School districts are required to do all they can to prevent and take action against bullying and student-on-student harassment. As stated in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is prohibited, as is discrimination based on sex according to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Consequently, school principals are required to address such issues with the utmost seriousness. What then, is a principal to do when a parent complains that his daughter has been continually harassed by the same middle school boy and nothing has been done by the school to address the situation? Unbeknown to the principal, this young girl had previously confided in a teacher on campus who told her to “just ignore him and he’ll stop.” As this situation was reported once and no action was taken, is the principal now liable?
The two issues in this case are whether or not a school should be held liable for student-on-student harassment and whether or not the principal of the middle school is liable for negligence for not having properly informed his teacher about district harassment and bullying policies and protocol. Under the law of torts, individuals are liable for the consequences of their own conduct (or lack thereof) when such actions result in physical or emotional injury to others. In a school setting teachers can be held liable for acts that do cause such injuries to a student while under the teacher’s supervision. Within education there are two main categories of tort liability: intentional and negligent torts. While intentional torts are rare in school districts, negligent torts are much more common and fall under either teacher or administrator negligence. Negligent torts are neither intended nor expected and are characterized as a “failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised” (Norton, 2017). Thus, school administrators and teachers are responsible for providing reasonable supervision that is free of obvious dangers. While student safety cannot be guaranteed in all situations, it is up to administrators and teachers to anticipate foreseeable dangers and plan accordingly. Therefore, based on the theory of
4. If school officials knew a violent act was threatened to occur or if there should have been a school official on duty where the students were and was not, the school could be held liable for the injury.
Bullies run rampant through the halls of schools across America, but fellow students are not always the problem. Teachers bully their students by using verbal abuse, causing unnecessary stress, or putting the student in harm's way. Students need the help and support of their mentors to achieve their academic goals. When the teacher becomes the bully, students cannot get the most out of their classes. Personal cases from students of Tinora High School and Karen Eubank show different ways that a teacher can cause more harm than good.
There is a need that each school, its administrators and teachers should know the law of torts. In order to create a "culture of safety" principals should manage the risk of negligence to the faculty and students. As Burgett and Schwartz state, “being a teacher, administrator, board member, school employee, parent, or even a student is tricky business these days” (p.9). Therefore, each decision or actions’ steps should be made based upon ethical and legal principles. The particular high school puts an emphasis on health and safety issues. The school, the buildings, and the classroom are certainly the most critical areas of an educational institution where safety and health take place but also behavior and attitude reflect the importance of the serious business of learning. Therefore, the following three legal issues: unsupervised students, hallways, and field trips demand some improvements, accommodations or extra care to maintain the safety and healthy environment for students and employees.
After looking at my schools health and safety policy the school makes reference’s to current legislation and complies with Leicester city council legislation. To show that we understand the health and safety policy and that we will comply with it we have to sign a document. So if we use a chair instead of a ladder to put up a display and fall off the chair and hurt yourself you can’t sue the school or HCC.
Through my teaching experience I have found that school violence encompasses many forms such as verbal harassment, non-verbal harassment, cyber-bullying, intimidation and any act that devalues a student’s self-worth. According to Detroit Public Schools, “it is the intention of the District to provide as safe and nonviolent learning environment for its employees, students, parents, and visitors as is possible. To this end, the District strives to maintain an environment free of threats, harassment, intimidation, physical and verbal abuse, and coercion” (Detroit Public Schools, 2009). The purpose of this policy is create a safe environment where students are free from any tape of harassment. The policy goes on to state it is the staff's responsibility to, “be educated and aware of potential signs and signals of violent or threatening behavior in students”(Detroit Public Schools, 2009). In other words, it is necessary for the school staff to remain vigilant of these signs and address them as soon as appear. Based off the nature of the action the school will follow a course of discipline suited to the accused
TORTS laws offer compensation to individuals harmed by the unreasonable actions of others. TORTS claims are based on the legal premise that a person(s) is liable for the consequences of their conduct if it results in injury to others. In education-related cases, the most common TORT is negligence. Recently, several cases have occurred whereby negligence and bullying are interconnected with students suing their schools for failing to enforce anti-bullying policies and causing injury to their well being. A current case includes Maya Williams suing her former high school for negligence in regards to the enforcement of their anti-bullying policy. By looking into a precedent case, elements of negligence, and how bullying affects a student, we
Recently, the Oregon legislature passed Senate Bill 1555 (2012), amending the state’s statutes surrounding issues of harassment, intimidation, bullying and cyberbullying (Oregon Department of Education, 2016). Cyberbullying is “conduct that disrupts a student’s ability to learn and a school’s ability to educate its students in a safe environment” (30 ORS § 339.353). The Senate Bill amendments include increased accountability for public school districts, which include the mandatory adoption of a policy prohibiting acts such as harassment and cyberbullying. The policy must also include the requirement that a school employee report such an act of cyberbullying to the appropriate school administrator (Hinduja & Patchin, 2016). Resultantly, the first step in this case is to report this alleged cyberbullying to the school principal. Having examined the state statute requirements for a circumstance of
In addition, we used the 2015 Florida School Laws book and the Florida State Statutes to review the K-20 Education Code. The major topics of the summary paper were bullying, due process, and FERPA. To complete the summary, I read through many legal documents, such as the Duval County School Board Policy Manual Chapter 10, Duval County Code of Conduct, Fla. Stat. §1006, §1002, §1003, and the U. S. Constitution. According to the state statutes, every school district must have a student code of conduct that includes a bullying and harassment policy. This document provides the foundation for student expectations and responsibilities at school, school-related activities, and situations that affect school culture. The state statutes specify the responsibilities and obligations of teachers regarding supervision and discipline of students. Teachers must make all decisions in the best interest of students in academics and safety. Due process of law and equality are guaranteed in the Fourteenth Amendment and forbid the basic rights of life, liberty, and property from being unfairly taken away. Substantive due process refers to government guidelines and rules that deny students of their fundamental rights. Procedural due process is a way of making sure the school system provides fair and appropriate measures to
Henrick (2015) shares when the school finds out they must stop the behavior, prevent its recurrence, and remedy its effect on the victim. This means if needed actions against the accused harassers needs to be taken seriously for the victim and the accused. Just like any other statutory right, it can only be effective if everyone follows the rules and does the correct procedures to ensure the safety of the students. Rubin (1981) writes there is dual enforcement of Title IX which is if someone who claims to have been a victim of sex discrimination they can sue his or her educational institution directly in civil court and also file a complaint with the office of Civil
KRS 525.070 (2008) states that a person is guilty of harassment when, with the intent to intimidate, harass, annoy or alarm another person, he or she, being enrolled as a student in a local school district, and while on school premises, on school -sponsored transportation, or at a school-sponsored event, a student does one of the following: (1) Damages or commits a theft of the property of another student, (2) substantially disrupts the operation of the school, or (3) Creates a hostile environment by means of any gestures, written communications, oral statements, or physical acts that a reasonable person under the
A teacher is obligated to defuse classroom conflicts that could turn into a bullying situation due to bullying overlapping with harassment in some states. In Texas, the terms are used separately, but this is only a distinction in law, with no model policies in place for the schools to use as a guideline on how to resolve conflicts such as bullying. The implementation of anti-bullying policies and how they are handled are ultimately left to the school district to decide. Despite the policies being left to the districts, the teachers still have an ethical obligation to reasonably protect the students from an environment that is harmful to their learning, or health and safety. Due to this obligation, reporting to the principal is used and the
According to students, schools respond inadequately, if at all, to reported incidents of bullying. When Frank Barone, principal of Amsterdam High School in Amsterdam, New York, asked hundreds of eighth graders if they had ever been bullied, more than half (58.8 percent) responded in the affirmative. Yet when he asked their teachers how many students had been bullied, they put the figure at 16 percent. Clearly, adults don't recognize the extent of bullying that children face every day. This shows that administration can easily miss important warning signs that point to school violence.
Only extreme cases would teachers require support from administrators or the principal of the school. Over the last 15 years there have been horrific events throughout the country where mentally unstable individuals used a school as the venue to attack children and terrorize their community. Legislators and government officials have responded to these events by mandating school officials to treat all potential threats seriously. There has also been an increase in litigation as a result of fundamentals changes in guidelines and statutes. As a result, school districts would rather error in the side of caution by taking a zero tolerance approach to student misconduct.
The principal needs to remember that his/her decisions will implement many consequences. This fictional school referenced contained many fights that year. Suspending both of them it risks continuing the pattern of disciplining the harmed. But when the bullied doesn’t get punished, it changes the rules moving forward. In the school system, all students should feel equal with no favoritism. “If I do it for you, I have to do it for everyone.” In all reality, nobody has to do the same thing for everyone because sometimes people are not able to. “Life is not fair and they’re concerned with what everyone is going to say (Gary Coxe).” Decisions shouldn’t be made due to how it affects everyone at the same time. Conditions aren’t the same and neither
The outcome of physical violence can cause a grave threat to those students who cannot defend themselves or don't know how to deal with bullies.