Over the last thirty-five years, conceptions of legal fairness have become the norm in public schools as they have in other aspects of American life. But is legal fairness in schools really fair? By definition, legal fairness does not look past compliance to the effects of a policy on the person or group supposedly protected or to the effects on other school constituents. The forum will examine how public school rules and procedures, intended to create fairness, work in practice.

The first panel will address the fairness of current rules on teacher accountability and staffing, the broader fairness of the rights prescribed for special education and the fairness of public school discipline rules. Panelists will also consider the fairness of the (often very different) way these issues are handled in independent schools. The second panel will focus in-depth on school discipline. Panelists will address the current state of discipline in public schools, what kind of change is needed, and possible proposals for change.