Legal ABZ's time for the classroom

It’s back-to-school time and teachers can get their ABZ’s of school law to help them navigate the ever growing legal potholes in and out of the classroom.

“The ABZ’s of School Law For Teachers” was written to give back to the profession she “loves” so much, said author and Sandestin resident, Patricia McNames.

Teachers face up to 300 decisions a day and “95 percent of them could involve a legal issue,” McNames wrote in the opening chapter of the book.

Although it is not intended to give legal advice, the book attempts to outline key court decisions governing the education system from the hiring process, when teachers negotiate and sign contracts, to torts and a myriad of daily choices that have legal applications.

Laws vary from state to state, but laws protecting, regulating and governing students are often the same for teachers, MacNames said.

Teachers must deal with privacy and custody issues, censorship, and protected speech, sex education and in some cases even violence and for all the benefits technology has brought to the field of education, it too has opened the door to new and daunting challenges; even abuses.

 “I was asked by a teacher to look into cyber bullying while attending National Education Association Convention,” McNames said. “Teachers are backed into a corner, it’s new and they don’t know how to deal with it.” 

Social networks and cyber bullying are not the only abuses arising from emerging technologies.

 “I get so angry when I hear stories about schools spying on students through cameras on laptops,” McNames said in reference to the recent case filed in Pennsylvania.

These situations are why the creation of The Educational Leadership Academy, McNames’ new LLC, was a natural follow up to the book.

The company allows me to offer specialized assistance to a school, a district or an individual teacher, McNames said.

If the company was a natural progression of the book, the book was a natural progression of McNames’ 35 years of work in the education field.

“Teaching is a passion or a calling,” McNames said. “I give my whole heart to the school I am at.”

There were many memorable moments throughout her career, one being, when as a principal, she was asked to step in and take over a failing school in jeopardy of losing its funding. Today that school still holds on to an A-plus status.

“I told the students:  One, you are here to learn. Two, you will behave,” McNames said.

Programs like Daddy and Donuts and Pig Points were implemented to make learning fun and reward students.

“I kissed a pig and even rode through the school on a motorcycle,” McNames said.

Teachers are “leaders” and should treat students how they want them to behave, she said. 

“Model what you want the students to do,” McNames said. “If you ask a student to teach a class, they will stand up and imitate the teacher.”

This same premise could be applied to the community at large.

“Schools are a mirror of society,” McNames said. “What’s happening in the community shows up in schools from drugs to violence, all of it.” 

McNames acknowledged, “Teaching is tough,” but one-main idea should be followed for every decision made in a classroom.

“Always do what’s right for kids,” McNames said.

Her book is available at Sundog Books in Seaside or Bayou Books in Niceville or check it out at Coastal Branch Library in  Santa Rosa Beach.