FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 7, 2018
Contact: Amy Starnes
Public Information Director, State Bar of Texas
(800) 204-2222, ext. 1706, or (512) 427-1706
astarnes@texasbar.com
TYLA develops website to educate about laws affecting schools, young people
AUSTIN — The Texas Young Lawyers Association next month will launch Teach Safe. Learn Safe. Be Safe., a website designed to educate teachers, administrators, and parents about laws that address the most pressing issues in today’s schools.
Teach Safe. Learn Safe. Be Safe. is designed to be a resource where parents, teachers, and administrators can find accurate information about their potential legal rights as well as obligations. It will feature written content and video interviews on a range of topics including social media use, bullying, fighting, and sexual misconduct as well as legal FAQs and links to other law-related education projects.
The project spotlights interviews with educators as well as individuals who have affected some of the laws, such as Maurine Molak, the founder of David’s Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to ending cyberbullying. Molak’s 16-year-old son committed suicide in 2016 after months of harassment and cyberbullying by a group of students. His story sparked the passage of David’s Law, which requires all public schools in Texas to create anti-bullying policies and to notify parents when their children are being victimized or are the aggressors.
Teach Safe. Learn Safe. Be Safe. also will address common legal questions such as what parents can do if their children need special attention and whether teachers can legally require students to say the Pledge of Allegiance.
“It is important to TYLA and its leadership to provide a valuable resource for the community where they can get answers to common questions as well as become educated about significant issues facing young people today,” said TYLA President Baili Rhodes, who helped kick-start the project with TYLA’s Law Focused Education Committee.
The project is made possible by a $40,000 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation. Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $18 million in grants to law-related programs. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation’s largest charitably funded bar foundation.
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The State Bar of Texas is an administrative agency of the Supreme Court of Texas that provides educational programs for the legal profession and the public, administers the minimum continuing legal education program for attorneys, and manages the attorney discipline system. For more information, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @statebaroftexas, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/statebaroftexas, or visit texasbar.com.
Texas Young Lawyers Association (TYLA), known as the “public service arm” of the State Bar of Texas, works to facilitate the administration of justice, foster respect for the law, and advance the role of the legal profession in serving the public. For more information, visit tyla.org.