{"id":817,"date":"2017-04-05T16:58:23","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T16:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/education-expert.com\/?p=817"},"modified":"2023-11-27T09:21:38","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T09:21:38","slug":"817","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/education-expert.com\/NewEE\/817\/","title":{"rendered":"School District Liability: Duty of Care Owed to Students, Visitors, Volunteers, Trespassers and Local Agencies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whenever children are involved in events on school premises, there is always the possibility of school district liability for incidents that happen on school grounds or at school-sponsored events. This foreseeability gives rise to a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent a child from being harmed. Public school districts may find themselves liable for injury \u2014 not only for those suffered by their own students, but also for those incurred by children who are invited onto school grounds, who attend separate programs on school grounds, and even those who are considered trespassers.<\/span><\/p>\n

School-sponsored events, such as an after-school club, a school dance, or a daycare program run by the school board, are clearly extensions of the school. With these types of programs, the school\u2019s safety and supervisory policies apply. If a person is hurt or is sexually assaulted during a school-sponsored or operated event, it is generally clear that school district liability will attach if there is a finding of negligence.<\/span><\/p>\n

A school district\u2019s liability for injuries to children on its grounds is far less clear, however, when an outside organization is involved or when an injured party was not authorized to be on campus. Schools sometimes rent or give space to organizations like the Boy Scouts, a community basketball organization, or a private dance school to provide services to the general public, students at the school, or both. Very often, outside organizations cooperate with the school to provide before- and after-school services for the school\u2019s own students, but these programs are not directly operated by the school. Typically, schools have policies that spell out an approval process for the use of their space. However, based on some of the cases for which we have been engaged, these policies do not always go far enough \u2014 thus leaving school districts open to liability if a child involved in an activity that is run by an outside organization is injured on school grounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

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School District Liability When an Outside Agency or Organization is Involved<\/b><\/p>\n

For example, one of our cases involved a school that allowed a community athletic association to use its gym. The board of education approved the application and even noted that the organization had liability insurance. One of the volunteers with the athletic association led a participant, who was also a student at the school, to the restroom \u2014 where the volunteer sexually assaulted the student. When we reviewed the facts to render an opinion as to whether this school acted within the professional standard of care, it became evident that the athletic association never trained its volunteers in the prevention, detection, and reporting of suspected child abuse. It did not have a plan for supervising its volunteers, nor did it check their backgrounds before allowing them to have contact with the children in their program.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the questions that arose in this case was: Did the school have a responsibility to ensure that the other organization had policies in place to reasonably protect the school\u2019s own students from harm? <\/span><\/p>\n

School district liability and duty of the school to the plaintiff depends upon the relationship between the plaintiff and the school, the relationship between the plaintiff and the other organization, and the relationship between the school and the other organization. Often, these relationships are complicated, and it is necessary to determine which agency had responsibility for the plaintiff\u2019s safety at the time of the incident.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider the following examples: <\/span><\/p>\n