Today the recurring nightmare in schooling, more often than not, is the mantra, ”I’m going to sue you…Trepidation for yet another lawsuit and concern for the many wasted hours and dollars that will be spent on a frivolous lawsuit is described very personally by a superintendent in, I’m Calling My Lawyer” (James Wasser), School Administrator [magazine], AASA (The School Superintendent Association), 10/2007:
The fear of being sued has forced public school teachers and administrators to re- evaluate what they do and modify traditional curricular activities and co-curricular programs. It’s simply easier and certainly less expensive to modify or eliminate programs than to have to deal with the worry of lengthy litigation…
To minimize frivolous litigation against school districts, we have to understand what motivates people to sue in the first place. The most common motivators include one or more of these factors: failure to communicate; lack of understanding or knowledge; passion and emotions; stubbornness and pride; and greed…
Student issues often escalate into expensive lawsuits because students and parents perceive teachers and administrators as being unreachable or insensitive. As emotions rise, so do the number of lawsuits…
Rather than face the threat of time-consuming, frivolous litigation, teachers often cave to parental demands. Too often teachers find the time and expense needed to defend grading an essay paper with a D compared to a C-minus is simply not worth it…
Evaluating teacher performance is another area where administrators have become increasingly more cautious over the years. Internal challenges from staff often become more disruptive to the school environment and pose a greater threat of time and money than those from students and parents. Once we were sued for changing an administrator’s title, even though the salary and responsibilities remained the same…
The American legal system makes it easy to file a lawsuit regardless of the merit of the case. Unfortunately, public schools always will be vulnerable to legal challenges by students, parents and staff.
Lawsuits in a district usually involve issues of policies, procedures and practices dealing with staff, students, parents and include not only what was done, but sometimes even what was not done. In some cases they are justified, but often they are frivolous claims.