Summer 2026
Volume 2, Issue 2
Six articles providing school leaders with essential, defensible strategies for navigating the complexities of special education parental rights, public school pronoun accommodations, library book challenges, federal violence prevention mandates, and our feature section covering the rapidly evolving landscape of classroom Ten Commandments displays!
Table of Contents
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Cover Story
Must the Ten Commandments be Posted in Public Schools? Should The Be?
Tracing the immediate fallout of the Fifth Circuit's en banc ruling in Roake v. Brumley, this article examines the controversial implementation of Louisiana's mandatory classroom Ten Commandments displays while detailing defensive strategies for schools to incorporate broader historical materials.
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Cover Story
Just a Poster on the Wall? Maybe the Rules Weren’t Written in Stone After All
Evaluating the rapid judicial shifts culminating in Nathan v. Alamo Heights, this analytical piece charts the collapse of the decades-old Lemon framework in favor of a "history and tradition" approach while offering school leaders technical compliance and staff training strategies for mandatory classroom posters.
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Law & Policy Spotlight
Who is a "Parent" Under the IDEA: How courts decide who can exercise parental rights...and why it matters for schools.
Navigating the statutory gaps of the IDEA, this article examines how federal courts resolve disputes over who can legally exercise parental rights while offering school officials practical guidance for determining the responsible adult in complex student living situations.
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Case Brief
Legal Brief: Polk v. Montgomery County Public Schools
Analyzing the Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Polk v. MCPS, this legal brief details the constitutional limits of employee speech and religious exercise regarding classroom pronoun usage while highlighting the unresolved employment accommodation standards remaining under Title VII.
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Commentary
When Pages Turn Political: Book Challenges in Schools
Grounding its analysis in the enduring legacy of Board of Education v. Pico, this commentary explores the intersection of student First Amendment rights and library curation while providing school leaders with structured, policy-driven strategies to navigate local book challenges.
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Law & Policy Spotlight
A Second Look at Violence Prevention: Obligations for K-12 Schools Under the Every Student Succeeds Act
Examining the compliance frameworks of the Every Student Succeeds Act, this article unpacks a school district's legal obligation to continuously evaluate and revise its health curriculum while presenting successful multi-state benchmarks for frequent K-12 violence prevention education.
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