Abstract

While courts continue to grapple with traditional cases of educational rights and duties involving the “in loco parentis” doctrine, rapidly evolving technological challenges are threatening to blur traditional school law precedents in this area. The massive infusion of personal technology into the hands of students raises practical concerns for educators, as it does for their parents, in relation to improper use, content, and influence in the learning environment of the child. Because a student operating within the cyber world cannot necessarily be located in a traditional “space,” school officials, parents and courts are battling to determine the limits of the “in loco parentis” doctrine. Recent scholarship examining the intersection of “in loco parentis” and student use of information technologies has focused primarily on the challenges posed to higher education rather than secondary and elementary education. This paper outlines the historical interpretation of the “in loco parentis” doctrine, examines new challenges posed to the doctrine by the continuously increasing and widespread use of personal technology among secondary and elementary age students, and explores possibilities for the evolution of the doctrine in this information age.