Shaul v Cherry Valley-Springfield School District et al. 363 F.3d 177; 2004 U.S. App.

    This case was filed by William Shaul against his former employer accusing them of illegally confiscating his personal property from his classroom.  Shaul was fired from his position as a teacher in the high school.  He was given permission to return to his office and classroom to remove his personal effects.  However he said that he wasn’t given enough time to get everything.  When he went back to get more he was not allowed in and when he tried to get the district to surrender his remaining effects he was not given them.  Shaul says that because the school didn’t give him enough time to remove his personal items they violated his fourth amendment rights to reasonable search and seizure.  Among the items he claimed were various photos and also his class notes and quizzes, which he claimed to own based upon the academic exception.  The court found in favor of the school district saying that in general enough time was given for him to remove his belongings.  And specifically they addressed his class notes saying that because he was not the author of the quizzes and that class notes were created directly from him performing his job they were the property of the school district under the work for hire clause.

     This case while only tangentially dealing with the academic exception does address the issue of whether Allentown High School took the score from Mauro's possession without his permission in Mauro v Allentown.  There are a few extenuating circumstances such as whether or not Mauro gave the sheet music to the students prior to his removal from his position.  And also the fact that Mauro was told not to remove any music when he was allowed to remove his personal belongings from his classroom could be a factor in the decision, however this is a remarkably similar case in which the school was the winner.