State Statutes-
During my years of teaching, I often attended workshops. Some were good and some were pointless. The #MeToo middle school principal used to
run “workshops” on the equal opportunity laws.
If you are a teacher, you can relate to the “I am calling you here
because of…. then “sign here” that you
attended. Done in less than five minutes.
There is much we have to learn as teachers. Sometimes before we take the time to read and
learn the old- fashioned way, life intervenes with reality.
Teachers are not lawyers, and like everyone else who isn’t,
we have to trust in the ones who are not only writing the laws but interpreting
them as well. Educational law is complex
but not so complex that it can’t be followed.
Individual interests complicate matters.
When people want their own way, they can make it difficult for others.
As an NJEA member we were given information on “WHAT EVERY
SCHOOL EMPLOYEE SHOULD KNOW- about NEW JERSEY SCHOOL LAW. The capital lettering is their use of the
shift key.
Northfield Public Schools and NJEA did not follow the laws
on the books about liability in my case.
About your liability:
A school board is
required to “save harmless” from financial loss, teachers involved in a
negligence suit and provider legal counsel as long as the teacher was acting in
the discharge of his duties. 18A:16-6
Northfield was negligent in helping me in 1998. They offered no defense and acted as the aggressor
towards me... which is why I won the case in the appeal level of the court of unemployment. I had lawyers there-- listening, writing and taping- paid by the State of NJ. No one was sent from the school district who could counter my testimony. The best they did was send a secretary who was not employed in Northfield at the time I was there. The Department of Labor representative asked me on the last appeal if I had anything to add from the previous one. I didn't. I had said and documented it all. He told me, "Mrs. Carlino, it is not the quantity but the quality of the information that counts." I had quality. Ross, (my now ex-husband) accompanied me to the hearings and was able to sit as a support.
Teachers are held legally and contractually responsible for
maintaining discipline in a classroom. Students
are held responsible to observing the rules and regulations of the classroom
rules, district policies and state laws.
About pupil behavior:
Physical force-
corporal punishment – cannot be used as a means of discipling or punishing
pupils. 18A6-1. As long as a teacher is acting within the
scope of his employment, it may be found that a reasonable amount of force is
necessary 1. to quell a disturbance 2. to obtain possessions of weapons or
other dangerous objects. 3 for the purpose of self- defense and 4. For the
protection of persons or property.
18A:6-1.
Although the rumors at the time spanned “she hit him” to the
“violation of confidentiality”- "she should not have used initials" ( read newspaper reports of juveniles- initial that), none of the rumors, some perpetrated by other
teachers, were true. I wrote a legal workshop request and legally distributed
it to those I knew needed to be directly involved since they were also
responsible for his educational success, IEP and grades, as well as safety of
the other students in his presence while they were teaching.
Some students have individual educational plans. All teachers who work with the child needs to
know and has the legal right to know the plan.
Northfield did not get that right with the special teachers nor with
many classroom teachers. Parents usually
complain about not being kept informed by the CST. Teachers often have the same complaints. Also, the tests are necessary but the CST
members work in one to one settings with the troubled children. They have to rely on the teachers or staff
members reports for behaviors in group settings.
Most children with individual educational
plans are held responsible to follow the same rules as the other children. At this point in time and in the past, if a child can not be
held responsible for following the same rules, then the regular class is not
the least restrictive environment for them.
The child I worked with was not exempt from following classroom rules,
district policy or state laws.
18A: 37-1 Submission of pupils
to authority
Pupils in the public
schools shall comply with the rules established in pursuance of law for the
government of such schools, purse the prescribed course of study and submit to
the authority of the teachers and others in authority over them.
Any pupil who is
guilty of continued and willful disobedience or of open defiance of the authority
of any teacher or person having authority over him, or of the habitual use of
profanity or of obscene language, or who shall cut, deface or otherwise injure
any school property, shall be liable to punishment and suspension or expulsion
from school.
(The law goes into
detail with examples.)
18A:37-2.1 Suspension,
expulsion of pupil for assault, appeal; report
Any pupil who commits
and assault, as defined pursuant to N.J.S.2C:12-1, upon a teacher, administrator,
board member or other employee of a board of education, acting in performance
of his duties and in a situation where his authority to act so is apparent, or
as a result of the victim’s relationship to an institution of public education
of this State, not involving the use of a weapon or firearm, shall be
immediately suspended from school consistent with the procedural due process pending
suspension or expulsion proceedings before the local board of education.
(There is additional information but the following is one
many teachers or administrators may fail to realize is also the law…no matter
if you don’t want to get someone in trouble.)
Any person who fails to file a
report of an alleged assault as required pursuant to this subsection may be
liable to disciplinary action by the board of education of the district.
This is the one that the #MeToo
middle school principal and the civics teacher (local politician) failed to
follow:
"You have the right to have a representative
of your own choosing present at interviews which have been called by the board
or a board committee at which your status of employment may be in jeopardy. "
What I failed to comprehend is
that it also included – you have the right to have witnesses. I did not bring anyone other than the Uniserve
Officer with me to the closed- door meeting.
That was my mistake and his incompetence in representing me.
I caution teachers to
know their rights and responsibilities when I talk to them. In New
Jersey, the Public School Safety Law
became effective on October 28, 1982.
Do you think the administration had the best interest of a troubled child in mind? Were they protecting the other 24 children in the class or the other staff and children in the school by going after me?
Do you think anyone in Parkland, Florida.. who spoke up--- "went to the mattresses" for Cruz (not Tom) or the other students, staff or community members directly in his path--- before February 14, 2018? Do you think there are existing laws to deal with the Cruz's (not Tom) who are out there planning the next massacre?
Marian R. Carlino
June 6, 2018
