I am a education major at Union College in Lincoln NE.  I would like to
know what are some actions of a teacher in a classroom which might make them
liable for lawsuits?  Have you ever been sued?

Thank you,

Benjamin Burton
Education Major
Union College
bebur...@ucollege.edu

At 01:51 PM 11/5/98 -0600, you wrote:

I have never been sued, but you raise an interesting question.  Anyone can
be sued for just about anything, so listing things you could be sued for
isn't very easy. Actually, I think it is more likely that teachers would be
sued for things they don't do.  There have been cases where students sued
teachers and/or schools for not preparing them properly or graduating them
without the necessary skills.  With the introduction of Internet in the
classroom, it is more likely that teachers will get sued for lack of
supervision if students get in trouble online.

Art

***************************************************************
* Art Wolinsky                        I am perfectly capable *
* awolin...@adelphia.net        of learning from my      *
* Technology Director               mistakes.                   *
* Online Innovation Institute                                        *
* http://oii.org                          I will surely learn a       *
* NJ Chapter Director               great deal today.         *
* 21st Century Teacher                                              *
* http://www.21ct.org                                                 *
*****************************************************************

Take a look at the November '97 issue of The School Administrator magazine,
devoted largely to current legal issues in K-12 education. Might be a useful
source of information.

URL: www.aasa.org/SchoolAdmin/schadmTC.htm

Jay P. Goldman
Editor
The School Administrator

In a message dated 98-11-05 14:52:04 EST, you write:

<<   I am a education major at Union College in Lincoln NE.  I would like to
 know what are some actions of a teacher in a classroom which might make them
 liable for lawsuits?  Have you ever been sued? >>

Hi. If I were a teacher I would be concerned with the area of Special
Education. A parent or in some cases students can bring suit over a teachers
actions or inactions concerning a childs IEP. A teacher has to be real careful
to make sure they have received the proper training from their district. In
fact every teacher should demand training in IDEA regulations. Most school
boards and districts can claim govermental immunity from most law suits. This
leaves the teacher liable if there is a challange to the effectiveness of a
childs educational program. Always follow the IEP no matter how hard that
might be to do.

Second,  be very, very careful about the privacy rights of both parents and
students. In most states, privacy/records regulations include: Federal
Regs....FERPA and IDEA, State Regs and local policies. Because there are so
many different laws covering this subject, it can become complicated real
quick.  Again, should you violate someones rights, the district will claim
that you acted alone and were not following established policies. Districts
will almost always hang teachers out to dry in these types of issues. This is
how they claim immunity.  A privacy violation can lead to a Section 1983 Civil
Rights suit and the district will always claim immunity, leaving the teacher
to take the heat. The fastest way to a law suit in this area is to disclose
personaly identifiable information from a childs educational record without
parental consent.  It is in violation of Federal privacy laws to even talk
about a childs program unless the person you are talking to has a legitimate
educational reason to be hearing it.

Hope this helps.

Dither
Ditherh...@aol.com

Improper touching or sexual innuendo with children.  Being away from class/
duty when someone gets injured.  Improper touching or sexual innuendo with
colleague.  Copyright infringement.  Software pirating.  There are lots of
things.

Marsha

At 01:51 PM 11/5/98 -0600, you wrote:

A Texas teacher can be sued by anyone for any reason if the one sueing (sp?)
has the filing fee.  Yes, I have been sued many times. So far, I've won
every case.  One source tells me that I should expect to be sued this
semester by a disgruntled student who is failing one of my classes.  I
usually tell them to take a number and get in line.

David Sloan, Ed.D.
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
UMHB Box 8017
Belton, TX   76513
dsl...@umhb.edu
http://www.umhb.edu

----------

I read replies to the question about what teachers can be sued for and I
know that we soon have to get rid two bit lawyers or severely limit the
scope of what a lawyer can do if we want to go back to living in countries
that are strong and free.  Otherwise Canada and the USA become two good
examples of countries that send you to Siberia for yawning or some other
similar offense.  Do we have to babysit our students (and our neighbours)?