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Assignment 3

The document discusses a case where a middle school student, Ray Knight, was shot while at a friend's house on a day he was suspended from school. The school failed to properly notify Knight's parents of the suspension by phone and mail as required by their procedures. As a result, Knight's parents were unaware of his suspension and his whereabouts. The document examines three other school liability cases - Buzzard v. East Lake School District (1939), Johnson v. School District of Millard (1998), and Andreozzi v. Town of East Haven (2010) - to determine if Knight's parents could pursue liability charges against the school. Based on the school officials' complete negligence in failing to follow notification protocols, the

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111 views4 pages

Assignment 3

The document discusses a case where a middle school student, Ray Knight, was shot while at a friend's house on a day he was suspended from school. The school failed to properly notify Knight's parents of the suspension by phone and mail as required by their procedures. As a result, Knight's parents were unaware of his suspension and his whereabouts. The document examines three other school liability cases - Buzzard v. East Lake School District (1939), Johnson v. School District of Millard (1998), and Andreozzi v. Town of East Haven (2010) - to determine if Knight's parents could pursue liability charges against the school. Based on the school officials' complete negligence in failing to follow notification protocols, the

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Assignment/ Artifact #3

Assignment/ Artifact #3
Stephanie McElvain
June 23, 2019
College of Southern Nevada
Assignment/ Artifact #3

Ray Knight, a middle school student, was shot during school hours while at a friend’s

house. Knight had been suspended due to unexcused absences, his parents unaware, this incident

occurred on his first day of suspension. School procedure states that the parents of a student who

is being suspended must be informed by two different means of communication. Knights parents

should have been notified by telephone and they should have received a written notice in the

mail. So why were Knights parents unaware of his suspension? The school failed to comply with

either of these regulations, they sent a notice home in the hands of the student who threw it away.

Knight then decided to go to a friends’ house, not telling his parents his whereabouts, after he

was assumed to have gone to school. Can his parents pursue liability charges against the school?

Let’s have a look into a few other cases and their outcomes to obtain some clarity.

In the case of Buzzard v. East Lake School District (1939), a young student had her leg

broken during recess when a male student hit and then ran her over with his bicycle. The

teacher on duty at the time made no attempt to stop the students from riding their bikes and

though she was within 50 feet of the incident, she failed to keep the student from running over

the plaintiff. The plaintiff’s parents then sued East Lake School District for negligence of their

child’s safety at school. The courts found that the teacher was in fact negligent in this case

recovered a fine of $1,500 against the school district for the plaintiff.

Johnson Johnson v. School District of Millard (1998), a student was injured in music

class while participating in a game that went along with the London Bridges song. Two students

would catch and rock another student in beat to the song, after explaining once and warning the

students not to rock their peers to fast or to be to rough in their actions, the teacher turned her
Assignment/ Artifact #3

back to students to write on the blackboard. In the few second that she had her back turned,

Johnson was being violently rocked by his peers before they tossed him into a bookshelf. This

resulted in Johnson receiving a cut above his eye that went through the muscle tissue and down

to the bone. He also experienced blurred vision for a time. So, was this negligence? Yes, the

court ruled against the teacher for not giving adequate instruction and for not supervising the

activity properly. The school district was then set to pay over $21,000 to the plaintiff.

On the opposing side of the argument, a student broke his wrist after tripping over a

bench that had been placed in his running lane during an after-school track meet. In the case of

Andreozzi v. Town of East Haven (2010), the parents attempted to sue for negligence of the

track team coach for not providing a safe environment for the student to participate in this

voluntary after-school activity. However, because this activity was voluntary, it was deemed that

the coach and the town were not negligent in this case.

After reviewing these cases, it is my opinion the Knight family has every right to pursue

liability charges against school officials. The school officials showed complete negligence by not

following protocol, they failed to inform the parents by either means required. The school

officials did not contact the student’s parents by phone, and they did not send a notification by

mail. Instead, they sent a letter home in the hands of the student with no guarantees that it would

even make it home to the parents.


Assignment/ Artifact #3

REFERENCES
Find Law, (n.d.). Buzzard v. East Lake School Dist. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-court-of-
appeal/1786452.html

Find Law, (n.d.) Johnson Johnson v. School District of Millard https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ne-


supreme-court/1305437.html

Law.com/Connecticut Law Tribune, (n.d.). Andreozzi v. Town of East Haven


https://www.law.com/ctlawtribune/almID/1202657517704/Andreozzi-v-Town-of-East-Haven/

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