I'm Calling My Lawyer
How Litigation, Due Process and Other Regulatory Requirements Are Affecting Public Education
12/31/2002
In this pilot study, many teachers and school administrators reported that the possibility of being sued or accused of abuse is ever present in their minds. Avoiding suits and fulfilling due process requirements is a time-consuming part of a principal or superintendent's job and many feel the requirements give unreasonable people a chance to get their way. Yet many educators say protecting children from abuse is a higher priority than reducing the threat of litigation.
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Not like the old days. Now you got to watch your back. Teachers and educators are not only the ones that have lawsuit in the back of their mind. We, as malpractice lawyers, at see this every day. All professionals who offer a service must worry about lawsuits. It is up to the attorney or medical professional to make their client understand the scope of their job.
Good eye opening post.
This obviously isn't my area of tax lawyer expertise! But as with anything else in life where you have the threat of legal eyes watching your every move, you are naturally going to feel that it will effect job performance. I'm sure there may be over zealous litigation, but with the deep pockets of a school board, I really think those cases are far and between. As for the amount of actual litigation to the conceived fear of litigation, I would wager that there is a definite wide gap. Just as other crime rates have stayed constant, just the reporting and sensationalizing of these types of crime by the media would lead people to believe their occurrence is happening at an alarming rate, when in fact they probably haven't budged for years.
Bottom line, teachers have become baby sitters for non-caring parents. The problem those parents don't want to deal with is now placed in the lap of these teachers. With max-out classroom sizes, there isn't much that even the most competent teacher can do.
Mike
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