Discussion

"Tort Law Liability" (Intial Post)

• The special education resource teacher is trying to quiet an agitated student in the library. The student is so out of control that he turns over his chair and throws a book from the shelf at the resource teacher. The resource teacher is struck in the head by the book. The regular education teacher attempts to restore calmness by slamming a large paperweight onto a table. The teacher has to remove the student from the library due to his uncontrollable behavior. The regular education teacher holds onto the student’s upper arm to guide him out of the library to a time-out area designated for this type of behavior. The student yells derogatory remarks at the teacher and tells her she will be sued. The next day, the parents of the student contacts the school administration and school resource officer with a report of child abuse. 
  • Review the scenario above and decide if there is a possible tort law liability and who might be liable? Next, propose an alternate way to resolve the situation above to avoid possible tort law liability. Use one (1) case law to support your discussion response.
• Classmate Post (Please Respond)

• Hello Dr. M and Classmates I hope you all are doing well. I must say that as I was reading the scenario, I began to feel a sense of sympathy for the special education resource teacher because of what has been done to her by the student. A tort law liability is a legal term describing a violation where one person causes damage, injury, or harm to another person. The party that commits the tort is called the tortfeasor. A tortfeasor incurs tort liability, meaning that they will have to reimburse the victim for the harm that they caused them. I strongly feel that the Special education teacher is the victim and the student is the tort. I feel that the outrage student is the tortfeasor and school district should be held liable for any injuries that he may have caused the Special education teacher.

              According to the article Teacher abused by students wins a settlement against the Count Basie board of education. In the case of Kathy Perez was attacked by students in serval situations and the school administration team did nothing to help support her as their school teacher. I feel that this case can help stress the importance of teachers getting the support and accountably from the schools administration team as well as students taking ownership of their actions. The alternate proposal for this scenario would be for the teachers to have explained to him that we are going to the library and we have to be very quiet while we are in the here, because some students may be working or studying and taking assessments. Once the special education seen that he was began to act out of control then she should have asked him to claim down or he will be removed from the library. Then the teachers should have called the resource officers and the principle to make it known to them of what is going on and that the student needed to be removed from the classroom. The teachers should gather the rest of the students and take them to a safe environment until the principle get to the library.

  http://nypost.com/2016/06/12/teacher-abused-by-students-wins-125k-settlement/