Students’ Free Speech Rights in U.S. Primary and Secondary Schools

Students’ Free Speech Rights in U.S. Primary and Secondary Schools

Under the U.S. Constitution, students have free speech rights.  These rights, however, are limited in the school setting.  Professor Stefkovich has written and conducted research on this topic for many years.   She will discuss free speech issues such as student protests, school uniforms (which are not required in most US schools) and student dress codes (which includes jewelry and hair styles), school newspapers, cyberbullying, and use of cell phones in schools.  After a brief presentation, the speaker will open this session to questions and reactions from participants.  She is very in interested learning about these rights in Croatian schools.  

Jacqueline A. Stefkovich is a Fulbright Scholar in Croatia and professor Emeritus in Educational Leadership at The Pennsylvania State University in the United States.  She holds a doctoral degree in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Professor Stefkovich has worked in educational settings for over forty years. She began her career as a kindergarten teacher in Catholic schools, a guidance counselor in two public schools in the U.S., and later as a state-level administrator, and an educational consultant.  At Penn State, she served as a professor and earlier as an Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, Research, and Faculty Development and Head of the Department of Education Policy Studies.  She is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia.
Dr. Stefkovich’s research interests focus on students’ constitutional rights and on issues of ethics related to students’ rights and school leadership.  She has authored or co-authored one monograph and four books:  Search and Seizure in the Public Schools (4^th ed.) (Education Law   Association, 2014) and The Law and Education: Cases and Materials (2^nd ed.) (Carolina Press, 2015) both with Lawrence Rossow and Ethics for School Business Officials (Scarecrow Press, 2005) with William Hartman.  Her most widely-read book, adopted by some 80 colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad, and now in its 4th edition, is Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education: Applying Theoretical Perspectives to Complex Dilemmas (with Joan Shapiro). Her sole-authored book is The Best Interests of the Student: Applying Ethical Constructs to Legal Cases (2^nd ed.) (Routledge, 2014). 
Dr. Stefkovich has conducted research and/or presented papers at international conferences in Australia, Canada, Colombia, South Africa, and New Zealand as well as in the U.S.  She has taught graduate courses in Tokyo Japan and was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Australian Catholic University in the summer of 2016.   She has published over sixty book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles.  Her most recent and on-going research focuses on legal and ethical aspects of school discipline and students’ rights from an international perspective.