public school. "It is now clear that whether or not a child has been identified as eligible for special education services, IDEA’s provisions can afford parents an opportunity to seek recovery of their costs in placing their child in a private school by claiming that the public school district failed to provide their child with a free, appropriate public education and that the private school is providing an appropriate specialized program and services," wrote Mary Kay Klimesh in her article about the case. And in Safford Unified School District v. Redding, the Court found that a strip search of a 13-year-old girl violated the Fourth Amendment. "The lesson here," writes Phil Milsk, "is that strip and body cavity searches in the schools should be used only in the rarest of occasions when there is reasonable suspicion to believe that a student is actually hiding contraband in their clothing or body cavities." Read his full summary and analysis.