A_Legal_Scenario

Appendix 2 - Individual Benchmark Assignment – Due Week 4 Preparing for the Worst: A Legal Scenario In the course of a week several things can go wrong in a school. Most of the issues that arise are very easy to solve. However, on occasion, there is one that can be very complicated and require a lot of knowledge and resources to solve it. The scenario given is one of those complicated issues that the leadership must solve in a thorough but timely manner. Directions to leadership candidates: 1. Read “A Legal Scenario.” 2. Share the scenario with an administrator in your building. Ask the administrator what he or she would have done in this situation. 3. Using your text, instructor presentations, policies, case reviews from http://www.nsba.org/site/index.asp click on “School Law,” and notes taken from your interview with an administrator; write a position paper. 4. Your position paper should include (a) the position you would take in this situation with sound rationale, (b) a detailed outline of what steps you would take to resolve the situation, (c) why you decided these steps would be the best course of action, (d) what suggestions would you make to minimize the school’s potential liability in this matter, and (e) what would you, as the administrator in charge, need to put into place to minimize such liability situations in the future. 5. The length of your paper should be 5 to 7 pages and follow the APA writing style. A Legal Scenario At nine in the morning the nurse had a student enter her office. She was very pale and staggering as she walked toward the nurse’s desk. Before the nurse could ask her what was wrong, the student collapsed and fell to the floor. The nurse checked the student’s pulse, made sure her air passage was clear, and called for an ambulance. After calling for the ambulance, the nurse called the principal’s office. As soon as she hung up the phone another student staggered into her office. He complained about a headache, dizziness and stomach pains. He was told to lay down on one of the cots in her office. She took his temperature, checked his pulse, and called the office to report this student’s illness. As the first student was being wheeled out to the ambulance, two teachers brought in five more students who were displaying the same symptoms as the first two students. The medics called for assistance. The principal, thinking that there might be a gas leak in the building, contacted the fire department and the gas company. The principal also evacuated the building. No problems in and around the building were found. The principal decided to go to the hospital and interview the seven students to try to find out what made them sick. The students were unable to shed any light on what made them sick. When the principal returned to the building, a group of students were waiting in the office. They indicated to her that they saw the seven students who got sick taking cleaning supplies from the custodial closet by their classroom. The principal asked the custodian to verify the students’ claim. The custodian reported back that several bottles of chemicals were missing. The principal informed the parents of the seven students that she was suspending them from school for being in an unauthorized area of the school and for engaging in substance abuse on school property. She decided to give the students the maximum days out because of the severity of the offenses with a possible recommendation for expulsion. The parents responded by filing a law suit against the school district and the principal. |Grading Criteria |Point Value | |Presented a position on the issue with sound rationale to reinforce his/her position. |10 | |Detailed action steps that will be taken to resolve the situation and why the steps chosen are the best course of |8 | |action. | | |Included information from the four sources outlined. |10 | |Suggested how to minimize potential liability. |10 | |Followed the APA guidelines. |2 | |Total Point Value |40 |