Liability of Public Schools in the Transportation of Students

In general, a school district does not have a duty to provide transportation services to students. However, once transportation has been provided, a school district assumes a duty of care concerning the service.

Unless barred by sovereign or government immunity, a school district may be responsible for injuries occurring during the transportation to and from the school. It may be liable for injuries at designated bus stops and while children board and disembark from the bus.

What Will Liability Be Based Upon?

A school district’s liability will be based upon negligence and may be either primary negligence or vicarious negligence. An example of primary negligence would be where a school district had a duty of care to provide supervision to a bus loading area. An example of vicarious negligence is where a school district may be held responsible for the negligent actions of its driver or other agents.

How Do I Establish Whether the School District or Their Agents Were Negligent?

Negligence will turn on whether the school district had a duty of care. Duty of care will depend on the circumstances of the case and the jurisdiction in which you reside.

Duty of care may be established by the laws of the state or county where the school district is located. Furthermore, a duty of care may be formed by handbooks or regulations the school district uses to ensure safety.

Some states and jurisdictions will require reasonable, ordinary care under the circumstances, while others will require extraordinary care; determining the type of care required by your jurisdiction may affect the outcome of your case.

Who’s Liable for a School Field Trip Injury?

Say the weather is excellent, and your kid’s school may be setting up a field trip to the regional zoo or amusement park. While these trips can be educational and entertaining, these excursions away from school can also be ripe for field trip injuries.

So what transpires if a goat bites your son at a petting zoo? Or your daughter drops off the slide at the playground? These harms have occurred, and they can lead to legal liability.

Both schools and businesses can be held liable for your child’s damages. Nevertheless, you should also be aware of waivers of liability.

First, you should know that businesses that run an operation open to the public can be held responsible for injuries on their property. Businesses owe a duty to keep their premises safe to the public. This can include sustaining equipment, establishing safety devices, and warning signals. If an amusement park ride malfunctions and your kid is hurt, park operators could be liable.

Parents may also sue the school for their kid’s injuries and the business. After all, your kid is supposed to be overlooked by school personnel during these field trips. If your kid is hurt due to neglect or inadequate supervision, you could have a claim against the school.

Ultimately, you should be mindful of the impact of waivers of liability. In most circumstances, if your kid goes on a school field trip, the school will instruct the parent to sign a waiver and release of liability. Keep in mind that these waivers are not always enforceable, and the fact that you sign one is not necessarily destructive to your power to collect for a field trip injury.

What Are the Limits of Liability Waivers for Field Trips?

If your kid is going on a field trip, you will likely be asked to sign one of two common types of waivers:

• General consent waiver: This is a blanket type of waiver in which you waive your right to take legal action against a party in case of damage to yourself or, in this case, your kid. In signing the form, you accept the risks involved in the activity and declare that you are participating voluntarily and all risks have been made apparent to you. Courts in many states frown upon this type of liability waiver, as they think schools are asking parents and their kids to relinquish fundamental rights. In contrast, schools evade penalties for preventable mishaps and injuries.
• Informed consent waiver: This type of liability waiver tries to restrict the school’s liability by advising kids and their parents of the dangers and duties they assume when participating in a particular activity. Nonetheless, informed consent waivers cannot protect the school from liability for injuries to kids because of the staff’s negligence.

It is essential to understand that liability waivers will only go so far in protecting school districts. You may have grounds for a claim if you can demonstrate that a school worker, supervisor, bus driver, etc., caused or contributed to your child’s injuries on a field trip. When a potential defendant is a government agency such as a public school, you have a limited time to file a notice of your claim with the appropriate department.

What Elements Does a Court Look Into to See if a School Should Be Liable?

Specific factors that courts use can differ depending on the case at hand and standard practices within the state. The following are examples of some typical elements that can influence a school’s liability for injury to a student during a field trip:

• The age and experience of the students involved: Is this a kindergarten class or a group of undergraduate researchers?
• The field trip location: Was the class visiting a museum or an industrial factory?
• The individual accountable for the injury: Was it an employee of the school or someone else?
• Injured student’s relative fault in causing the harm: Was the student largely accountable for getting themself hurt?
• Precautions taken by the school: Did the school supply oversight and guidance?

When Is School District Negligence a Factor in Field Trip Injuries?

School districts have a duty to their students, including a commitment to warn and notify. The school might have been negligent if it failed to provide a secure facility, appropriate safety equipment, instructions, maintenance, or medical care after an accident happened. The school must notify parents or guardians if a kid is hurt on a field trip or school. When failure to notify the parents results in furtherance of the injuries, the school district can be held responsible.

To show that the school district was negligent, you must demonstrate that:

• The school district owed a duty of care to the injured student.
• The school breached that duty of care.
• The breach of duty caused the student’s accident.
• The accident resulted in harm.

Can a Third Party Be Liable for Field Trip Injuries?

Not all field trip injuries result from the school’s negligence or staff. In some circumstances, third parties are responsible, for instance, for dangerous conditions on the premises where an event took place. If a third party was negligent and that negligence caused your kid’s injuries, you may have a claim for compensation against the third party.

Does a Liability Release Form Prevent Recovery For a Student’s Injury During a Field Trip?

Most of the time, yes. Nevertheless, liability release forms will not preclude recovery for cases dealing with gross negligence (i.e., when the school fails to take safety measures even a careless individual would take) or willful/wanton misconduct (i.e., when the school deliberately acts in ways that can cause harm).

Will I Need an Attorney?

First, determine whether a duty of care was established by law or practice. To do this, look up state statutes or get a copy of the school district’s transportation safety procedures if they have one. Second, contact a government lawyer and tell them the circumstances of the case. They will be able to determine whether you will be able to recover or not.