The schools of today are vastly different than the schools of our youth. Students today are faced with cyberbullying, sexting, Facebook and all the novel problems that our new digital world has created. Schools and school districts must know how to address and respond to these digital technologies so they can best help students and avoid potential liability.
If you would like to learn more about emerging legal issues in schools created by new technologies please join Gretchen Shipley as she uses a hypothetical fact pattern to discuss these novel issues. The main topics covered by Mrs. Shipley include search & seizure, mandatory reporting of abuse & neglect, sexting, social networking, teacher-student online communication, teachers’ cyber conduct, student discipline for online speech, bring your own device & equal access, cyberbullying, student privacy rights and potential breaches of privacy law. Further issues discussed include eMatters, Klump v. Nazareth, how to handle sexting, freedom of association, “fitness to teach,” the “related to school activity” standard, the substantial disruption standard, J. S. v. Blue Mountain, FERPA, CIPA, J.C. v. Beverly Hills, the Fourth Amendment, COPPA, GeoLocation (iPad tracking), school video cameras, pictures on school websites, data mining by technology vendors, social media monitoring (GeoListening) and device search & seizure.
Gretchen Shipley is a partner in the San Diego area office of Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost and co-chair of the firm’s eMatters Practice Group. A respected legal leader in education law and technology, Ms. Shipley advises school districts and delivers workshops to students, employees and district leaders nationwide on the promotion of cyber-citizenship in the school community and the implications of cyber-misconduct in the classroom and workplace. She has also collaborated with the Association of California School Administrators to co-produce the popular “Logged On” seminars, created to offer guidance on employee and student issues that stem from embedding technology into public education.