A Teacher's Right to a Private Life

Community Control or Professional Autonomy

Professor Todd A. DeMitchell, Dr Richard Fossey

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Hardback

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English

Bloomsbury Academic
11 December 2025

Ethics & moral philosophy; Philosophy & theory of education; Teaching staff

Do American professional public school teachers have the same rights to a private life as other citizens? This is an astute and incisive analysis of every teacher’s dual life – as responsible exemplars to society’s youth and as their own professional and private selves. Using historical and legal analysis to capture the tension between these two guises, it explores the balance between the weight of expectation from teachers’ communities on one hand and the need for autonomy in professional environments on the other.

A Teacher’s Private Life explores some of the core questions that surround this debate: what kind of out-of-school behaviour should constitute dismissal, and what should be protected? To what extent should teachers serve as role models adhering to the values of the community in which they work? How does the special position of trust and responsibility enjoyed by teachers weigh up against their liberty to fashion a life for themselves? Should their private lives be subject to greater scrutiny than those in other professions? This is an enlightening guide for education and legal scholars, local and state level policymakers, community leaders on how the legal framework around these core issues has emerged and evolved over time.

By: Professor Todd A. DeMitchell, Dr Richard Fossey
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
ISBN: 9781350533486
ISBN 10: 1350533483
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 11 December 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

1. Introduction: The Private Lives of American Teachers. Exemplar and Nexus 2. The Emergence of America’s Common School and the Enduring Tension Between the Profession and the Community 3. Who Decides Who Will Teach Our Children? Community Control v. Professional Autonomy 4. The Professional Teacher 5. Teacher as a Mandatory Role Model: Community Control 6. Morrison and the Rise of Professional Autonomy: Finding a Nexus 7. Current Challenges of Out of School Conduct 8. Exemplar and Nexus: The Continuing Tension of Who Shall Teach Our Children? Appendix A Rules for Teachers in Three Eras Appendix B Efficiency Reports on Teachers from 1923 to 1928 Appendix C Table of Court Cases Index

Todd A. DeMitchell is Professor Emeritus of Education Law & Labor at the University of New Hampshire, USA Richard Fossey is Professor Emeritus of Education Law & Policy, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA