Schools have to be wary of legal issues involving student discipline because they cannot overstep the boundaries of appropriate interaction between adult authority figures and children. For example, a teacher cannot hit or curse at a student. However, sometimes legal discipline comes in and takes the place of school-sponsored discipline.
For example, in a case that occurred in Laredo, Texas, keys were missing from a teacher's classroom and four students were supposed to be questioned the next day. However, the students all showed up with their lawyers that day. Instead of allowing the school to go through its normal disciplinary procedures, the parents had lawyers step in so that the children did not have to deal with the consequences themselves. According to Juan Cruz, a lawyer in the Laredo Independent School District, not having students take responsibility for their own actions is detrimental.
With an extremely competitive market to become a teacher in most areas, particularly in the fields of English, history and specialized subject areas like art, it is understandable that teachers and potential teachers are worried about discrimination and termination issues. Several acts and pieces of legislation including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Equal Pay Act all work together to ensure that people are not discriminated against based on gender, race, age, disabilities, sexual orientation, status as a parent, marital status and religious and political affiliations. Teachers and other school employees want to make sure that these standards are upheld.
Sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior is a major issue for schools, especially because the problems seem to have become so widespread in the latter end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. Rules and regulations in many schools state that teachers cannot touch a student in any way, shape or form. Educators also have to worry about sexual misconduct between students. A 2002 study conducted by the American Association of University Women revealed that 83 percent of girls and 78 percent of boys in eighth through 11th grade claimed they had been sexually harassed at some point.