The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of selected characteristics on the outcomes of those special education due process hearings brought forth in the state of Texas from September 1, 1983, to September 1, 1992. A further purpose was to determine if district characteristics of size or location affect the likelihood of a district's becoming involved in a special education due process hearing. Data for the study was collected for all special education due process hearings conducted in the State of Texas from September 1, 1983, to September 1, 1992. A coding system was used to record the data for the study and the Chi-square test of independence was used to determine whether a relationship existed between the selected variable (hearing issue, disability classifications and restrictiveness of placement) and hearing outcome. The frequency of involvement in hearings for districts of various size and urban characteristics was displayed as a percentage.

Thesis (LLM) --University of Limpopo, 2010

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This thesis looks at the reality of the situation of the Tasmanian Aborigines using the theme of the 19th Century genocide of the Tasmanian Aborigines and the Sacred wound in the context of the law and spirituality. The methodology of the lived experience of the author is drawn upon for a legal and spiritual analysis of cases lived by the author, which provide a backdrop to the handing back of certain Aboriginal lands in Tasmania as well as reflecting on the intersection of Aboriginal lore and the legal system. The meaning of these cases goes beyond a rational legal analysis as the idea that genocide is still continuing is a difficult one for Australians to understand due to compartmentalisation between spirituality and the law in the context of modern Australia. The High Court case of Mabo poses a dilemma for Aborigines as it contains an opportunity to move beyond terra nullius thinking, but at the same time it limits claims in a way that continues dispossession and may in certain circumstances disallow aspects of Aboriginal self determination. Within this apparent standoff lies the possibility for a development of the law that can embrace or incorporate the Aboriginal spiritual attachment to the land, ancestors and artefacts. There is no word in the English language that can describe the multifaceted, inside and outside, perspectives required to carry out the required discussion that could bring the law more into tune with the people, the land and the original inhabitants. The spiritual direction of Australia, however, could be affected by the turning away from a material, logical rational perspective to the embracing of connection as a value in itself: to spiritual values and a personal sense of calling. The Sacred wound is the meditation around which the discussion of all these themes of lived experience, the law and spirituality moves and ultimately rests. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis argues that native title rights are fundamental to Indigenous citizenship in Australia. It does this by developing a normative conception of citizenship in connection with a model of constitutionalism. Here, citizenship is more than a legal status. It refers to the norms of individual rights coupled with democratic responsibility that are attached to the person in a liberal-democracy. Constitutionalism provides the framework for understanding the manner in which Australian society realizes these norms. This thesis focuses on a society attempting to grapple with issues of postcolonialism. A fundamental question faced in these societies is the legitimacy of group rights based in pre-colonization norms. This thesis argues that these rights can be legitimized when constitutionalism is understood as originating in the deliberations connecting civil society with the state; which deliberations reconcile individual rights with group rights in such a way as to resolve the issue of their competing claims to legitimacy. Civil society is the social space in which politico-legal norms collide with action. The argument constructed here is that native title is built on norms that have the potential (it is a counterfactual argument) to contribute to a postcolonial civil society. This is one in which colonizer and colonized coordinate their action in a mutual search for acceptable solutions to the question 'how do we live together?'. The optimistic analysis is tempered by a consideration of the development of native title law. The jurisprudence of the High Court after the Wik's Case has undermined the potential of native title to play a transformative role. It has undermined Indigenous Australians' place in civil society, and their status as equal individuals and responsible citizens. In seeking to explain this, the thesis turns from jurisprudence to political sociology, and argues that an alternative model of constitutionalism and civil society has supplanted the postcolonial; viz., the neoliberal.

The purpose of this study was to examine the advocacy techniques employed by three state-level child advocacy groups in a mid-western state and to determine the effectiveness of such techniques in influencing policy and legislation.The groups studied were a government-funded bureau, a professional association, and a varied member organization. Each was selected because it met the qualifications set forth for that particular group type. Data collection took place during June and July, 1981.The records examined during data collection included minutes of meetings, publications, fiscal reports, legislative reports and bills, by-laws, and newspaper articles. The data discerned from the records described the groups' founding, objectives, structure, membership, finances, and advocacy strategies, particularly public information campaigns, training, and lobbying efforts. Interviews were conducted with persons knowledgeable of the groups' activities, as necessary.Data were organized into the categories of background information, objectives, membership, structure, funding, and advocacy efforts. Issues considered by any of the three groups were classified either as legislation or as a child-oriented issue. Advocacy techniques utilized to advance a group's position on a piece of legislation were paired with the bill. The effectiveness of the techniques was determined via a scale which examined a bill's progression through the legislative process. Patterns of effective advocacy were listed. Similarly, advocacy techniques employed to advance a group's position on child-oriented issues were paired with the issues. Patterns of advocacy were discerned from that information.As a result of the data analysis, the following conclusions were made; (a) a variety of techniques were used by the groups and contributed to effective advocacy; (b) the techniques of writing to and meeting with legislators or their staffs on behalf of a group were utilized most commonly in successful efforts related to legislation; (c) collaboration and multiple efforts were related to effective advocacy; (d) the professional association was most successful in its legislative advocacy efforts; and (e) the three groups took more positions and utilized more advocacy techniques on child-oriented issues than on legislation.

The purpose of the study was to investigate current liability insurance practices for professional school corporation personnel in Indiana. Fifty rural and fifty urban school corporations were surveyed with regard to: (1) number and character of suits against school corporations or professional. school corporation personnel, (2) amount of current liability insurance protection carried by school corporations, (3) degree of legal representation of school corporations and school corporation personnel, and (4) opinions of respondents about educational malpractice. An instrument developed to gather data elicited responses from 52 percent of urban and 6-8 percent of rural school corporations in the sample.An analysis of data was completed to test two null hypotheses with regard to: (1) need for liability insurance and (2) employment of legal counsel. Additional data were compiled arid reported descriptively in order to draw conclusions regarding the current status of personal liability insurance protection within Indiana school corporations. Findings of the study included:Urban school corporations had a significantly greater need for liability insurance as measured by number of suits involving school corporations or professional school corporation personnel. Respondents from 57.7 percent of urban school corporations reported involvement in at least thirty liability actions between 1972 and 1977. Respondents from 26.5 percent of rural school corporations reported involvement in ten liability actions between 1972 and 1977.Negligence and personal injury were grounds most often reported for school related liability actions, especially in actions involving urban school corporations.Judgments rendered against rural school corporations were settled for an average of $9,975. Judgments against urban school corporations were settled for an average of $14,506.Written teacher dismissal policies had been established by 58.8 percent of rural and 88.5 percent of urban school corporations.Results of a Chi-Square test indicated that no significant difference existed between rural and urban school corporations in the employment of legal counsel. Urban school corporations pay more than twice the yearly fee for legal services dealing with personal liability than rural school corporations. Legal counsel provided by school corporations would not represent employees from almost 40 percent of Indiana school corporations in liability litigation.Urban school corporations provide for more types of liability, greater amounts of coverage, and larger deductibles for liability insurance than rural counterparts. Deductibles in excess of $1,000 were obtained on 16.9 percent of all coverages with deductibles purchased by rural school corporations and on 52.6 percent of all coverages with deductibles purchased by urban school corporations. Four rural and nine urban school corporations reported deductibles of $10,000.Amount of annual premium paid varies with type and amount of coverage, amount of deductible, school corporation enrollment, number of school officials and number of school employees covered. Rural school corporations were providing liability insurance protection at an average premium rate of $1.20 per student enrolled. Urban school corporations were providing liability insurance protection at an average premium rate of $1.17 per student enrolled.School officials and employees from rural school corporations which have not been involved in liability actions tend to be less wary of implications of educational malpractice than school officials and employees from urban school corporations or from rural school corporations which have been involved in liability actions.

The purpose of the study was to state in a positive manner the rights of administrators in dealing with student suspension, expulsion, and exclusion in substantive and procedural due process matters. A legal. research was used to accomplish the purpose of the study. A review of the literature from 1969 through 1978 was made. The focus of the review was upon attitudes of administrators regarding court cases dealing with student suspension, expulsion and exclusion. A selected review and analysis of United States Constitution, Indiana state law, federal and state appellate court decisions, Indiana Attorney General Opinions and related literature was wade to identify factors guiding school officials in dealing with student due process matters. The study was limited to the laws, court decisions, and Attorney General Opinions in Indiana involving student suspension, expulsion, and exclusion.Even though the study was limited to Indiana, the following considerations would also apply throughout the United States.(1) Students have due process rights. (2) Constitutionality of a school regulation and reasonableness of a rule is a question of law to be decided exclusively by the courts. (3) Boards of education and school administrators have the power to make and enforce reasonable rules and regulations for the proper process in general. (4) Where rules infringe upon freedom of expression, the school officials have the burden of showing justification. (5) Administrators are upset over recent United States Supreme Court decisions and an apparent loss of control of students. (6) A compensatory award to students would be appropriate if the measures of impermissable motivation or disregard of a student's constitutional rights were maliciously violated. (7) Student dismissal for failure of a student to meet academic standards calls for far less stringent procedural requirements than dismissal of a student for violation of valid rules of conduct. (8) The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution does riot apply to the internal disciplinary operations of a private school. (9) A student involved in a due process matter must take advantage of all administrative remedies available before filing a law suit. (10) School Officials have the authority to expel a student under the age of sixteen for a violation of reasonable rules and regulations. (11) The laws and recent court decisions should not hinder the fair minded school administrator. (12) School attendance records are admissable as evidence in a court of law.In addition to the study findings, the following conclusions, based upon the review and analysis of pertinent constitutional law, federal and state court decisions as well as upon the reading of related literature and conversations with attorneys and school officials were developed. (1) A school official may avoid legal problems in dealing with students if the following steps are followed: (a) The school official must make every attempt to establish reasonable rules and regulations. (b) The school official must carry out discipline procedures without malice. (c) The school official must provide the minimum essentials of due process. 1. Oral and written notice of charges are provided the student. 2. The student must have the opportunity to tell what happened in the incident under investigation. (2) The Indiana Statute on Due Process and Pupil Discipline provides the framework and guide to follow in discipline matters. School corporations may avoid time consuming and expensive court proceedings by adhering to the statute. The courts have overturned student challegnes on substantive and procedural due process if the student had not sought all remedies available under the Indiana Due Process and Pupil Discipline Statute.Even though the study was limited to Indiana, the above listed conclusions, with the exception of number two, would also apply throughout the United States.