With its easily obtainable wealth of information, the Internet has proven to be both a boon and a challenge for today's public schools. Teachers can... download lesson plans and participate in online professional development courses; students can access new research and chat with other students around the world. But with technological innovation come legal pitfalls, where issues such as free expression, privacy, and copyright take on a whole new dimension. The Internet and the Law: What Educators Need to Know provides a clear and in-depth discussion of the key legal issues public schools face in using the Web, e-mail, and other computer technologies. As an educator and an attorney, Kathleen Conn brings a unique and informed perspective to this changing arena, succinctly identifying and examining major risks for schools and the specific case law that shapes these issues, including: * First Amendment protection for teachers and students, * Filtering and blocking technology for obscene material, * Use of students' personal information and education records, * Downloading and storing of copyrighted material, * Fair use, * Defamation in Internet communications, and * E-mail harassment. To help educators handle these issues, Conn offers sound advice in developing policies that comply with the law while safeguarding the school or district. As the use of technology in schools continues to evolve, teachers, administrators, and school staff must stay aware of the law that governs it. The Internet and the Law provides the solid legal grounding that every educator needs. Kathleen Conn is a K-12 curriculum supervisor in the West Chester Area School District in Pennsylvania. She received her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College and her J.D. from Widener University School of Law. Conn is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar.

California Rivers and Streams provides a clear and informative overview of the physical and biological processes that shape California's rivers and... watersheds. Jeffrey Mount introduces relevant basic principles of hydrology and geomorphology and applies them to an understanding of the differences in character of the state's many rivers. He then builds on this foundation by evaluating the impact on waterways of different land use practices--logging, mining, agriculture, flood control, urbanization, and water supply development.Water may be one of California's most valuable resources, but it is far from being one we control. In spite of channels, levees, lines and dams, the state's rivers still frequently flood, with devastating results. Almost all the rivers in California are dammed or diverted; with the booming population, there will be pressure for more intervention.Mount argues that Californians know little about how their rivers work and, more importantly, how and why land-use practices impact rivers. The forceful reconfiguration and redistribution of the rivers has already brought the state to a critical crossroads. California Rivers and Streams forces us to reevaluate our use of the state's rivers and offers a foundation for participating in the heated debates about their future.

California deserves an atlas that matches its varied culture and scenery and Benchmark s California Road & Recreation Atlas is it. Nearly 225,000... copies have been sold since its introduction in 1998...an impressive acceptance that has made this atlas one of the most successful California map products of the last decade. Now, the new 6th edition has improvements and refinements that will insure its continued success. Benchmark s Landscape MapsTM now show ground-cover detail at a very high-resolution. It s easy to see, at-a-glance, whether an area is forested, cultivated, marshland, desert, or scrubland. This feature is ideal for the person who wants to know the most about an area being visited beforehand. Along with the all-new Landscape Maps, Benchmark has extensively revised the 14-page Metro Map section. Of course, the atlas still has features people love; a complete Recreation Guide, page-to-page overlap and legendary accuracy, features that assure this atlas will continue winning accolades for many years to come.

Experience California as seen through the eyes of forty-one writers spanning two centuries, from early adventurers to contemporary poets. Edited by... Sunset magazine's Peter Fish, California's Best features fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including Tobias Wolff's short story Desert Breakdown, Joan Didion's essay Notes from a Native Daughter, and a selection from Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club. Excerpts from the works of Wallace Stegner, Jack London, John Muir, Mark Twain, and many others incorporate voices from the past. Contemporary writers include Robert Hass, Daniel Duane, Anne Lamott, and Tom McNeal. For more information, visit FarcountryPress.com.Features works by:Virginia Hamilton Adair Gertrude Atherton Mary Austin Herb Caen J. Smeaton Chase Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clapp Ina Coolbrith Richard H. Dana Joan Didion Harriet Doerr Daniel Duane Dana Gioia Mary Edith Griswold Ron Hansen Bret Harte Robert Hass Helen Hunt Jackson Robinson Jeffers Clarence King Anne Lamott Jack London William Lewis Manly Wilma McDaniel Tom McNeal Joaquin Miller Max Miller Walter Mosley John Muir Charles Nordhoff Frank Norris Jenny Price Gary Snyder Gary Soto Wallace Stegner John Steinbeck George Sterling Robert Louis Stevenson Amy Tan Mark Twain Judy Van der Veer Tobias Wolff

The first lavishly illustrated and easy-to-read layperson's guide to California's unique plants and diverse plant communities. Enjoy a wide range of... high quality drawings and beautiful color and black-and-white photographs of California's plants and landscapes. Learn the history of how California's vegetation has changed due to human activities over the past two centuries. Travel from seaside to the Eastern Sierra, observing the interaction of groups of plants species as they form communities. Discover how plants were used by native Californians in pre-European times. See three possible futures fo California's plant cover, including successful examples of plant restoration.

Now in its second edition, California School Law is the only comprehensive source discussing how federal and state law affects the day-to-day operation... of the state's traditional public, charter, and private schools. While the book is comprehensive, the authors have written it for a broad audience. California School Law has become a coveted desk-top reference for administrators, governing board members, school attorneys, union leaders, and policymakers. It also has been widely adopted as a classroom textbook in educational administration and education law classes. In commenting on the first edition, Michael Kirst, Stanford University Education Professor-Emeritus, noted that "The writing style is a blend of law and policy that is easy to follow." Other reviews that greeted the first edition are available on this website.The first chapter provides an explanation of the legal framework within which California schooling takes place and key players at the state, district, and school level. Ensuing chapters examine student attendance and truancy, curriculum law, employment law, teacher and student rights of expression, the school and religion, students with disabilities, student discipline, privacy and search and seizure, and legal liability in both state and federal court. Also included are chapters on unions and collective bargaining, educational finance issues, and racial and gender discrimination. Appendices provide a glossary of legal terminology, an explanation of how to find and read legislative enactments and judicial decisions, and a list of sources for accessing law. The book's table of contents is included on this website. Also included are links two sections from the second edition, one dealing with the discipline of students with disabilities and the other with student rights of expression.Law never stands still. To keep the book current, the authors will maintain a cumulative update for the second edition on this website.

Thorough and copiously illustrated, this pocket-sized reference highlights more than 140 species of seashore plants and animals found in California.... Laminated for durability, this useful guide is a great source of portable information and ideal for field use by novices and experts alike.

California State and Local Government: An Overview, Perspectives, & Politics offers a thorough introduction to California state, regional, and local... government. The book covers all core areas of government-the executive, legislative, and judicial branches-as well as California's historical development, political parties, campaigns and elections, state finances and budget process, collaborative partnerships, eminent domain, and many other topics. It is appropriate for courses at the college and advanced high school levels in political science, American government, and California state and local government, planning, and public administration.
A significant challenge in California is the state's ability to provide sustainable and livable communities as it continues to grow. Therefore, California State and Local Government discusses relevant issues such as blueprint planning, livable community strategies, and other topics, offering examples of each. The importance of regional, multi-government, and private-sector partnerships and collaboratives is also discussed.
California State and Local Government will enrich the government and politics classes of any California university, junior college, or high school.

California's Tax Machine is "an indispensable reference work on California's tax system and how it reached its current form," says Daniel Weintraub of... The Sacramento Bee. "David Doerr gives us not only the facts about the tax code, but also the political backstory that puts those facts into context," he adds. This informative and entertaining book includes chapters on Ronald Reagan's tax policies when he was governor of California, the events leading up to the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, the Arnold Schwarzenegger administration, and much more.

The California Supreme Court has adopted this style manual as the official guide for styling citations, making it a critical handbook for California... courts and court personnel. The first update since the 1986 edition, this publication is reorganized for ease of use. It reflects changes in recent years and covers the preferred methods for citing legal information taken from the Internet, CD-ROM, and online research services. It also provides clear, comprehensive direction on citing recently filed opinions and legislative history.

In 1949, lawyer, historian, and journalist Carey McWilliams stepped back to assess the state of California at the end of its first one hundred... years--its history, population, politics, agriculture, and social concerns. As he examined the reasons for the prodigious growth and productivity that have characterized California since the Gold Rush, he praised the vitality of the new citizens who had come from all over the world to populate the state in a very short time. But he also made clear how brutally the new Californians dealt with "the Indian problem," the water problem, and the need for migrant labor to facilitate California's massive and highly profitable agricultural industry. As we look back now on 150 years of statehood, it is particularly useful to place the events of the past fifty years in the context of McWilliams's assessment in California: The Great Exception. Lewis Lapham has written a new foreword for this edition.

CALIFORNIA: THE POLITICS OF DIVERSITY, Seventh Edition, explores the uniqueness and excitement of California's political environment through two key... themes: diversity and hyperpluralism. An experienced educator with a background in local government, the author brings an informed, insightful perspective to the examination of the numerous pressures that make governing the state increasingly challenging. To help readers better understand California politics in a national context, the book also discusses aspects of American politics such as the democratic, elite, and pluralist theories and shows how those concepts can aid in understanding California politics.