Private and religious schools face unique requirements and challenges. For example, the standard of care varies from state to state. At School Liability Expert Group, our private and religious school experts service the entire United States and are intimately familiar with each state’s laws. As a result, we can step in and assist in various circumstances. With private school expert witness services or religious school expert witness services, our highly experienced team can work with defendant or plaintiff attorneys on expert reports, testimony, and consultations. We can also offer our consultation services to schools and parents for student injury or general program quality and compliance issues. If you believe one of our experts can assist, book a call today. One of our private and religious school experts will be happy to discuss your situation.
Standard of Care and Accreditation
The professional standard of care for private and religious schools varies from state to state. Some states don’t have laws requiring these schools to get any license or approval. In these circumstances, they can do whatever they want, as these schools are not subject to state or federal laws because they do not receive any funding. As a result, accreditation is what really sets the standards for private and religious schools. There are different accreditation agencies with varying levels of prestige, trust, and recognition that our private and religious school expert witnesses can help you identify.
Regional accreditation is considered more prestigious than national accreditation due to higher specificity in the review methods. Six of the leading regional accreditation agencies that service the United States include the Northwest Accreditation Commission, the New England Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges, the Middle States Association Secondary, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. If the institution decides to be accredited– which is generally expected of schools– they must abide by those standards.
A private and religious school expert can help you ensure compliance with these accreditation standards and make recommendations for improved efficiency of operations within these standards. An example of a standard set by accreditation agencies includes requiring teachers to hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Many institutions find that the accreditation process yields impressive continuing returns, and this process also provides a guideline for private and religious schools to assess their program quality and status continuously.
State Mandatory Reporting Laws
State mandatory reporting laws still apply to private and religious schools. However, there are rarely training requirements. Despite the lack of training requirements, a private and religious school expert witness will emphasize that all school faculty and staff should still be adequately trained to react according to the state reporting laws. This is crucial for student safety and to minimize the risk of litigation. School Liability Expert Group can review your school’s compliance policies and hold training programs for your institution.
Contractual Obligations
Private and religious schools will often have contractual obligations. Understanding what the contract entails and what the school or institution promises its families can be critical in matters of litigation. As our private and religious school experts have learned, breach-of-contract lawsuits against schools are complex to win when the claim concerns failures of education quality. However, if you can prove that a school failed to deliver on a specific contractual promise, there’s an excellent chance for success in a breach-of-contract lawsuit against a school.
Notable examples of success in breach-of-contract lawsuits involve contract breaches such as failure to provide adequate diagnostic testing and individual reading instruction, promises to qualify students for a licensing exam despite a lack of proper accreditation, and failing to screen a student’s criminal background before enrollment. A private and religious school expert witness is especially helpful in these specific breach-of-contract cases to offer reports, consultations, or testimony. Our private school expert witness can assist the defendant or plaintiff in these lawsuits. Moreover, our team can also work with the private or religious school regarding the rhetoric of their contract and the compliance of their program with their agreement.
Private School Expert Witness Services
Our court-qualified experts are available to assist your case. With diversified experience from cases throughout the United States, our team will tailor our proven processes to your situation. Explore our testimonials to preview what it is like to work with us. Schedule a call with School Liability Expert Group today for consulting or expert witness services.