Education Law Association Announces Annual Award Winners

DAYTON, Ohio, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Education Law Association (ELA) presented their 2008 Awards at their 54th Annual Conference. ELA recognizes the service and works of others that increase awareness to legal issues affecting today's education.

The Joseph C. Beckham Dissertation of the Year Award recognizes exemplary dissertations by doctoral students in the field of education law. This year's awardee is Howard J. Eberwein, III, Ed.D., Superintendent of the Pittsfield Public Schools, for his study entitled "Raising Legal Literacy in Public Schools, A Call For Principal Leadership: A National Study of Secondary School Principals' Knowledge of Public School Law." This national study's surprising results suggest that secondary principals lack basic knowledge of public school law, which directly impacts their faculty and students.

The Steven S. Goldberg Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Education Law is presented in recognition of an outstanding article, book, chapter, or other form of scholarly legal writing and recognizes a work of scholarly excellence impacting education law. This year's awardee is James E. Ryan, J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, for his article entitled "Standards, Testing, and School Finance Litigation," published in the Texas Law Review in 2008 (Vol. 86, Pg. 1223). It is a well-researched article combining the education finance issues of adequacy, equity, comparability, and the academic standards requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The George Jay Joseph Education Law Writing Award is designed to generate increased interest in and recognition of education law among graduate students in education schools and law students. The winning article will be published in the Journal of Law and Education 2009. This year's awardee is Kimberly Gee, University of San Diego Law School student and Lead Articles Editor of the San Diego Law Review, for her article entitled "Establishing a Constitutional Standard that Protects Public School Teacher Expression." This article addresses the circuit courts' struggle to establish a workable standard that protects legitimate classroom speech by teachers in K-12 schools, while permitting school boards to take action against those who engage in offensive behavior.

The M.A. McGhehey Award is presented to an individual ELA member for outstanding service and dedication to the Education Law Association. This year's awardee is Allan G. Osborne, Jr., 2003 President of the Education Law Association; former ELA Board Member for many years; former Principal of Snug Harbor Community School inQuincy, MA; and current editor of Education Law Into Practice (ELIP), a special section of West's Education Law Reporter, sponsored by the Education Law Association. Allan has worked relentlessly with ELA to gather and publish information on current education law issues for its constituency groups.

ELA, est. in 1954, is a national nonprofit member association located at the University of Dayton.

SOURCE Education Law Association

Copyright © 2009, PRNewswire
Copyright © 2009, NewsBlaze, Daily News

Tags: ,EDU,HED,POL,AWD,LAW,NPT,TDS,ELA-2008-award-winnrs

   _   _