Negligence Claim Against School Dismissed
Can a school or the county school board be held liable when a student skips school and leaves during school hours and then is seriously injured while joy riding during school hours?
In a recent case, the 4th District Court of Appeals said ‘no’. In that case a child left the high school after first period class. He with some friends walked to his car and drove off school grounds. Shortly thereafter he was involved in a car accident that killed him. The parents sued on his behalf saying that the school and school board were responsible for his safety. The school from which he left has over 1,900 students and students are allowed to leave with a note from a parent. The school is not a fortress. The student involved in this case was generally a good student and not a truant. The general standard of protection in this case is that “a public school, at least through its high school level, undoubtedly owes a general duty of supervision to the students placed within its care. This duty is based on the school’s standing partially in place of the student’s parents. Mandatory schooling has forced parents into relying on teachers to protect children during school activity. While Florida recognizes a general duty of supervision, a school has no duty to supervise ‘all movements of all pupils all the time’. Rupp v. Bryant, 417 So. 2d 658 (Fla. 1982).
In the case at hand, the court held that the school did not have a duty to protect these high school students. The court held that high school students are and should be treated differently than elementary students and thus, the level of protection of making sure that they, the high school students, did not leave school grounds, was different than if this had been an elementary student. Further, the court held that the school board also had no duty and that sovereign immunity protected the school board as to their discretionary planning on parking permits, student parking, and penalties for students breaches of school attendance and perking rules.
If you have a similar scenario that you would like to find out the answers to, please call and speak to either attorney Andrew S. Alitowski or William Ryan Moore at 888-ASK-ANDREW (275-2637). We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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