The real reason why schools are not opening: Lawsuits

My friend's sister is a school superintendent. She told me that the reason her district cannot/will not open for the fall is because the school system cannot obtain insurance to protect the school/local government in case a teacher or student catches COVID-19 and sues the school over catching the virus.

Imagine if some 9-year old catches COVID-19 at school and dies 3-4 weeks later (even if COVID-19 isn't the true cause of death, but is merely present at the time). The parents flip out, the school and its administrators become national news, the parents sue the school system for not providing proper protection for their child, and boom -- the school's bankrupted by a $10+ million lawsuit.

It's that simple. It's not about safety or protocols or political parties, it's about what everything else in this world seems to be about: money. And the school systems would rather shut down than face that financial risk.

a reply to: MrParanoid

Wouldn't parents signing release forms solve that issue?
I just had to sign one to get a haircut.

a reply to: MrParanoid

Glad I’m not into the private school business!

Yup. My grandson was all set to attend the wooden boat building school in Port Townsend. His other grandfather even bought a house for him to stay in and we were ready to pay his tuition. He moved up there, and then the school announced they were closing down completely for a year. They put a lot of people at a severe inconvenience because they are scared of the virus and the lawyers.

a reply to: IAMTAT

Such waivers are often not worth the paper they are printed on. In some cases they are, by law, not valid. In all cases, they do nothing to prevent lawsuits and their validity is left to the court.

Wisconsin, for example, will not enforce "take it or leave it" clauses, which force the individual to waive liability in order to be a guest or participate in an event. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals has stated that the "absence of an opportunity to bargain in regard to an exculpatory clauses' terms is a significant factor suggesting a violation of public policy."[3] Essentially, some states will not enforce waivers of liability if the individual waiving potential claims cannot negotiate the terms of the waiver.

www.law360.com...

originally posted by: IAMTAT
a reply to: MrParanoid

Wouldn't parents signing release forms solve that issue?
I just had to sign one to get a haircut.

Skin here...#2 clippers. $14 and each cut is free to me.

#SHARP

Iowa here. Ill give you the rundown.

Parents are filing lawsuit against school for not offering online education.

Schools are opening and offering both options, whatever the parents choose.

Governor threated to revoke funds.

One district around me said # you, keep the money. City is making up the difference and district is suing everyone starting with the AEA upto the governor citing they have offered online classes for years.

a reply to: drewlander


Yeah , Why should you have to Pay the Schools to Brainwash your Kids ? You can Undo it at Home for Free.........

originally posted by: 38181
a reply to: MrParanoid

Glad I’m not into the private school business!

My son is in private school. They are opening. Only 10 kids in each classroom. They will take everyones temp daily. I have no problem with this. Tuition is in general less money than i paid for daycare. Private school is theway to go.

originally posted by: IAMTAT
a reply to: MrParanoid

Wouldn't parents signing release forms solve that issue?
I just had to sign one to get a haircut.

A release form doesn’t protect against crap if there is actual negligence, or criminal negligence. But in this case, it is BS.

a reply to: drewlander

A couple of private schools had plans to open in person here. They've changed their minds due to the current situation. That situation not being good.

Public schools started with a two week delay, last week. That's probably going to change.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: drewlander

A couple of private schools had plans to open in person here. They've changed their minds due to the current situation. That situation not being good.

Public schools started with a two week delay, last week. That's probably going to change.

I doubt the private school where my son attends will close its doors. Hes been there for summer camp every weekday since about 2 weeks after school was out along with half the rest of his class. Only difference of course being more playing and less learning over the summer.

a reply to: drewlander





" Only difference of course being more playing and less learning over the summer. "




Touché ...........)

a reply to: MrParanoid

I'll tell you what's been going through my conspiracy mind lately ...

By shutting down businesses, cities have lost a lot of revenue. They're going to have to make that up somewhere.

If they could spend less on law enforcement (defund the police), that would help. Don't cut corners when it comes to protecting politicians, though. Because ...

They could also save some money by releasing a percentage of prison inmates. It costs a lot of money to keep inmates securely locked away, well fed, etc.

Another cost savings virtual schooling. Saves on heating and AC, water, power, lunches, maintenance, bussing, sports, auxiliary personnel, all kinds of things.

Just saying.

a reply to: Phage

Public schools started with a two week delay, last week. That's probably going to change.

Worded that very badly. To clarify:

Last week it was announced that public school openings would be delayed by two weeks. They have not opened yet.

a reply to: Zanti Misfit

Ha! Give me some credit. I paid some legit cosplayers to show up as marvel superheroes a couple weeks ago and play on the playground with the kids. Thing is that even when playing kids are learning and developing social skills. They go on field trips and learn as well. Its all learning, just in a different way. Maybe that is the solution. Maybe we need to take a different approach to learning.

a reply to: drewlander

That goes without saying. I had a really interesting conversation with a second grade teacher recently.

He said that he did fairly well with online classes toward the end of the school year but the obvious problem was attention span, so he broke the lessons into 15 minute modules. He was surprised at how effective it was but clearly it was not the same as in person.

He's in the process of preparing for the school year because, as of our conversation, his school was set to open. He had always had his students sitting on the floor (not chairs, no desks) and plans to continue that. With modifications. He's putting down hula hoops to help get the idea of social distancing across. He's also devised plexiglass partitions, X shaped, where each child will sit (groups of 4). There was a problem with kids and adults bumping into the partitions so he's hung colorful streamers from them.

Private school, so funding for this sort of thing might be less problematic than for public schools.

I really feel sorry for a lot of these kids; society is really letting them down. Their have been lots of studies in the past showing how natural disasters siverly impact children who can not attend school as compared to their peers not impacted by the disaster. We are in the process of creating the forgotten generation.

a reply to: DanDanDat

We are in the process of creating the forgotten generation.

A disease is doing that.
Wars have done it as well. In various places.

This is not the best situation, but kids are highly adaptable. More so than adults. But it is up to the adults to figure out how schooling can be done safely in the near future.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: DanDanDat

We are in the process of creating the forgotten generation.

A disease is doing that.
Wars have done it as well. In various places.

A disease "is what it is" to borrow a phrase I've heard adnousium lately ... it is we humans that have the power to behave well or poorly when faced with a disease and unfortunately when tested we choose to fail.

At every level of government, local, state and federal we march forward as an incoherent mob that would rather snipe at each other than face the challenges ahead of us. As individuals we run around like lemmings feeling that our own personal opinions are paramount to all else.

Speaking of wars; if this group of people where around in the 1940s we would have lost WWII.

This is not the best situation, but kids are highly adaptable. More so than adults. But it is up to the adults to figure out how schooling can be done safely in the near future.

Are kids highly adaptable... or is that what we adults tell our selves to feel better about neglecting them?

If kids where highly adaptable we wouldn't see such disparity between kids from well todo families vs pore families.