Parents and children have a lot of details to keep track of during back-to-school time: School clothes, textbooks and supplies, classroom schedules, immunizations and sports physicals.
Teachers have their own backto school paperwork to tackle. This week, all public schoolteachers in Indiana are receiving an important legal notice from my office that they should read and that parents and schoolchildren also should be aware of.
The legal notice reminds teachers of Indiana’s Teacher Protection Act, passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2009. Teachers now are shielded from frivolous lawsuits filed over school discipline complaints.
In other words, if a teacher is sued for disciplining a student — and if the teacher’s actions were reasonable under the school policy — then the teacher has legal immunity from the lawsuit. The Indiana Attorney …show more content…
If a scuffle broke out between two teens in the school cafeteria, then the nearest teacher might hesitate to intervene and break up the fight – particularly if the brawling combatants were the opposite sex of the teacher. “My dad will sue you,” is one threat teachers said they heard.
If parents indeed filed suit, then the school insurance carrier’s typical response was to cut the plaintiffs a settlement check for as much as $1,500 to make the case go away. Settling out of court would end that lawsuit; but as word spread, it would undermine the teacher’s credibility the next time she or he had to discipline a student.
Thanks to our new Teacher Protection Act, educators no longer need fear frivolous lawsuits, since lawyers in my office will defend them in civil court. The State of Indiana will assume the legal risk, meaning school administrators and their liability insurance carriers no longer ought to have to pay out nuisance settlements in such
Teachers have their own backto school paperwork to tackle. This week, all public schoolteachers in Indiana are receiving an important legal notice from my office that they should read and that parents and schoolchildren also should be aware of.
The legal notice reminds teachers of Indiana’s Teacher Protection Act, passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2009. Teachers now are shielded from frivolous lawsuits filed over school discipline complaints.
In other words, if a teacher is sued for disciplining a student — and if the teacher’s actions were reasonable under the school policy — then the teacher has legal immunity from the lawsuit. The Indiana Attorney …show more content…
If a scuffle broke out between two teens in the school cafeteria, then the nearest teacher might hesitate to intervene and break up the fight – particularly if the brawling combatants were the opposite sex of the teacher. “My dad will sue you,” is one threat teachers said they heard.
If parents indeed filed suit, then the school insurance carrier’s typical response was to cut the plaintiffs a settlement check for as much as $1,500 to make the case go away. Settling out of court would end that lawsuit; but as word spread, it would undermine the teacher’s credibility the next time she or he had to discipline a student.
Thanks to our new Teacher Protection Act, educators no longer need fear frivolous lawsuits, since lawyers in my office will defend them in civil court. The State of Indiana will assume the legal risk, meaning school administrators and their liability insurance carriers no longer ought to have to pay out nuisance settlements in such