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85-536: The Katy Independent School District ( KISD ) is a public school district based in Katy, Texas , United States with an enrollment of over 85,700 students. In 2022, the district was given a grade of "A" by the Texas Education Agency . The district serves 181 square miles (469 km) in parts of Harris County , Fort Bend County and Waller County . Most of the district lies within the boundaries of

170-478: A naturopath in Arizona named Colleen Huber filed a defamation lawsuit, preceded by two cease and desist letters, against Britt Marie Hermes , a naturopathy whistleblower. The lawsuit was filed for Hermes' blog post criticizing Huber for using naturopathic remedies to treat cancer and speculating that Hermes' name was being used without her permission in several registered domain names owned by Huber. The lawsuit

255-501: A "FReadom Week" initiative, including Maus by Art Spiegelman and Beloved by Toni Morrison . In response to the distribution of hundreds of books, the district initiated an internal review of Maus. Students and parents spoke against banning Maus during the public forum segment of the March 2022 board meeting, and the district announced its decision later that week to keep the book in middle school libraries. The ACLU of Texas delivered

340-481: A "board of trustees," "board of education," "school committee," etc.. This body usually appoints or hires an experienced public school administrator to function as the district's superintendent of schools – a district's chief executive . The superintendent oversees daily operations, decisions and implements the policies of the board. The school board may also exercise a quasi-judicial function in serious employee or student discipline matters. School districts in

425-418: A "thug". Prior to the incidents' surfacing, Hindt was noted to have taken very public stance against bullying. At around the same time, a man named Sean Dolan ran Hindt's dissertation through a software, and discovered that it matched with another paper, leading to accusations of plagiarism. The University of Houston administration stated that it would investigate the matter. After an 18-month investigation,

510-486: A 2022 post exposing misappropriation of funds from the Village Fund program. A 2021 libel action brought against the publisher HarperCollins and the author and journalist Catherine Belton over the latter's book Putin's People was described by former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis as a SLAPP. Despite winning the legal case brought by several Russian oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich , Belton

595-576: A book review committee in March, and the police concurred. At the August 2022 board meeting, the board discussed the first read of a proposed EF local policy update. Ten students from the Cinco Ranch High School Gay-Straight Alliance, led by student Logan McLean, spoke in support of adding students to the reconsideration committees for instructional materials. The policy was passed at the next meeting without

680-626: A certain degree comparable to a school district. Other arrangements are possible: certain types of special schools in North Rhine-Westphalia are run by the Landschaftsverbände . There also exist private schools , mostly funded by the States, but run by private entities like churches or foundations. In Italy , school districts were established in 1974 by the " Provvedimenti Delegati sulla scuola " ("Assigned Laws [to

765-568: A decline in property tax revenues during and after the Great Recession . By 2016 there were about 13,000 school districts, and the average student population was about 5,000. Although these terms can vary slightly between various states and regions, these are typical definitions for school district constitution: These terms may not appear in a district's name, even though the condition may apply. In England and Wales , school boards were established in 1870, and abolished in 1902, with

850-411: A decrease of 38,127 or 35%. Many states had passed laws facilitating school district consolidation. In 1951 the majority of the school districts in existence were rural school districts only providing elementary education, and some school districts did not operate schools but instead provided transportation to other schools. The Midwest had a large number of rural school districts. Previously areas of

935-451: A defendant to file a motion to strike or dismiss on the grounds that the case involves protected speech on a matter of public concern. The plaintiff then bears the burden of showing a probability that they will prevail. If the plaintiffs fail to meet the burden, their claim is dismissed and the plaintiffs may be required to pay a penalty for bringing the case. They vary widely by jurisdiction. Anti-SLAPP laws are generally considered to have

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1020-407: A favorable effect, and many lawyers have fought to enact stronger laws protecting against SLAPPs. SLAPP is a form of strategic litigation or impact litigation that do not have true legal claims but are focused on deterring a message that they do not like. A common feature of SLAPPs is forum shopping , wherein plaintiffs find courts that are more favourable towards the claims to be brought than

1105-463: A fund to help with legal costs on the case. In an interview at CSICon 2019, Britt Hermes told Susan Gerbic that she had won her case on 24 May 2019. According to Britt Hermes, "the court ruled that my post is protected speech under Article 5 (1) of the German constitution". In 2022, in the wake of revelations that Greece's National Intelligence Service (Greece) was spying on the leader of PASOK ,

1190-401: A grant of authority and within geographic limits created by state law. The executive and legislative power over locally-controlled policies and operations of an independent school district are, in most cases, held by a school district's board of education. Depending on state law, members of a local board of education (often referred to informally as a school board ) may be elected, appointed by

1275-427: A law firm for possible defamation lawsuits was also criticized as possibly an act of bullying in and of itself by the district against its critics, or even an attempt by a taxpayer-funded entity to silence those who were thinking about criticizing a public official . In October 2021, author Jerry Craft was scheduled to speak to fourth and fifth graders about his graphic novels New Kid and Class Act . Parents in

1360-711: A letter to school board members and the superintendent in April 2022 claiming that the district's book removals violated the First Amendment , the Texas Constitution , and the district's own policies. After a district parent filed a criminal complaint against Mike Curato 's Flamer in the Jordan High School library, district police temporarily removed the book for an investigation. The book had already been deemed appropriate for high schools by

1445-641: A minority of secondary schools , a few primary schools, and much further education . (Most schools are neither organized geographically nor publicly managed, although the Department of Education inspects and funds them and pays teachers' salaries.) Each ETB area comprises one or more local authority areas , with city or county councilors forming the bulk of the ETB board. The ETBs was formed in 2005 by amalgamating Vocational Education Committees established in 1930, also based on local government areas. In Hong Kong ,

1530-726: A number of jurisdictions have made such suits illegal, however the conditions that a defendant must satisfy for a dismissal of the suit vary from state to state. In some states, such as California, defendants may be entitled to counter-sue SLAPP plaintiffs under some circumstances. This is commonly referred to as SLAPPback . In the Australian Capital Territory , the Protection of Public Participation Act 2008 (ACT) protects conduct intended to influence public opinion or promote or further action in relation to an issue of public interest. A party starting or maintaining

1615-407: A political office holder, serve ex officio , or a combination of any of these. An independent school district is a legally separate body corporate and political . Most school districts operate as independent local governmental units with exclusive authority over K–12 public educational operations and policies. The extent of their control is set by state-level law. Litigation against school districts

1700-843: A proceeding against a defendant for an improper purpose may be ordered to pay a financial penalty to the territory. Canada's three most populous provinces (Quebec, British Columbia, and Ontario) have enacted anti-SLAPP legislation. Since the repeal, BC activists especially the BCCLA have argued repeatedly for a broad understanding of SLAPP and a broad interpretation of judicial powers especially in intervener applications in BC and other common law jurisdictions and when arguing for new legislation to prevent SLAPPs. The activist literature contains extensive research on particular cases and criteria. The West Coast Environmental Law organization agrees and generally considers BC to lag other jurisdictions. In March 2019,

1785-606: A public forum segment of the meeting to claim the district was blocking student internet access to the Trevor Project and other websites supporting the LGBTQ+ community. Students, including Samuels, started a petition soon after that garnered almost two thousand signatures within a few months and drew national attention to the district. The district defended blocking access to the Trevor Project by claiming it violated

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1870-706: A relatively short timeframe, if the underlying claims had no reasonable prospect of success. The bill enjoyed support from a wide range of groups including municipalities, the Canadian Environmental Law Association , EcoJustice, Environmental Defence , Ontario Clean Air Alliance, Ontario Nature , Canadian Civil Liberties Association , Canadian Journalists for Free Expression , Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, The Council of Canadians , CPAWS Wildlands League, Sierra Club Ontario, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario and Greenpeace Canada. The legislation

1955-555: A report on books disappearing in record numbers from Texas schools, especially those in Katy ISD. The district's superintendent, Dr. Kenneth Gregorski, sent a parent communication to clarify the district's policy regarding removing books from schools, which includes various methods for parent input. The Houston Chronicle reported in February 2022 that Samuels and other students planned to distribute challenged books to students during

2040-455: A school system that is separate but similar to a town's or a county's powers. These include the power to enter contacts, use eminent domain , and to issue binding rules and regulations affecting school policies and operations. The power of school districts to tax and spend is generally more limited. For example, many school districts in New York state require a majority of voters living in

2125-710: A single school district." Noting that most modern school districts were formed by consolidating one-room school districts in the first seven decades of the 20th century, Fischel argues that "outside the South, these consolidations were consented to by local voters" who "preferred districts whose boundaries conformed to their everyday interactions rather than formal units of government" and that "[t]he South ended up with county-based school districts because segregation imposed diseconomies of scale on district operations and required larger land-area districts." In New York , most school districts are separate governmental units with

2210-505: Is SLAPP?" RSF expressed its support to the journalist and was relieved on the abandonment of the suit. On 17 May 2018, a non-profit project rettspraksis.no challenged a perceived monopoly on the publication of pre-2009 Supreme Court of Norway decisions by publishing a large back catalogue of historical decisions. To prevent publication, the government-established Lovdata foundation demanded an immediate injunction against two project volunteers, Håkon Wium Lie and Fredrik Ljone , that

2295-435: Is accepted on such minor points of law. In some instances it is clear that plaintiffs are attempting to drain defendants of their financial resources by making the lawsuit as costly as possible, and in these cases the plaintiff's motive may not be legal victory, but merely to waste the defendant's time and money. When SLAPPs involve copyright law , they can be considered as a type of censorship by copyright . The acronym

2380-427: Is common and some law firms specialize in education law. Districts typically maintain professional liability insurance in order to pay its settlements and legal liabilities. As of 2023 in most U.S. states, public school districts may lay taxes to fund their operations. In others, such as Maine , some school districts are able to lay taxes and others are not. Independent school districts often exercise authority over

2465-788: The Children's Internet Protection Act with its chat features. In December 2021 and January 2022, following formal complaints by Samuels, the district unblocked the websites of four organizations supporting the LGBTQ+ community: the Montrose Center , the Human Rights Campaign , PFLAG , and GLSEN . The filter was eventually brought down after a complaint and letter delivered by the ACLU of Texas on behalf of Samuels. In February 2022, NBC senior investigative reporter Mike Hixenbaugh and NBC correspondent Antonia Hylton published

2550-942: The Education Bureau divides primary schools into 36 districts, known as school nets, for its Primary One Admission System . Of the 36 districts, districts 34 and 41 in Kowloon and districts 11 and 12 in Hong Kong Island are considered the most prestigious. In Iranian cities school kids normal registrations are limited by school districts, register is online at my.medu.ir and the parent sees schools within range online. Strategic lawsuit against public participation Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits ), or strategic litigation against public participation , are lawsuits intended to censor , intimidate , and silence critics by burdening them with

2635-790: The Midwest and West tend to cross municipal boundaries, while school districts in New England and the Mid-Atlantic regions tend to adhere to city, township, and/or county boundaries. As of 1951 school districts were independent governmental units in 26 states, while in 17 states there were mixes of independent school districts and school districts subordinate to other local governments. In nine states there were only school districts subordinate to local governments. In most Southern states, school systems operate either as an arm of county government or at least share coextensive boundaries with

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2720-493: The Overthrow of Slobodan Milošević , they gradually reappeared in the late 2010s, and especially in the early 2020s, during SNS -led cabinets. Notably, Aleksandar Vučić is current president of Serbia , the most influential figure of the regime, and he is often accused of suppression of media freedoms. On 6 March 2024, Chutima Sidasathian won a SLAPP suit against Thanonthorn Kaveekitrattana, after facing defamation charges for

2805-509: The SPEAK FREE Act of 2015 was introduced but did not receive a vote. California has a unique variant of anti-SLAPP legislation. In 1992 California enacted Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16, a statute intended to frustrate SLAPPs by providing a quick and inexpensive defense. It provides for a special motion that a defendant can file at the outset of a lawsuit to strike a complaint when it arises from conduct that falls within

2890-710: The Unorganized Borough of Alaska were not served by school districts but instead served by schools directly operated by the Alaska Department of Education and by Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools. The state schools were transferred to the Alaska State-Operated School System (SOS) after the Alaska Legislature created it in 1971; that agency was terminated in 1975, with its schools transferred to

2975-442: The county council and county borough councils becoming the local education authorities . In France, the system of the carte scolaire was dismantled by the beginning of the 2007 school year. More school choice has been given to French students; however, priority is given to those who meet the following criteria: In Germany , schools and teachers are predominately funded by the states of Germany , which also are in control of

3060-583: The Appeals Court and the Supreme Court were denied. In the late 1990s, many SLAPP cases against independent and pro-opposition media ensued after adoption of the infamous media law , proposed by then minister of information, Aleksandar Vučić . The main characteristic of these cases were quick trials and extremely high fines, most of which were unaffordable for journalists and their media houses. While SLAPP cases became, more or less, rare after

3145-726: The BC case Crookes v. Newton , as the standard for balancing free speech versus reputation rights. The Supreme Court of Canada in October 2011, ruling in that case, neither reiterated nor rescinded that standard. On 11 April 2024, the European Parliament approved an anti-SLAPP directive. The directive replaced a non binding Recommendation (EU) 2022/758 to member states issued by the European Commission on 27 April 2022. The directive's approval came after long series of drafts, discussions and consultations between

3230-461: The City of Houston , the City of Katy or their municipalities' extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). Unincorporated areas in Katy ISD include Barker , Cinco Ranch , and Cimarron . All residential areas of the district are assigned to an elementary school, a junior high school, and a high school by subdivision. During the 2004–2005 school year Katy ISD began a new and revolutionary program in

3315-557: The EU". The most common used to be a civil suit for defamation , which in the English common law tradition was a tort . The common law of libel dates to the early 17th century and, unlike most English law, is reverse onus , meaning that once someone alleges a statement is libelous, the burden is on the defendant to prove that it is not. As of 2024, recent trends have pointed towards defendants receiving more protection from SLAPP suits in

3400-617: The European Commission, European Parliament and the EU member states, initiated by the European Parliament's resolution of 25 November 2020 expressing "its continued deep concern about the state of media freedom within the EU in the context of the abuses and attacks still being perpetrated against journalists and media workers in some Member States because of their work" and called on the European Commission to "establish minimum standards against SLAPP practices across

3485-499: The Government are committed to a robust defence of transparency and freedom of speech. We will not tolerate anything that risks tarnishing the integrity of our judicial and legal profession". Ministers later said that they would reform the legal system to prevent "intimidation lawsuits"; amendments to this effect were proposed for an anti-corruption economic crime bill before Parliament in March 2022. In October 2023, royal assent

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3570-557: The Government] about the school"). Each district must contain a minimum of 10,000 inhabitants. The national government attempted to link the local schools with local society and culture and local governments. The school districts were dissolved in 2003 by the "legge finanziaria" (law about the government budget) in an attempt to trim the national budget. In the Republic of Ireland, 16 Education and Training Boards (ETBs) administer

3655-934: The Katy Virtual Academy (KVA), offered real-time, live instruction via Canvas, allowing students to follow the KISD curriculum and meet Texas graduation requirements. Both in-person and virtual students adhered to the same grading guidelines, but the attendance requirement for the fall 2020 final exam eligibility was waived, allowing high school students to exempt a final exam if they met semester average and behavior requirements. In adherence to safety measures, facial coverings were mandated for all district staff and students in grades 4 through 12, while students in pre-k through grade 3 were encouraged to wear face coverings. The protocol also included instructional day temperature checks for new district enrollees and late arrival students. Blue Ribbon Schools Lance Hindt, who served as

3740-486: The Ontario attorney-general had issued a major report which identified SLAPP as a major problem but initially little to nothing was done. In June 2013, the attorney general introduced legislation to implement the recommendations of the report. The bill proposed a mechanism for an order to dismiss strategic lawsuits which attack free expression on matters of public interest, with full costs (but not punitive damages) and on

3825-564: The U.S. Thirty-three states, the District of Columbia, and Guam have enacted statutory protections against SLAPPs as of 2023. These states are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. In West Virginia,

3910-402: The U.S., most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts. A school district usually operate several elementary , middle , and high schools . The largest urban and suburban districts operate hundreds of schools. While practice varies significantly by state (and in some cases, within a state), most American school districts operate as independent local governmental units under

3995-466: The United States tend to be different from the demographics of the students. This difference is "most pronounced in majority nonwhite jurisdictions and school districts with the largest racial achievement gaps ." There were 130,000 school districts in the country in 1930, with an average student population of 150. From 1942 to 1951 the number of school districts declined from 108,579 to 70,452,

4080-601: The United States under the US Constitution's specific protection in the First Amendment's fifth clause. It is still definitional: SLAPPs are civil lawsuits filed against those who have communicated to government officialdom (in its entire constitutional apparatus). The right to petition, granted by Edgar the Peaceful , King of England in the 10th century, antedates Magna Carta in terms of its significance in

4165-536: The University of Houston removed Hindt's dissertation from their official website. In May 2018, Hindt announced his resignation and retirement effective January 1, 2019, saying that he cannot fulfill his duties as superintendent and that he had done "dumb things". The district agreed to pay $ 955,795 as severance, a payment which violated Texas Education Code Section 11.201 and resulted in a loss of $ 513,755 in funding. To pursue any defamation claims on behalf of Hindt,

4250-545: The bill was invoked there (and then Supreme Court of Canada docket 33819). In the case of Les Éditions Écosociété Inc., Alain Deneault , Delphine Abadie and William Sacher vs. Banro Inc., in which the publisher Écosociété pleaded (supported by the BCCLA ) that it should not face Ontario liability for a publication in Quebec, as the suit was a SLAPP and the Quebec law explicitly provided to dismiss these. The court denied

4335-477: The brink of suicide. Hindt denied Gay's allegations, claiming he will only be judged by God , despite being recorded giggling in reaction to Gay's testimony. Following the incident, Alabama judge David Carpenter also accused Hindt of bullying during their secondary school years. While Carpenter said that he was not a victim of Hindt's bullying, he has witnessed "frightening, intense and near constant" bullying of weaker classmates by Hindt. Carpenter even labeled Hindt

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4420-598: The cost of directors and officers liability insurance for that party, interfering with an organization's ability to operate. A SLAPP may also intimidate others from participating in the debate. A SLAPP is often preceded by a legal threat . SLAPPs bring about freedom of speech concerns due to their chilling effect and are often difficult to filter out and penalize because the plaintiffs attempt to obfuscate their intent to censor, intimidate, or silence their critics. To protect freedom of speech , some jurisdictions have passed anti-SLAPP laws. These laws often function by allowing

4505-401: The cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition. In a typical SLAPP, the plaintiff does not normally expect to win the lawsuit. The plaintiff's goals are accomplished if the defendant succumbs to fear, intimidation, mounting legal costs , or simple exhaustion and abandons the criticism. In some cases, repeated frivolous litigation against a defendant may raise

4590-581: The court appointed liquidator of his companies, and has threatened to sue additional bodies. The sued individuals and bodies have claimed that these are SLAPP actions. In 2006, Oricon Inc., Japan's music chart provider, sued freelance journalist Hiro Ugaya due to his suggesting in an article for business and culture magazine Cyzo  [ ja ] that the company was fiddling its statistics to benefit certain management companies and labels, specifically Johnny and Associates . The company sought ¥ 50 million and apology from him. He found allies in

4675-892: The court in which the defendant (or sometimes plaintiffs) live. Other widely mentioned elements of a SLAPP are the actual effectiveness at silencing critics, the timing of the suit, inclusion of extra or spurious defendants (such as relatives or hosts of legitimate defendants), inclusion of plaintiffs with no real claim (such as corporations that are affiliated with legitimate plaintiffs), making claims that are very difficult to disprove or rely on no written record, ambiguous or deliberately mangled wording that lets plaintiffs make spurious allegations without fear of perjury , refusal to consider any settlement (or none other than cash), characterization of all offers to settle as insincere, extensive and unnecessary demands for discovery , attempts to identify anonymous or pseudonymous critics, appeals on minor points of law, and demands for broad rulings when appeal

4760-465: The courts have adopted protections against SLAPPs. These laws vary in scope and level of protection, while the remaining states lack specific protections. In 2010, Obama signed the SPEECH Act on the closely related issue of libel tourism . Like many state anti-SLAPP laws, H.R. 4364 would allow a U.S. citizen who is a defendant of a SLAPP filed in a foreign country more protections. In 2015,

4845-403: The development of democratic institutions. As currently conceived, the right claims that democracy cannot properly function in the presence of barriers between the governed and the governing. New York Supreme Court Judge J. Nicholas Colabella said in reference to SLAPPs: "Short of a gun to the head, a greater threat to First Amendment expression can scarcely be imagined." In the United States

4930-504: The district claimed the books taught critical race theory and started an online petition, prompting the district to cancel the author visit and remove the book from school libraries. Craft was later invited again for a visit to the district, and the books were reinstated in libraries with a restricted audience. During a school board meeting in November 2021, Seven Lakes High School senior and student activist Cameron Samuels spoke during

5015-410: The district hired the law firm Feldman and Feldman. Hindt would later campaign for the KISD board members who had defended him and arranged his huge severance bonus. The district has been criticized for its perceived inaction on Hindt's plagiarism allegations, which critics say runs afoul of the district's responsibility to provide an ethical education to its students. The district's decision to retain

5100-469: The district or the local government to approval their annual budget, but school districts in Virginia have no taxing authority and must depend on another local government (county, city, or town) for funding. A district's governing body, usually called a school board , is typically elected by direct popular vote but may be appointed by other governmental officials. The governing body might also be known as

5185-407: The district's superintendent from 2016 to 2018, was an alumnus of Katy Taylor High School . During a school board meeting in March 2018, an individual named Greg Gay (also known as Greg Barrett) spoke during a public forum segment of the meeting, and accused Hindt of shoving his head in a urinal when they were both enrolled in a secondary school within the district, and said the incident drove him to

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5270-1042: The growth of the Venezuelan community, circa the 1990s, the main Hispanic and Latino population in Greater Katy was Mexican American . Note: In addition, the Katy ISD website lists under high schools: Katy ISD maintains and updates District Growth and Facilities Planning Studies. The Katy ISD Police Department was created in 1989 because the district had jurisdictional issues and low response times from other police agencies. See also: List of companies in Houston See: List of colleges and universities in Houston [REDACTED] Category [REDACTED] Texas portal 29°46′46″N 95°49′58″W  /  29.7795°N 95.8328°W  / 29.7795; -95.8328 School district In

5355-508: The history of the district, with the use of random drug testing for all individuals involved in UIL competitive organizations, student leaders of any official school clubs, and anyone wishing to park on campus. This caused much controversy prior to its instatement. Many parents complained to the school district, citing the new policy as the violation of individual rights. The district responded to this by having every student who wished to participate in

5440-563: The inclusion of students or explicit inclusion of librarians in the committees. McLean had planned to hold a book distribution at the start of the 2022–2023 school year with the GSA club, but school administrators claimed that prior review was necessary and confiscated the books. In, Hispanic and Latino people made up 34.4% of the student body. This is related to the Venezuelan American community established in Greater Katy. Prior to

5525-463: The lawsuit. During 2016, Amir Bramly , who at the time was being investigated and subsequently indicted for an alleged Ponzi scheme , sued for libel Tomer Ganon , a Calcalist reporter, privately for ₪ 1 million in damages, due to a news item linking him to Bar Refaeli . In addition Bramly sued Channel-2 News and its reporters and managers for ₪5 million in damages due to an alleged libel in an in-depth TV news item and interview with

5610-622: The legislature voted unanimously to pass another anti-SLAPP bill, the Protection of Public Participation Act. A private member's bill introduced in 2001 by Graham Steele (NDP, Halifax Fairview ) proposed a "Protection of Public Participation Act" to dismiss proceedings or claims brought or maintained for an improper purpose, awarding punitive or exemplary damages (effectively, a "SLAPP back") and protection from liability for communication or conduct which constitutes public participation. The bill did not progress beyond first reading. By 2010,

5695-608: The magazine's editor-in-chief Tadashi Ibi, lawyer Kentaro Shirosaki, and Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) . He was found guilty in 2008 by the Tokyo District Court and ordered to pay one million yen , but he appealed and won. Oricon did not appeal later. His 33-month struggle against Oricon and his research on SLAPPs through his self-expense trip in the United States was featured on the TBS program JNN Reportage , titled as "Legal Intimidation Against Free Speech: What

5780-608: The newly created Alaska Unorganized Borough School District, which was broken apart into twenty-one school districts the following year. In the 2022 Census of Governments, the United States Census Bureau enumerated the following numbers of school systems in the United States: School districts in the US have reduced the number of their employees by 3.3%, or 270,000 between 2008 and 2012, owing to

5865-430: The notion that government contact had to be about a public issue to be protected by the right to petition the government, as provided in the First Amendment . It has since been defined less broadly by some states, and more broadly in one state (California) where it includes suits about speech on any public issue. The original conceptualization proffered by Canan and Pring emphasized the right to petition as protected in

5950-504: The overall education policies. On the other hand, school buildings are mostly run and funded by municipal governments on different levels of the municipal system (municipalities proper, districts), depending on the size and specialization of a certain school or the population size of a certain municipality. As with other fields of government, for more specialized schools, special government bodies ("Zweckverband") can be established, where municipalities, and not voters, are members; these are to

6035-441: The power to levy taxes and incur debt, except for the five cities with a population of over 125,000 ( Buffalo , Rochester , Syracuse , Yonkers , and New York City ), where the schools are operated directly by the municipalities. The Hawaii State Department of Education functions as a single statewide school district, unique among states. According to a 2021 study, the demographics of voters who elect local school boards in

6120-603: The proposal. In March 2020, classes, campus events, field trips, student trips and competitions were postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas. Virtual learning was put in place using Canvas, and was extended throughout the 2020–2021 school year during which two options were offered for returning students. The first involved in-person instruction, combining face-to-face teaching with digital learning through Canvas , including daily attendance tracking. The second option,

6205-580: The removal of those publications, but also against Thanassis Koukakis, a journalist who during 2021 was spied upon because of his investigations on Greek businessmen. In 2020, Karan Bajaj , the founder of WhiteHat Jr. , now owned by Byju's , filed a 2.6 million dollar lawsuit against Pradeep Poonia, a software engineer who publicly accused the company of having a toxic work environment and unethical business practices. The Delhi High Court issued an interim order requiring Poonia to remove certain tweets from his Twitter account. In 2021, Bajaj rescinded

6290-659: The request, ruling it had jurisdiction. A separate 2011 decision in Quebec Superior Court had ruled that Barrick Gold had to pay $ 143,000 to the book's three authors and publisher, Les Éditions Écosociété Inc., to prepare their defence in a "seemingly abusive" strategic lawsuit against public participation. Despite the Québec ruling, the book Noir Canada that documented the relationship between Canadian mining corporations, armed conflict and political actors in Africa

6375-545: The rights of petition or free speech . The statute expressly applies to any writing or speech made in connection with an issue under consideration or review by a legislative, executive, or judicial proceeding, or any other official proceeding authorized by law, but there is no requirement that the writing or speech be promulgated directly to the official body. It also applies to speech in a public forum about an issue of public interest and to any other petition or speech conduct about an issue of public interest. In September 2017,

6460-645: The said activities sign a waiver granting the school district to test them randomly. This matter had already been settled by the Supreme Court of the United States as constitutional before KISD chose to implement it. In 2019, Katy ISD celebrated 100 years since being founded. In 2015, the two sections of the Thornwood subdivision served by KISD proposed being removed from KISD and placed in the Spring Branch Independent School District . The boards of both school districts denied

6545-556: The state's counties. A 2010 study by economist William A. Fischel found that "two-thirds of medium-to-large American cities have boundaries that substantially overlap those of a single school district" with substantial regional and state variations in the degree of overlap, "ranging from nearly perfect congruence in New England , New Jersey, and Virginia, to hardly any in Illinois, Texas, and Florida." Older and more populous municipalities "tend to have boundaries that closely match those of

6630-529: The third largest party, Nikos Androulakis , the executive director of NIS, Grigoris Kontoleon, and the Secretary General to prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis , Grigoris Dimitriadis (also a close relative of Kyriakos Mitsotakis) resigned from office. Grigoris Dimitriadis filed lawsuits against two journalists who had helped uncover the scandal, Thodoris Chondrogiannos and Nikolas Leontopoulos, demanding 150,000 euros as damages for false publications and

6715-571: The website be shut down. The foundation claimed that rettspraksis.no had "developed or used software to systematically download rulings from Lovdatas online services" in order to publish the rulings in violation of Lovdata's rights according to the Norwegian Copyright Act section 43, the Database Rights Section. The District Court granted the injunction without a hearing based on finding that the volunteer actions

6800-443: Was coined in the 1980s by University of Denver professors Penelope Canan and George W. Pring . The term was originally defined as "a lawsuit involving communications made to influence a governmental action or outcome, which resulted in a civil complaint or counterclaim filed against nongovernment individuals or organizations on a substantive issue of some public interest or social significance." The concept's originators later dropped

6885-506: Was filed in Kiel, Germany where Hermes was residing to pursue her PhD in evolutionary genomics . Jann Bellamy of Science-Based Medicine speculates that this is "due to good old forum shopping for a more plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction" as there are no protections against SLAPP lawsuits in Germany. Britt Hermes is a notable scientific skeptic and the organization Australian Skeptics set up

6970-444: Was in violation of section 43, and that the publication on rettspraksis.no would enable other commercial actors to exploit the material in violation of Lovdata's rights even if the project itself did not. A postjudgement hearing on 30 and 31 August 2018 resulted in a reduction in the injunction's effects, most significantly that the Database Rights Section did not extend to rulings published before 2005. Appeals from Ljone and Wium Lie to

7055-660: Was left facing legal costs of £1.5 million. UK Government justice minister James Cartlidge said, "the Ministry of Justice is monitoring SLAPP threats against journalists and announced that the UK will be a member of the Council of Europe’s inaugural working group on SLAPPs with an anti-SLAPP draft recommendation for member states due in December 2023. I will be giving SLAPPs in UK courts urgent consideration. I want to make it clear that

7140-617: Was never published as part of a settlement which, according to the authors, was only made for the sole purpose of resolving the three-and-a-half-year legal battle. The Quebec law is substantially different in structure than that of California or other jurisdictions, however, as Quebec's Constitution generally subordinates itself to international law , and as such the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights applies. That treaty only permits liability for arbitrary and unlawful speech. The ICCPR has also been cited, in

7225-602: Was re-introduced following the 2014 Ontario election as Bill 52, and on 3 November 2015, Ontario enacted it as the Protection of Public Participation Act, 2015. Québec's then Justice Minister, Jacques Dupuis, proposed an anti-SLAPP bill on 13 June 2008. The bill was adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec on 3 June 2009. Quebec's amended Code of Civil Procedure was the first anti-SLAPP mechanism in force in Canada. Prior to Ontario enacting its own Anti-SLAPP law

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