California Business Litigation Blog

In a previous post (HERE) we told of a Scranton, PA teenage girl who was suing her school, school district, the county, prosecutors and a detective for illegally searching her cell phone. The search turned up intimate photos of the teen which had never been transmitted to anyone else, or any other cell phone.

The school district has settled the lawsuit without admitting any wrongdoing for $33,000. There is still an active lawsuit against the Wyoming County District Attorney’s Office, which so far has not commented on the suit.

The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the district attorney could not pursue felony charges against the teenage girl for "sexting".

In a statement released by the Pennsylvania ACLU the teen said "I hope this settlement will lead school officials in the future to consider whether they have valid grounds to search students' private text messages, emails and photos."

The big question remains unanswered. How far can educators go when it comes to fulfilling their obligation to keep sexually explicit images, audio and text from reaching the eyes and ears of minors on school grounds?

Since the case didn’t make it to a federal jury, school districts around the country have a challenge in creating a standard cell phone search or seizure policy that will be acceptable to the courts and privacy groups.

The ACLU recommends that districts adopt cell phone policies that permit educators to seize devices if they disrupt the learning process, but to not search them without express consent from the student or their legal guardian.

In a lawsuit filed in California federal court, the American Civil Liberties Union states that the students are being charged fees that are a violation of the state's constitutional guarantee to free public education. The class action lawsuit is not just from one school, but based on numerous schools throughout the state, including the Temecula Valley Unified School District.

The suit alleges that paying for books, extracurricular activities, uniforms and other fees is not allowed under the state's laws.

In a recent press conference, Mark Rosenbaum who is the chief counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California said that some 50 districts within the region have some type of illegal fees mentioned on the school's website, but it is likely that more charge these fees. He stated, "There does not exist in California a true system of free public schools." He continued, "Instead what we have are pay to learn schools."

The spokesperson for Governor Schwarzenegger states that the administration is reviewing the lawsuit to determine if the fees violate a free education within the state. The spokesperson for the Department of Education in the state did not offer a comment about the lawsuit.

In San Diego, a school district rescinded the fees it charged students after the ACLU sent a letter to the school district claiming that the fees were illegally imposed on students.

In the Temecula district, the high school is charged with requiring students to pay fees to take an Advanced Placement exam if the student is enrolled in such a problem. These fees amount to $86 per test. The assistant superintendent states that there is an informal contract that the ACLU is referring to, which is designed to educate students on the demands of such classes, and that the agreement may need to be reworded.

The state's guidelines do allow for some fees, and principals are supposed to follow these guidelines, but the ACLU states that some of these fees may be pushing the limits.

A school district in West Virginia has made the decision to remove all swing sets from school playgrounds. The removal of the playgrounds from all Cabell County elementary schools is the result of a lawsuit in which the district was forced to pay a $20,000 settlement. It was the second lawsuit for the district this year over swing set injuries. The other lawsuit is still pending.

According to the school's safety manager, Tim Stewart, the removal of the swings comes after a child broke his arm after having jumped out of a swing, like "Superman."

The schools are removing the swings to reduce liability. Because of recent changes to national safety standards, it has become difficult for schools to defend against such liability claims.
These newer standards now require a rubber based padding to be added to the bottom of the swing and play area. The school district only had mulch, the previously accepted material, in place. The cost of investing in the padding is too high for the school district, at $7500 per swing set.

Some are concerned that parks in the area will also be pulling up the posts due to the inability to meet these harsher requirements in place.

The school district did say it plans to keep the monkey bars in place, as it can meet with the safety requirements for that play set.

Many school districts across the country are wrestling with the same issue. Even if the rubber based padding is installed there is no guarantee that injuries or lawsuits will stop. Some school districts made this tough choice years ago.

One such example is in Nevada, where the Clark County School District started removing swing sets from elementary schools in 1995.

Continue reading "Lawsuits Causing School Swing Sets to Disappear" »