Do schools have an obligation to keep students safe?

[QueenIsabella]

At court hearing, school district argues it shouldn't be held liable for teacher's abuse

This is a story happening close to me. My children never encountered this teacher.

In case the link doesn't work, or people don't want to click on it, the story is that a teacher abused and molested students, over a period of decades, at 2 different high schools. He was reported many times, the school district did nothing--except transfer him to a different school, where the abuse continues. The former teacher pled guilty to 58 counts and is in prison. His victims are suing the district for allowing a predator to continue to teach. The defense claims that schools do not have a duty to keep students safe.

I'm curious to know what people think. Do schools have an obligation to keep kids safe? I thought there were mandatory reporting laws. Don't schools take on the role of protecting students when they have fire drills and mask mandates? Personally, I think the district should have quietly settled--they aren't helping themselves in the court of public opinion, for sure, with this argument.

Note: the civil trial is ongoing. There was another pedophile case at a local middle school, that hasn't been adjudicated yet (either civilly or criminally). In that case, it was found that the school covered up the abuse for 20 years. Every single member of the school board was voted out at the last election, due to the cover-up in that case.

 

[kymom99]

They can say it all they want, but if there is evidence, I would guess the courts will rule against them.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

The defense claims that schools do not have a duty to keep students safe.

That’s laughable. Of course they have a duty to keep students safe! Otherwise we’d be seeing way more students run over by school buses and blown up in chemistry labs, for instance - that’s what safety rules are for.

 

[Karin1984]

Just like work places and hospitals and whatever have the obligation to keep people safe. Weird argument.

If you know and you didn't act, you are part of the problem. Same as with the cases in the catholic church and other kinds of abuse cases in orphanages, schools etc.

 

[monsterkitty]

Educators here are mandatory reporters. If we even suspect abuse, we must report it. Any abuse from any person.

Anyone working in education, from the school board down to all school employees, are covered under the mandatory reporter umbrella.

If we suspect abuse or told about abuse by the child or another person and do nothing, we can lose our teaching license, be fined, and be jailed.

 

[Disneylover99]

Weak defence. Lol.

 

[mjkacmom]

How were the police not involved? We have a current situation in town of a much lesser charge, students reported it, police investigated immediately and he’s been charged. It took under a week.

 

[rwdavis2]

I’m wondering why the parents did not go directly to the police.

 

[daisy2013]

My state has a “pass the trash” law that is designed to prevent teachers from simply moving to another district before any investigation is complete. It also applies to private schools. I’m not sure of the specifics but it’s triggered once a teacher is reported to the district administration.
Unfortunately what happened here seems similar to what happened in the Catholic Church where priests were moved or requested transfers when allegations started to arise

 

[AppleDumpling]

Of course the school is responsible. This guy is a monster, the administration knew, and they let him get away with it for 20 years?!

I’m wondering why the parents did not go directly to the police.

I agree. If it were my child, and they did nothing after it was reported to the principal, you can bet I would have called the police.

 

[sheilafri]

They may not go to the police because the child begged them not to. Children can be very mean to each other. Word will get around, or rumors, and the child could be teased by classmates. So much of a child’s life is spent at school and they don’t want to risk being ostracized.

 

[Allison]

Of course they do.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

They should absolutely be liable. This is appalling!

 

[monsterkitty]

My state has a “pass the trash” law that is designed to prevent teachers from simply moving to another district before any investigation is complete. It also applies to private schools. I’m not sure of the specifics but it’s triggered once a teacher is reported to the district administration.
Unfortunately what happened here seems similar to what happened in the Catholic Church where priests were moved or requested transfers when allegations started to arise

The "Passing the Trash" law was passed in 2015 as part of the "Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)."

Unfortunately, there are still holes in the law that allow predators to sneak in. My state has a database of all school employees who are found guilty of sexual abuse. If their position requires a license, ie a teacher or administrator, then they lose that license as well.

However, it is still easy for a person to just lie on their application about being found guilty or even charged with a crime. If that person moves to another state and that state doesn't check the previous state's database, the cycle can start all over again. Or the abuser can move to a school, such as a private school, that doesn't not require educators to hold a teaching license and the cycle will continue. The holes need to be filled to make everyone safe.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Do schools have an obligation to keep students safe?

Yes, of course.

 

[SteveH]

Yes, 100% schools must keep children safe not only from abusive teachers but other children as well. Whether school board itself gets hung out to dry will be up to the courts. But the staff that knew, and didn't report it to CPS should have their careers ended and pensions cancelled, at least if I was on that jury.

 

[tvguy]

What did the Police do?

 

[tvguy]

They can say it all they want, but if there is evidence, I would guess the courts will rule against them.

It won't get that far. Public bodies settle almost every suit out of court even when they are completely in the right. Mostly because the settlement money isn't coming from the people running the bodies.

 

[DLgal]

North Carolina, huh? That's all I needed to know.

Of course schools have a duty to keep children safe. That is probably their #1 responsibility.

 

[QueenIsabella]

North Carolina, huh? That's all I needed to know.

Wow! What an ignorant thing to say!

As I understand it, the judge is currently considering the defense's motion to throw out the case. Their argument is that they don't have responsibility for student safety--to me, that's a non-starter, especially in view of mandated reporter laws. There might be something to their arguments on statute of limitations, but there, I suspect that the lack of action hurts them--if the crime was reported in time, but they did nothing, and the clock ran out, that's not the fault of the plaintiff.

I also think that parents didn't report, because they talked to the school, and the school said that they would report to the police. Given the number of years and the number of victims here, many, many balls would have been dropped along the way.

To be fair, I've been following the second, un-adjudicated case more closely. My younger two went to the school involved. Luckily, sort of, they were orchestra kids, and it was the band teacher. As a mom, that makes me feel a little better, but as a human being, it really doesn't.