Legal expert Bob Kim thoughtfully outlines 10 major Supreme Court cases that have shaped our rights and responsibilities in public schools. Talking about the Supreme Court can be alienating and dense, but Kim skillfully articulates each case with the talent of an expert teacher. He refuses to talk about cases in the legal abstract. Instead, he illustrates how real humans with lives, aspirations, and dreams are at the heart of each major case. He also explicitly details how students and educators’ lives, aspirations, and dreams are hindered or nurtured by the 10 cases. The Supreme Court has taken up more space in the public imagination recently and will probably continue to do so. Teachers should know how the Court’s decisions impact our schools. Bob Kim has provided us an excellent summary for 10 foundational cases.
Henry “Cody” Miller is an associate professor of English education at SUNY Brockport. He joined Brockport and moved to Rochester in fall 2019. He taught public high school English for seven years in Florida prior to moving to New York. Cody began attending and presenting at NYSEC in October 2022. His work has been published in English Record and the NYSEC blog. He previously served as NCTE’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee. He is the current editor of the English Leadership Quarterly, the journal of the Conference on English Leadership. His teaching and research focus on young adult literature, graphic novels, supporting LGBTQ students, and activism against book bans.