The Center for Children, Law & Policy at the University of Houston recently brought together a group of leading scholars to explore the connections and the tensions between “feminist jurisprudence” and “child-centered jurisprudence.” Audio from the conference is now available and video podcast will follow shortly. Publications from these presentations will be published next year in the Houston Law Review.

Agenda

Listen to Audio of the Presentations Below:

Polygamy and Child Welfare, Prof. Martin Guggenheim, Fiorello LaGuardia Professor of Clinical Law, New York University School of Law

Five Generations: Child Sexual Abuse and the Search for Transformative Justice, Prof. Angela P. Harris, Professor of Law; Executive Committee Member, Center for Social Justice, Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley

Voice, Vulnerability and Dependency: Politicizing Childhood, Prof. Annette Appell, Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law

Vulnerability Theory: Beyond Equality in Assessing the Interests of Mothers and Children, Prof. Martha Albertson Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law

“A World Fit for Everyone:” The Role of Economic and Social Rights in Resolving the Tensions between Child-Centered and Feminist Jurisprudence, Prof. Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, David H. Levin Chair in Family Law, Director, Center on Children and Families, Fredric G. Levin College of Law

With Commentary by Prof. Ellen Marrus and Prof. Laura Oren of the University of Houston Law Center.

What makes the Community School unusual is not its student body — plenty of schools around the country enroll teenagers with an autism spectrum disorder. But, like about only two dozen schools in the country, it employs a relatively new, creative and highly interactive teaching method known as D.I.R./Floortime, which is producing striking results among T.C.S.’s student body. (D.I.R. stands for developmental, individual differences, relationship-based approach.) The method is derived from the work of Stanley Greenspan, a child psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry, behavioral science and pediatrics at George Washington University, and his colleague Dr. Serena Wieder. D.I.R./Floortime can be effective with all kinds of children, whether they have developmental challenges or not. As applied by T.C.S., it is an approach that encourages students to develop their strengths and interests by working closely with one another and with their teachers. The goal for students is neurological progress through real-world engagement.

Melissa Faye Greene, Reaching an Autistic Teenager, New York Times, October 17, 2008.

WHEN he was growing up on the streets of Newark with both of his parents addicted to drugs and his father in jail, going to college wasn’t really on the horizon for Rameck Hunt. He was going to be lucky if he finished high school.

But Rameck had something that the other kids in his neighborhood didn’t have: two friends with whom he would form an unbreakable bond. Together they made a pact to support each other with dreams that in other neighborhoods might seem ordinary, but that in their hardscrabble world seemed improbable. They would not only finish high school but go on to college — and even medical school.

Jaqueline Mroz, Sharing Their Stories, New York Times, October 17, 2008

Hurricane Ike was by far one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit the Texas Gulf Coast.  After reeking havoc on Galveston, Ike made his way inland to Houston downing trees, shattering windows, blowing off roof tops, and generally making a mess of things.  After the storm subsided, the true devastation was known.  For days, Galveston and Houston suffered through post-Ike clean up.

Galveston by far took the brunt of Ike’s fury.  The storm surge, one of the highest in Galveston’s history, tore homes from their pilings and left the city crippled with no electricity, water, or gas.  With most of city’s residents evacuated and the public utility system in shambles, the city was deemed uninhabitable.  The slow road to recovery crept to a halt.  Thousands of children were kept from home and school, while parents tried to determine their next move.  Galveston and its surrounding counties canceled school almost immediately after the storm hit.  Schools that survived Ike’s powerful storm surge lacked the power and water necessary to begin educational instruction.  Plus, with the uncertainty looming over the city, Galveston had more important things to worry about than tardy bells and school books at it tried to put the city back together.  

Houston was spared the storm surge that crippled Galveston but fared just as badly in getting its public utilities back on-line after the hurricane.  The Houston Independent School district, the largest district in the county and state, decided to close school after school officials realized that the majority of its campuses lacked electricity.  Many of the school districts in surrounding counties followed suit.  For weeks after the storm, students who just recently started the school year had an unexpected break.  Parents, many of whom lacked electricity themselves, were left to amuse their children and keep them occupied. 

Normalcy is what everyone craves after the stress of a hurricane.  Getting back to the regular routine provides familiarity and a sense of hope.  Everyone now compares every Gulf Coast hurricane to Katrina.  The Texas Gulf Coast will now compare every other gulf hurricane to Ike.  But most assuredly, the true effect on children will not be known until sometime in the future.  For sure, the children in this area have seen a disruption to their daily lives.  Children, in Houston, who weathered the storm, lived through weeks without cell phones, IPODs, T.V. and cable.  Children living in Galveston faced the uncertainty of whether school buildings would be up and running, or whether school would resume at all.  Every Texas Gulf Coast school district is in the process of determining how to deal all the days missed due to the storm.  Getting children back in school is the parent’s and school’s number one priority.  Because, it gives children a safe haven and a sense of security that will help them survive the days ahead.

In the wake of Hurricane Ike, government officials will have to determine what lessons were learned by this disaster.  The lessons learned from Katrina were put to good use in coping with Ike’s fury but the more things change, in some ways the more they stay the same.  Generally, some of the issues faced after Katrina were felt throughout the Texas Gulf Coast:

·       Children were displaced from their homes.  During Hurricane Katrina, many children were separated from parents for weeks and months, which hampered efforts to get children back on track.  Most of the folks in New Orleans and surrounding areas had no homes to go to once the storm had passed.  However, that same scenario was not repeated post-Ike.  For sure, homes in Galveston were crushed.  But unlike in New Orleans, many of the homes in the area were second homes and vacation homes for the many tourists that visit.  Though the storm surge swept through many homes, many remained standing, ready for repair in the hurricane’s aftermath.  In Houston, homes were without power but not destroyed.  So the children in Ike’s path were possibly better able to handle the storm without having to deal with the stress of changing schools and looking for permanent shelter.

·       Schools were unprepared for how to deal with the aftermath of the disaster. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many students were sent to school districts far away from their home state of Louisiana.  Texas saw the greatest increase in students who made many Texas cities their home after the devastating hurricane.  Many of the children from Louisiana were horribly behind in many areas and struggled to keep up with the rigorous curriculum presented.  School districts also were unprepared to take on the responsibility of educating tens of thousands of displaced children.  The same scenario again was not replayed post-Ike.  Most students were out of school for a little while but able to return to their home districts and schools once school resumed.  In Galveston, children were moved from their home district to other school districts in the surrounding area.  However, these districts were under the same curriculum and standards set out by the Texas Department of Education.  So even though students changed school buildings, they were tracked through the same curriculum they would have been learning in their home district.

·       Recovery and Rebuilding-Galveston and Houston set about the immediate task of recovery and rebuilding immediately after the hurricane Ike made land with the support of federal, state, and local government.  The same cannot be said for the recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans which is still bogged down in bureaucratic red-tape and has really never gotten off the ground.

 Ike devastated this area for sure.  As more data comes in, we will be able to know the true effects of the IKE on Texas children. 

      Please take a look at the following articles and blogs detailing the days and nights after Ike hit and what effect it had on children:

Students Return to School

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hurricane/ike/6016769.html

HISD Out Because of the Power Outages

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hurricane/6002751.html

Blog about school openings and closings

http://blogs.chron.com/hurricanes/schools/

Families Return to Galveston

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hurricane/ike/6017310.html

Keeping Kids Happy Without Power

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/6003445.html

Child Support Payments

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2008_4639183

Children’s Injuries in the Aftermath of Ike

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2008_4638276

School Closings Due to Hurricane Ike

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2008_4637958

Crime In General and Crime Against Children During Ike

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/morenews/6016778.html

Since I’ve argued against continued steroid testing of high school athletes, maintaining that steroid abuse by police officers empirically poses a more significant threat, I wanted to point readers to a column by Donald Hooton, father of a steroid using teen who committed suicide for whom Texas’ steroid testing law is named. Writes Hooton in the July 14 Dallas News:

Out of the preliminary findings, two positive tests resulted from more than 10,000 tests conducted by the National Center for Drug Free Sports and the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory. But the law’s primary purpose is to prevent our children from turning to steroids by providing a deterrent – the risk of getting caught gives our kids a solid reason to say no.

Consider speed traps on highways. Many adults and teens drive the speed limit not because they know that doing such is safer and saves fuel, but because they know someone is watching – the fear of getting caught is greater than the desire to disobey the law. What happens when you take away the speed traps? People start breaking the law.

Whether the program yielded two positives, 400 positives or 1,000 positives, no one should be drawing conclusions about the extent of steroid use based on these preliminary lab results. The program was never designed to measure steroid use among high school athletes.

According to the statistics from the 2007 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, recognized as the premier organization in this field, 3.9 percent of high school students are abusing anabolic steroids nationally. Given that 10,407 students were tested in Texas in the past year, the results should have yielded at least 400 positive tests. Based on the preliminary results that we’ve read about, what we do know is:

• The random testing preliminary results of Texas students identified that 99.98 percent of the sampled student-athletes tested clean for performance-enhancing drugs.

• At least two kids are going to get help before something tragic happens. (I can only wish that my son had been “caught” and been able to receive help.)

• Ten thousand kids know firsthand that we are taking this issue seriously here in Texas.

• Millions of Texas families now know about the dangers of anabolic steroids.

Those results are, to me, an excellent definition of success.

The speed trap analogy is a particularly poor one. If officers only gave tickets at 2 out of every 10,000 traffic stops, there’d be scarce incentive to continue them. Speed traps make money because traffic violations are a lot more common than that.

Also, even if the “program was never designed to measure steroid use among high school athletes,” the results are more directly probative than a survey that merely asks verbally about steroid use. The size of the sample is quite large and Texas specific. I don’t think we can rely on that 3.9% figure based on these results - certainly not if next year’s round of steroid testing duplicates the lower number.

I’ll agree with Hooton the program served a short-term public relations benefit, but that has already been realized. Now the public relations message is actually being undermined by extremely de minimus results.

To the extent steroid abuse is a widespread problem, these data show the main nexus of its use does not lie with high school athletes. That means education and prevention resources are likely adequate for that population and enforcement spending (the 10,000 tests cost $3 million) should be reserved for groups where testing gets more bang for its buck.

According to the Concurring Opinions blog and the Yale Law Journal :

The recent decision of the California Court of Appeal in the Rachel L. case set off a storm of protest from the California “home school” community and drew nationwide media attention. It was understood by many as holding that it is illegal for parents without teaching credentials to teach their own children at home, thus exposing the children and parents to truancy and child dependency proceedings. In the wake of the public response, the Court of Appeal granted rehearing and solicited an amicus brief from the California Department of Education (CDE) and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell. In the most recent edition of The Pocket Part , CDE General Counsel Michael E. Hersher argues that home-schooled children should not be declared truant if, in the opinion of local public school officials, the parents are providing an adequate education in compliance with the laws governing private schools.

Note: The two previous pieces published in The Yale Law Journal Pocket Part this summer are Agency Preemption Inputs in Riegel v. Medtronic by Christen Linke Young and Prisoners of Their Own War: Can Policymakers Look Beyond the “War on Drugs” to Drug Treatment Courts? by Jennifer Broxmeyer, both accessible from The Pocket Part homepage.

The case began when Palmer wore black jeans, a black jacket and a black T-shirt to school on Sept. 21, 2007, and was asked by Assistant Principal Brenda Johnson to change because his attire was prohibited by the dress code, according to the lawsuit. His father brought him the Edwards T-shirt to wear instead, though both he and his son knew it broke a recently adopted rule that barred students from expressing messages that did not concern colleges, universities, or the school district’s “clubs, organizations, sports, or spirit.”

Johnson told Palmer his shirt promoted a political candidate and thus was unacceptable. Officials offered him the options of remaining in in-school suspension for the day, leaving school or changing into acceptable clothing. He changed and returned to class, and then he and his parents unsuccessfully sought to appeal the administrators’ order to the school board before filing a lawsuit.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas dismissed the Palmers’ first request for an injunction after the school district said its policy of prohibiting students from expressing political messages on T-shirts did not apply to polo shirts and said it would not prohibit Palmer from wearing a politically emblazoned polo for the remainder of the year. The court ordered the district to distribute a clarified dress code, and told Palmer to submit a list of specific logo items he wanted to wear.

But on May 19, the school district changed its policy. The new rules require that “student clothing be free of any slogans, words, or symbols” except those that “promote the school district and its instructional programs” and are “campus principal-approved.” All other T-shirts and polos can only bear manufacturer’s logos 2-by-2 inches or smaller.

After the new dress code was adopted, court documents say Palmer requested to wear three different political shirts to school, including the original Edwards T-shirt. Citing the new restrictions on slogans, words or symbols, the school denied the request.

When the district officials prohibited Palmer from expressing his support for John Edwards, they “not only violated the First Amendment, but also struck at the very heart of what the First Amendment was designed to protect — core political speech,” Palmer’s second motion for an injunction says.

District officials did not return calls from the Student Press Law Center requesting comment on Monday. A press release posted by the district when the initial lawsuit was filed stated the dress code requiring solid colored T-shirts and collared shirts “enhances discipline and reduces distractions to the learning environment.”

In Palmer’s case, though, his attorney Hiram Sasser of the Liberty Legal Institute said the administrators are repressing purely political speech protected under Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. In Tinker, the Supreme Court ruled that school officials may not punish or prohibit students’ speech unless they can clearly demonstrate that it will result in a material disruption of normal school activities or invade the rights of others.

Because the school district has “effectively admitted that its prohibition of Pete’s speech cannot pass the Tinker test, this case presents a textbook example of a First Amendment violation,” Palmer’s new motion contends.

Sasser said the school district is arguing Palmer’s speech falls under the standard established in a 1968 Supreme Court case, United States. v. O’Brien, in which the Court ruled that expressive conduct could be censored if the restrictions advance a substantial government interest and are unrelated to the suppression of free expression.

But Sasser argued that O’Brien has no place in student speech law, citing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s concurring opinion in Morse v. Frederick, popularly known as the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case.

The Court declared that a high school student’s banner was not protected by the First Amendment because it could reasonably be read to promote illegal drug use. Yet Alito wrote in a concurrence joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy that the majority opinion “provides no support for any restriction of speech that can plausibly be interpreted as commenting on any political or social issue[.]“

Said Sasser, “Our argument is what Alito said in Morse.”

A court case would be quite interesting if it visits the two broader issue potentially at stake: the appropriate place of religious expression of students in public schools and the balance between students’ individual rights and the need for schools to ensure an ordered environment for education. Two previous Supreme Court cases come to mind that somewhat address both of these issues respectively: West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette and Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District.

West Virginia (1943) is one of the so-called “Jehovah’s Witnesses Cases” from the 1930s and 1940s that helped to define more clearly which rights the First Amendment protects. This case was brought by Jehovah’s Witnesses who objected to the compulsory pledge of allegiance recitation in public schools. The Supreme Court agreed with the plaintiffs, stating that forcing public school students to recite the pledge of allegiance violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

Probably more on point, Tinker (1969) dealt with public school students who were suspended for wearing black armbands with the peace sign on them to school in protest of the ongoing Vietnam War. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students, stating that the school could not punish the students for wearing the armbands without evidence that this action was required to ensure order in the school.

Does this particular rule of restricting the length of boys’ hair pass the “Tinker Test?” That will (potentially) be for the courts to decide.

The most recent Huston Chronicle article:

The school board of this rural Fort Bend County school district denied a request to let a 5-year-old boy with long hair attend kindergarten this fall.

The parents of Adriel Arocha want the boy to wear his hair long for religious reasons, but his shoulder-length locks are in conflict with the district’s hair code.

The board voted unanimously to uphold an earlier decision made by district administrators who said the child must cut his hair if he wants to attend school in Needville.

The parents of the child, Michelle Betenbaugh and Kenney Arocha, decided to appeal that ruling to the board, which heard the case Wednesday night.

Betenbaugh told the school board that Native American religions have no books or Bibles to consult but said the practice of boys and men not cutting their hair is well-known.

Kenney Arocha said he was proud of his heritage and asking him to cut his son’s hair would be like asking him to give up his constitutional rights.

“Which rights would you take next?” he said.

But Needville Superintendent Curtis Rhodes said the child is not actually a student in the district, and it was premature to present the issue to the school board Wednesday night.

Nevertheless, Rhodes urged the board to deny the parents’ appeal of the administration’s earlier decision.

The family owns land in Needville and is in the process of moving to the city. They plan to register the child at the elementary school.

The attorney for the boy and his parents, Hal Hale, said he will discuss the matter with his clients before deciding what legal action to take. Hale said he might seek a temporary injunction asking a judge to force the district to let the child attend school. Or, Hale said, legal action might be delayed until the child actually enrolls in the district and tries to attend class with long hair.

Needville has strict rules about long hair on boys.

Betenbaugh is in the process of moving from Meadows Place to Needville and told school officials in May she planned to register her son for kindergarten and that he had long hair.

According to legal experts, courts have repeatedly backed educators in numerous lawsuits brought by students and parents regarding dress codes. But the same courts have granted students and parents some rights when it comes to hairstyles tied to religion.

Legal rulings regarding challenges to hair codes on religious grounds give school districts the ability to grant exceptions.

Betenbaugh said she has consulted lawyers about the issue and plans to take the matter to court.

This case seems somewhat reminiscent to the relatively recent cases of Morse v. Frederick and Doninger v. Niehoff. Although these cases dealt with free speech issues in school while Khan’s case dealt with a students’ right to due process, they all beg the important question of how to appropriately balance the school’s right and duty to educate its students and maintain order while still protecting students’ educational and constitutional rights. Both Morse and Doninger allowed schools to restrict student speech in extenuating circumstances. In Morse, the Supreme Court ruled that schools have the authority to censor student speech that advocates the use of illegal drugs. Doninger saw the 2nd Circuit Court rule that schools can punish students for posting web blogs that create “a forseeable risk of substantial disruption” at the school.

A Houston federal judge this afternoon upheld the Fort Bend school district’s decision to bar George Bush High School’s valedictorian from commencement on Saturday.

Khurrum Khan asked U.S. District Judge David Hittner on Wednesday to overrule the school district’s ban on his participation in graduation ceremonies, which included making a valedictory speech.

The class salutatorian is scheduled to speak instead.

Khan was barred from commencement by Fort Bend Independent School District officials as they investigated a breach in the computer systems at Hightower and Elkins high schools.

In a 13-page decision, Hittner ruled that Texas students have a legitimate expectation of receiving a diploma only after successfully completing required courses and that Khan “will not suffer irreparable injury” if precluded from graduation itself.

Hittner also recognized the district’s need to “enforce rules and maintain order and autonomy.”

”The court finds Khan’s reputation, community standing and credibility will not suffer irreparable harm if Khan cannot attend or participate in graduation,” the judge wrote.

Craig Washington said the Khan family was “extremely disappointed,” but grateful for the process.

“Everything came to a stop so that one little young man could have his day in court,” the lawyer said. “Even though we lost in a technical sense, I read the judge’s order as vindicating him.”

Washington said he considers the decision sympathetic because it does not depict Khan as a bad kid or a criminal.

“It tells him in writing from a federal judge that no one looks down on him, he doesn’t lose his standing in the community and his dignity is intact and he’s still the same person that he was and the presumption of innocence and all that stuff.”

The school district’s attorney, Carolyn Hanahan, said the district recognizes that Khan has worked hard and has been very successful academically.

“He will retain the academic distinction of being first in his class,” Hanahan said. “However, as a result of his own actions, and as the federal judge recognized, he will not enjoy the honor of participating in the graduation ceremony. We hope all students and parents understand and respect the judge’s decision.

Khan, 18, faces a felony charge for his role in what district officials describe as a larger scheme involving missing computers at Bush and alleged hacking at Hightower High School.

Students at three high schools broke into the computer system to change grades, officials said. Khan was punished with a three-day suspension.

In addition, the valedictorian and two other Bush students face felony theft charges on allegations that they stole three computers and three monitors from their Richmond school.

Khan and his family were told at least a month ago that the district planned to exclude him from commencement.

During an emergency hearing Thursday, school district lawyer Jonathan Brush said Khan retains his academic honor of valedictorian, but will not be allowed to represent the district in the graduation ceremony.

District officials made the decision because Khan now attends an alternative school and is the subject of school discipline and criminal charges, Brush said.

Washington said his client is being punished for unfounded allegations.

The district’s ban compromised Khan’s constitutional right to due process, Washington argued, because the teen has neither had his day in court on the criminal charge nor exhausted his appeals of the school’s punishment.

Hittner wrote, however, that the district afforded Khan “sufficient minimal due process.”

The teen’s parents met on Monday with Assistant Superintendent Michael McKie, who on Tuesday refused to reverse the district’s position.

Source: George, Cindy. Houston Judge Bars Valedictorian From Commencement. Houston Chronicle. June 6, 2008.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5823149.html

There are big, long-term health payoffs in mental and physical well-being when foster-care services to children are enhanced, a new study suggests.

Kids generally go into foster care as a last resort: when maltreatment or neglect at home is extreme and unremitting. Such abuse can have long-term consequences on the mental and physical health of children as they grow up.

A new study, published in the latest edition of the Archives of General Psychiatry, looked at whether more enriched and supportive foster care can help mitigate some of the long-term problems foster kids face.

The study compared two groups of adults from Oregon and Washington state who, as teenagers, had been placed in foster care because of abuse at home.

The social and economic backgrounds of the two groups were similar, but one group had been placed in the states’ public foster-care systems. The other group had been put in a private foster-care program — which had more services for children and their foster parents.

The extra services included mental health screening, tutoring, summer camps and job training for kids, as well as increased financial assistance and parenting training for foster parents.

Ronald Kessler, a research sociologist from Harvard University, compared the two groups as adults. Of the 479 people who took part in the study, he found that those who had been given the enhanced foster care had dramatically fewer medical problems, such as heart disease, hypertension, ulcers and diabetes. They also had much lower rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse.

Extra foster-care services cost more — about 60 percent more money than the typical state-run foster care program — but Kessler says the benefits outweigh the cost.

“The outcomes are more than 60 percent better because you really get a dramatic, dramatic increase in the quality of the outcomes for the kids in the model program,” he says.

The next step, he adds, is to figure out which foster-care kids benefit the most from expanded foster-care services. Kessler and his team are conducting that research now.

Emory University research psychiatrist Charles Nemeroff agrees. He suggests that the target group for a study should be children who have experienced the trauma of parental abuse and inherited a genetic vulnerability to depression or anxiety.

This group would be the most likely to suffer lasting health problems as adults and the most likely to benefit from an expanded, encompassing foster-care program.

Trudeau, Michelle. “Children Grow Up Healthier in Enriched Foster Care” (June 6, 2008). National Public Radio.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91247186&ft=1&f=1003