COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) – School staff did not act recklessly when addressing reports of bullying of a kindergartner, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled.
The Nov. 10 decision reinstates a trial court victory for teacher Amanda Lute, principal Ralph Schade and assistant principal Cynthia Skaff. The question of whether they were immune from liability had been reopened by an intermediate appeals court, but the Supreme Court has ruled there is no possibility of that.
“Viewing the evidence in a light favorable to the family, the family’s evidence indicates that appellants were generally aware that A.J.R. had been subject to verbal bullying,” Justice Patrick Fischer wrote.
“The only evidence that even arguably indicates any potential risk for physical violence was the assertion that S. had pushed A.J.R. while they were in line. The record is unclear on the extent of this pushing.
“Beyond this general assertion that S. pushed A.J.R. while they were in line, the family failed to offer any evidence indicating that S. had a history or record of physical bullying or aggressiveness.”
The parents of A.J.R. say she was called names, teased and physically bullied by another student called S. in court papers.
This bullying resulted in S. stabbing A.J.R. in the face with a sharpened pencil – an incident that would have been avoidable if school employees had taken their complaints seriously, the plaintiffs argued.
Schade argued he had talked to students after he found out A.J.R. was being teased, and the teasing had stopped. Subsequently, A.J.R. told him everything was fine and also sat with a student at lunch who had previously teased her.
The Court of Appeals for Lucas County said the parents presented evidence there had been ongoing bullying, though, including a shove in a bathroom line.
“Based on the record before us, even when viewed in a light most favorable to the family, reasonable minds can come to only one conclusion: appellants were not reckless,” Fischer wrote in reversing the appeals court.