"The Rights of the Student" Project

BACKGROUND: Students will be researching the rights (and restrictions) of a modern Public School student in the areas of student rights.

REQUIREMENTS: Students will be responsible for explaining a landmark case to the other students in the class and conducting a discussion group on the topic. These cases will include all (most) of the major events that have occurred over the last 70 years that have led to Supreme Court Cases pertaining to student rights- from the Pledge of Allegiance to "Bong Hits 4 Jesus."

RESEARCH:  Students will be responsible for researching the following Supreme Court Cases and learning what prompted the cases, when the major steps of the cases occurred and what the outcomes of the cases are and how they effect students:

PLEASE NOTE: Even though there may be two students listed for some of the following cases, these students are NOT working together! They will, however, be responsible for presenting information regarding their cases at the same time, so be prepared with LOTS of details and graphics.

CASE PERIOD 3 STUDENT(S) PERIOD 4 STUDENT(S) BONUS CHANCE
West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943) BENSLEY/SITTNER ARNOLD/WEAVER Review the consequences for the parents of fighting this case, as well as the case of Minersville School District v. Gobitis and how it applied to this case.
Engel v. Vitale (1962) CRUZ/WHITE BANUELOS Outline the objections of the lone dissenting vote on the Supreme Court, as well as 2-3 modern day implications of this ruling.
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) FERARO/TRUAX LOPEZ Review at least 2-3 recent (last 10 years or so) cases which have defended the rights of students using Tinker as precedent.
Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (1986) GRAHAM BORDERS Review the exact wording of the speech that was thought to be offensive.
New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985) BURKHARD EVANS/YBARRA Outline rules for reasonable searches at school.
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988) JOHNSON/WEIRICH FLYNN Discuss the content of the two stories that were contested.
Board of Education of Independent School District #92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls (2002) MCALLISTER/SMITH LIZARRAGA Describe the sample collection process.
Morse v. Frederick (2007) OCHS ROBINSON Visually demonstrate and describe the current location of the banner.
B.L. v. Mahanoy Area School District HEGARTY - Explain what court this was decided in and how that differs from the Supreme Court.

THE WEBSITE AT OYEZ.ORG IS AN EXCELLENT RESOURCE FOR THE SUPREME COURT CASES IN THIS PROJECT, PLEASE USE IT. Make sure to click on the OPINION links at the left side of cases, this is where most of the actual information regarding the rights of the student can be found.

REVIEWING THE CASE WITH THE CLASS: Students will use any resources that they wish to present the case to the rest of the class. Please try to VISUALLY DEMONSTRATE the case, as best you can, using photos of defendants, schools, etc..  Your review should include each of the following items:

  • DESCRIPTION OF THE MAJOR PLAYERS in the original event:  Names, positions, school districts, states, etc.
  • DATE and DESCRIPTION of the actions and repercussions (student suspended, expelled, etc.) that started the Court Case in question.
  • DISCUSSION POINTS FOR THE CLASS TO CONSIDER BEFORE REVIEWING THE SUPREME COURT CASE OUTCOMES. These usually come in the form of "ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS" that you will ask the class, such as "Were the student's rights violated?, etc.
  • DATES and OUTCOMES of the Supreme Court case pertaining to the event (in other words, summarize the OPINIONS of the case.
  • DISCUSSION regarding the effect of the opinion on the rights of the modern student.

Students can present their case in any way that they wish. The following would be acceptable, but any other similar product that graphically illustrates the 8 cases would be fine:

  • A poster with graphics and photographs.
  • A skit.
  • A comic or animation.
  • A Google Drawing or CHART (not a Google slideshow), in which the student uses graphic tools to create an informative layout.
  • I will accept a PREZI presentation, as long as it has an interesting animated presentation.
  • THE GLAZE RULE: If anyone would like to present the information for their case in an EDIBLE format (such as baking a cake, cookies, cupcakes, pancakes, etc.) That is absolutely acceptable and will results in a 10 extra credit point bonus. This MUST BE APPROPRIATE to the case in question!

Please include graphics, photos and symbols, as appropriate to the events in question. THIS SHOULD BE A VISUAL PRESENTATION THAT ILLUSTRATES THE CASES IN QUESTION!

GRADING: This is a relatively straightforward assignment, and will be worth 100 points for completion.  Students will be graded on their ability to visually demonstrate their case to the class and facilitate a class discussion on the topic.