Transcript WSSAAA Presentation

Claims Professionals • Personnel Experts • Risk Managers
www.canfieldsolutions.com
Disclaimer
Please understand that the purpose of this
presentation and handout is educational.
Nothing in either should be construed as
specific legal advice for a particular
situation. Sound legal advice requires an
understanding of all the facts of a
particular situation, something that cannot
occur in an educational setting.
Technology in
Athletics
Legal Duties
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To provide health care
Provide a safe environment
Warn of dangers
Properly instruct
Properly classify athletes
Provide proper supervision
Enforce rules and regulations
Provide safe transportation
Up-hold students rights and responsibilities
Providing a Safe Environment
• What are “Safe Environment” issues?
• Facilities
– Unsafe equipment
– Supervision issues
• Coaching Conduct
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Harassment (including sexual harassment)
Hazing conduct
Misconduct issues
Bullying
Providing a Safe Environment
• NOTE: Most common request by building
administration deals with bullying and
harassment of coaches towards their
players
• 160,000 kids a day
avoid school because
of bullying and
harassment issues
What are our goals?
• Today 60% of all students view safety as
the number one issue in schools today.
• Today 90% of parents
feel safety is the
number one issue
today.
Bullying/Harassment
• 15 year old girl commits suicide after
rape/harassment and bullying by other
students in her school
• 13 year old Texas youth hangs himself
after bullying by classmates
• 15 year old Colorado girl commits suicide
after sending nude picture to boyfriend
who sends it to others, harassment leads
to her death
Providing a Safe Environment
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Administrators, teachers, coaches,
classified staff need to WALK
THEIR TALK!
When a student sees an administrator
berating, bullying or harassing a staff
member, what is the message sent to students?
When a student sees a staff member putting down
another staff member, what is the message sent to
the student?
Students wonder why adults get away with
improper behavior yet students get in trouble for
the same actions!
District Liability and Parent’s
Expectations
• Parents have the expectation that their
children will return to them in the same
condition or better than when they left for
school!
• Theory of “in loco parentis” (in the place of
parents)
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Types of Misconduct
• What is misconduct and how
does it occur?
• Anything that occurs outside
of your “Duty of Ordinary Care”
• A breech of your duty
• Types?
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Legal Terminology
• Deliberate indifference:
– When a school district employee, agent or
volunteer chooses to act outside the policies,
procedures of the district and/or the rules and
regulations governing the activity, the person
may be guilty of deliberate indifference and
therefore exposing themselves to personal
liability
Canfield & Associates
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Diary of a Victim
Samples of Causes
• Bullying from peers
• Bullying from adults
• Harassment-including
sexual
• Family issues including
abuse/neglect
• Sexting
• Etc.
Diary of a Victim
What do they do?
• Retaliates or Withdraws
• Abuse pushes victim into
“Shell of Silence”
• Socially Stymied
• BUT, NOW (with access to a
variety of social electronic communications and
networking)
• Victims don’t have to directly confront the
problem
Social Media: What is it?
• Social Media is a method of
mass communication in which
collaborative online tools are
used to aid individuals and
businesses in the
dissemination of information
directly to the masses
An Antiquated
Form of
Communication:
Norman
Rockwell’s “The
Gossips”
Information Athletic Administrators
Gather from Electronic Sources
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Students using drugs or alcohol
Students involved in violent acts
Threats against other students
Threats against school or athletics
personnel
• Harassment (aka “Cyberbullying”)
• Sexual predators – major issue in California
schools sponsoring water polo
Why is it important?
• The Internet revolutionized
the way in which we
communicate. For interpersonal
communication, the Internet is the most
important invention since the printing press was
invented in the 15th Century.
• Social Media further revolutionizes Internet
communication by allowing everyone to use with
little or no computing skills, and with little, or no
additional cost
Technology and Communication in
the 21st Century: A Menu of Options
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Facebook (350 Million Users Worldwide)
You Tube
My Space
Text Messaging
On-Line Scrapbooking
Blogs
Chat Rooms
Photo Album
Email
Twitter
Cell Phones
How Social Media Impacts
Your Organization
Pros:
• Instant access to your content. Information is no
longer strictly limited to a computer monitor –
Smartphone users can receive instant updates of
your content (scores, press releases, etc)
• An organization can disseminate their message with
limited resources – both manpower and monetary.
It’s fast and in most cases…free.
• You are in control of the message and are no longer
at the mercy of mass media.
• Allows you to be in front of the News Cycle – instant
access means your audience doesn’t have to wait
for the next TV newscast or daily newspaper.
How Social Media Impacts
Your Organization
Cons:
• Content must be timely. If you have
outdated content, you will lose your
audience quickly.
• Content must be well produced and
attractive. In most cases, the Social
Media outlets do most of the visual work
for you so you can focus on content (this
has become a marketing tool)
How Social Media Impacts Your
Organization
• Instant access to your content. This is a con
as well as a pro. If you make a mistake, 10s
or 100s of users can see it
before you revise or delete
the post. You are walking a
a
tight rope - if a user is
receiving instant message
Twitter updates, there is no way to take that
tweet back.
Boundary Invasion
• Nearly every incident started with text
messaging-IM or email.
• What is your district policy on:
– Text students
– Emailing students
– Transporting students
– NOTE: Remember, perception is reality
Boundary Invasion
• Every investigation
our company has
done in reference to
boundary invasions,
has had at least one
person in the building
who knew about the
issue and did not act.
• Grooming the child
– Identifying a vulnerable child
– Engaging in peer like behavior
– Desensitizing the child to touch
– Isolating the child
– Making the child feel responsible
Examples of Boundary
Invasions
• Taking an undue interest in a student (i.e.,
having a “special” friend or a “special
relationship” with a particular student)
• Engaging in peer like behavior with
students (i.e., being cool by being like one
of the kids)
• Being overly “touchy” with certain students
Examples of Boundary
Invasions
• Engaging in inappropriate communications
• Talking to a student about problems that
would normally be discussed with adults
(e.g., marital problems)
• Talking to the student about the student’s
personal problems to the extent that the
adult becomes a confidant of the child
when it is not adult’s job to do so
Examples of Boundary
Invasions
• Favoring certain students by giving them
specials privileges
• Favoring certain students by inviting them
to come to the classroom at non-class
times
• Allowing the student to get away with
inappropriate behavior
• Being alone with the student behind
closed doors at school
Examples of Boundary
Invasions
• Engaging in talk containing sexual
innuendo or banter with students
• Talking about sexual topics that are not
related to a specific curriculum
• Using email, text-messaging, instant
messaging or personal Web pages/social
networking sites to discuss personal topics
or interests with students
Examples of Boundary
Invasions
• Invading the
student’s privacy
(e.g., walking in on
the student in the
bathroom)
• Showing pornography to the student
• Hugging, kissing, or other physical contact
when the student does not want this
attention
Examples of Boundary
Invasions
• Initiating or extending contact with
students beyond the school day
• Taking the student on outings, away from
protective adults
• Giving students rides in the teacher’s
personal vehicle
Avoiding Allegations of
Misconduct
• Communications with students:
– Emails: Do not use personal accounts
– Test messages: Do not use
– Phone calls: Avoid making personal phone
calls
– Social Websites (e.g., MySpace/Facebook):
Set to private
Current Research
• Information from the Office of Professional
Practices January 26, 2010
• Total number of misconduct offenders in the past
5 years that OSPI had to investigate• 532 investigations- 176 no guilt was found- 56
voluntarily surrendered their certificate
• Canfield investigated- 46 cases in the past 6
years- 34 were coaches, advisors or someone
involved with extra curricular responsibilities
Current Cases
• Women’s basketball coach terminated for
inappropriate contact
• Coach sued for requesting Facebook
logins
• Teacher charged with inappropriate text
messaging
Key Questions for Athletic
Administrators to Consider
• What First Amendment rights may a student
exercise in a school setting or as a member
of an interscholastic athletic program?
• Can student-athletes expect a right to
privacy?
• How can an athletic administrator enforce the athletic
code effectively while still respecting student rights?
• How can policies be effectively written to account for the
challenges posed by the use of technology?
• What are some effective pro-active and reactive
strategies for meeting these challenges?
Recent Court Cases on Student Use
of Technology and School Discipline
• Beussink v. Woodland R-IV
School District (1998) – student
Web page uses crude language
to criticize high school
• Emmett v. Kent School District (2000) – “hit list”
• Killion v. Franklin Regional School District (2001)
– posting of “top ten list” about athletic director
Recent Court Cases on Student Use
of Technology and School Discipline
• Flaherty v. Keystone Oaks (2002)
– student removed from volleyball
team when making critical remarks
about teacher on-line
• Layshock v. Hermitage School District (2007) –
parody of school principal on MySpace
• Wisniewski v. Board of Education (2007) –
student suspended for displaying an IM icon
suggesting a staff member be killed
Educating Yourself about
Technology
• Get your own Facebook page – learn how
social networking sites operate
• Follow current court rulings, particularly in
your state or circuit
• Attend workshops on the subject
Educating Yourself about
Technology
• Have conversations with colleagues to
learn how they address issues
• Examine sample policies from other
schools (samples provided)
• WiredTrust.com –Internet
risk management
newsletters
Developing a Policy: Goals
• Explain district’s position on Web-based
technology – what is considered
“inappropriate”
• Explain what parameters are considered
when handling potentially “inappropriate”
communication
• Set protocols for determining how to
handle scenarios in which information is
obtained
Developing a Policy –
Guidelines to Follow
• Engage key stakeholders in the process (school
board, school administration, coaches, captains
councils)
• Be careful to not be so vague that you do not
communicate types of prohibited conduct to
students
• Should not be designed to be a negative
statement about technology, but how athletic
code will be enforced when information is
received from electronic sources
Communicating the Policy
• Students
– Captains Council
– Student-Athlete handbooks
– Hazing statement
• Parents
– Parent information night
– Public presentations before school committee
– Conversations with Parent Teacher Organizations
• Coaches
– Coaches meetings – ensure that coaches
understand process
Educating Students About the
Issue
 Students know how to
utilize the technology, but
do not always understand
the long-term impact of
their decisions
 Future employers check
activity of potential
employees
 UnumProvident –
Facebook used to check
long-term disability claims
Educating Members of the
Coaching Staff
 Notify a member of
school administration
when concerns arise
 Personal use of the
Internet for
communication
 Maintaining
appropriate boundaries
 Be wary of becoming
“friends” of students on
social networks
Educating Members of the
Coaching Staff
 Be careful when using
technology as a means of
business communication
 Why the message?
 What is the message?
(limit to name, rank and
serial number)
 Can you control the
outcome of the message?
Evaluating Information: Key
Questions
• Is or was the safety of a student
or students involved in the
activity in jeopardy?
• Has an illegal act been performed?
• Are other students or staff possibly in
danger?
Evaluating Information: Key
Questions
• Does the nature of the information posted
pose possible disruption to the
order of the school?
• Is there evidence that the student
has possibly violated the athletic code?
• Who has received training?
Claims Professionals • Personnel Experts • Risk Managers
www.canfieldsolutions.com