Friday Snippets - 10/3/08 - Officially a Resident of the Bluegrass

A quick edition this week. Spent today getting my Kentucky driver's license (which was surprisingly easy) and writing. Lots and lots of writing lately. I am realizing that more and more the professional career choice I made was ... author ... as I do more writing than just about anything else. 

First, an update on the ed. law academic job market. Well, its not looking good so far. I added another position to my list this week, but still it is a little bleak. The real missing players are the large state schools. Maybe they will be coming on the market soon. I will keep my eye on it, but so far the academic market just looks to be depressed generally this year. Speaking with my colleagues around the country, many of them reported to me that their universities are just not in a position to fill openings. Could have something to do with this. 

Someone needs to write a history of the Utah school vouchers fight. There is just too much juicy stuff not to. 

Making a "Blue" political statement in school? 

Been hearing way to much about sex ed and Alaska lately. 

Arizona considers affirmative action in law schools. 

Texas scientists say don't water down evolution in the state science curriculum. As I told my students last night ... the fight for Intelligent Design may be nearly over, but the fight against evolution generally is as strong as ever.

As Maryland shows, certification of all child care workers is on the horizon.

The nationwide crackdown on teacher sexual misconduct laws hits California this week.

Normally, I don't touch much higher ed., but the firings at the University of Iowa are really causing a stir.

Wiretapping buses? Maybe in Pennsylvania. Frankly, this Arkansas turning buses into virtual classrooms idea makes a LOT more sense. If we are going to be wiring up buses, let's do it with something that actually helps kids. 

    

Around the ed. law blogosphere:

Mark W. has the Supreme Court's education law cases roundup so far for this term. That kind of effort is very helpful to folks like me, so thanks Mark. Mitchell R. points us to where NSBA is tracking the possible ed. law supreme court cases here.   

Charles Fox has info on the ADA Amendments that became law this week. 

Howard F. has a school's "folding Jesus under" being approved.  

Erin B. has the Indiana transgender prom dress case surviving dismissal motions. This is an interesting little case and I am glad Erin is keeping an eye on it.    

Mark Ames at the Principal's Policy Blog has some good posts on recent federal activity worth reading.

Jim Gerl continues in his quest to get the candidates to answer special education questions. Me? I'm giving up. Its getting too close to the election for the candidates to be responding to inquiries like this now. My tact was to specifically target Obama and McCain education surrogates and try to get a response from them. But, even they are apparently instructed to stay away from special education law. This whole quest by Jim and I is sort of a sad story on the place of special education in this county. It takes one of the candidates to actually have a disabled child for anyone to actually pay attention to it and even then, they don't come up with policies or really even talking points. Very revealing (and disappointing).   

And finally, I recommend this post at my sister blog Dangerously Irrelevant on the legal accessibility of public information ... in an information age. 

For your Friday Fun: I registered to vote today, in some part aided by this video and the upcoming deadlines (not that I am easily convinced by celebrities).

Google Doc. Link: Friday Snippets - 10/3/08