by Don Rainwater

Created on: July 07, 2008

Rules and policy in education is as important as the rules and laws the govern society. The educational environment must be a safe and secure environment that harnesses the power of the student and gives them every opportunity possible to achieve. School administrators maintain and regulate student conduct within the school and the rules that apply are set so with the student and the educational community in mind (Essex, 2005). Students have rights in society and the rules that are applied to students should be done so with the rights in mind. The courts system and procedural due process are the balance that keeps school administrations within the concepts of the laws and help them establish boundaries in the protection of educator's and student's rights.

Procedural due process deals with how a law is moral or honorable. The process finds its roots of fairness in the constitution and is found just through the concept of legitimacy and is balanced with the ideas of the interpretation of the phrase. Substantive due process on the other hand deals more with the why of the law instead of the legitimacy of the law. It is more external and is more subjext to speculation of the source of fairness beyond the constitution. Looking at the concepts of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, substantive due process deals with whether though the law is just, does it oppose on the rights of those in which it has power over. Both concepts are intermingled but can stand up in court as a single entity.

Procedural due process in the world of education can take on many issues in regards to the rights and the responsibilities to those in which the law was intended. All stakeholders in the educational system have the responsibility to follow and respect the laws governing the school or district and those same stake holders have protection from that same law. School discipline is seen as the most evident problem in school systems that deal with procedural law (Bloomfield, 2008). Bloomfield cites Sandal (1996) by arguing that procedural law is marked by its neutrality of its citizens where fair procedure over justifies the end of the procedure. Calling the United States, a Procedural Nation, Sandal (1996) contends that in American society it is more important to have ones day in court to cover their gripes, than the actual outcome of the court in the first place.

Bloomfield, D. (2008). Rethinking student discipline. The School Administrator Retrieved June 23, 2008 from EbscoHost database.

Essex, N.L., (2005). School law and the public schools: A practical guide for educational
leaders, 3rd edition. Pearson Education: Allyn & Bacon.

Stevens, M. (2008) Due process of law: Procedural and substantive issues. Retrieved on June 23, 2008 from http://faculty.ncwc.edu/mstevens/410/410lect06.htm

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