Here is the rest of the story. “New Jersey Supreme rules parents are not responsible” When schools dismiss the whole day for weather events the parents are upset because it upsets their plans. I have an idea. Don’t have children and you can aviod both the inconvience and responsibility that comes with having children. You will also avoid the inconvience of grandchildren and wondering who will take care of you later in your life.
What a disgusting ruling. It bascially absolves parents of any and all responsibility of their children and places it all in the lap of the school. What pure B.S. I hope they appeal and fight this bogus decision. If you can’t take care of your children maybe you should have had any in the first place.
I felt the same way until I read that it was an early dismissal. I’m sorry, I think we need tort reform and all, but it seems to me that this is not at all unreasonable. Students should have been sent home with a slip for parents to sign indicating that school would let out early on that day to ensure the wellbeing of the children in its care. In loco parentis means that they are to be as careful for the children as their parents would be, and the parents were obviously not in the habit of letting this boy run wild with no supervision.
Exactly — if the parents don’t have notice that school will be dismissed early, they don’t have the opportunity to be responsible for their children. Unless LR and MaryB are suggesting that parents go to school with their children every day and wait at the school gates for dismissal, the parents have to have a way of knowing *when* their children are leaving school custody.
Now, when this goes to trial, I would not be surprised to see that the school has a defense — I’ve never attended a NJ school, but every school I or my children have attended has sent home calendars, notices of upcoming holidays and early dismissals, etc. If it turns out this school really provided no notice of an early dismissal, then the school was clearly negligent. If the school did provide multiple notices and the parents simply forgot, that’s the parents’ negligence. But that’s a question of fact for the trial.
I don’t know about elsewhere, but in the midwest, every time a school is to be let out for weather related reasons it is announced on TV, the radio stations, on a website dedicated to school closings and a blast email is sent to the parents of children in the schools.
I do realize that some do not have access to the above at their jobs and that is understandable, but parents should always have a backup system in place for instances such as this. It is not the school’s responsibility that this kid was playing in the street.
Can you imagine being a school administrator if this ruling holds? You will basically have to babysit all students until their parents are able to pick up their kids so that you can transfer responsibility to them.
I’m certain that the school did send a note home for the parents advising of the early release…they probably sent it home with the kid himself, and knowing how kids operate sometimes I’ll wager the note was lost by the kid, or never found its way out of his backpack, or the parents never thought to look through his backpack or school bag to see what their kid was doing in school. In my mind there is no substitute for parental responsibility and the notion that parents can shuck this duty off on schools or malls or friends and relatives is absolute BS.
This one has a rather easy solution. Dollars. Initiate a broad letter to parents authorizing the school to dismiss etc. As an alternative in the letter if the parent decides not to sign the waiver, the school will hold the children in the gym or caf. at a rate of $25/hour. Parent will be called as to where their child is.
Money talks but this story is just tragic as one where no money can fix.
My faith in humanity has been restored by the comments of the majority on this issue. A critical piece of information needed to make an informed judgment is missing, that being the circumstances of how the kid got hit. Was the driver negligent? Did the kid usually walk to school? If so, it shouldn’t matter what time school let out.
Having been a member of multiple school boards and having a wife who is a teacher, I would find it a rare situation when a school let out early for anything but a weather emergency. It’s a fact of life that people put their careers/jobs before their children when a school is involved. They mistakenly rely on the school and the teachers to be their default baby sitters. God forbid the parents are inconvenienced by an early dismissal. Teachers aren’t paid to baby-sit students until parents arrive. In spite of “fines” for being late, parents never pay them anyway. The simple truth is, if you decided to have a family, you made the comittment to take care of your children. If you need to compromise your career so bit. Otherwise, as one respondent correctly pointed out, why did you have kids in the first place? It may sound harsh, but too may working parents “want it all” but don’t want to pay the price.
If there’s one thing I remember having a grasp of as a kid in school it’s when we were let out early and talking about it nonstop. And, I HIGHLY doubt this was an impromptu event because, lets use our brains here, schools don’t do that. Furthermore, I know when I was in school (all the way through high school) we were given calendars to take home that let parents know of holidays, conferences, etc…
Personally, I find it rather fishy these parents claim they knew nothing of a half day.
Sounds like they were forgetful and are looking to place blame.
You know what I find really funny though, is that parents have put down the iron fist on what a teacher can and cannot do (discipline) but now, it’s the teachers responsibility to care for the child AFTER school as well???
you need to have a license to drive a car, own a gun, sell liquor, teach, practice medicine, etc….but any MORON can have a child. awesome.
I googled the school system, and surprise, surprise they have an online calendar with events, early dismissals, etc. I believe that it can be fairly assumed that they inform parents of early dismissals.
I wonder if the State Supreme Court or the Appeals Court considered this?!
My wife is an Elementary school principal in VA. You can’t imagine how much parents demand of educators and how little they demand of themselves.
Hopefully, the preponderance of the evidence will result in dismissal.
Excellent point, stunned! I think you hit it right on the head…if the child was hit at 3:30, shouldn’t the parents have been there by that time anyway!?
What we have here is a perfect example of the social-progressive attitude, and the arrogance of the courts, dictating that no one should ever be allowed to be injured by anything without recovering monies from someone, regardless of fault, or the facts and circumstances that may impose duties on the injured person or his/her family. What is also amazing is that this was a unanimous decision by all of the justices. My God, isn’t there any hope left for some sensibility and assignment of responsibilities where they should reside? NJ residents, expect property taxes to increase because of this decision – we’ll now be obligated to pay for baby-sitters.
Our society values are so far out of whack that the Pope has to plead for sanity on the roads by suggesting the 10 commandments of driving. Personal responsibility has been eroded to the point of absurdity in this country. ARC is right, our legal system thinks somebody has to pay for everything that happens. Our judges, lawyers themselves, don’t have the stones to throw out any frivolous or non-meritorius suit. People have bantered about tort reform for decades but don’t think it will happen anytime soon. Too many lawyers have bellied up to the social trough.
Your comment: ….”In my mind there is no substitute for parental responsibility and the notion that parents can shuck this duty off on schools or malls or friends and relatives is absolute BS.” …is absolutely on the mark; I could not say it better. A lawsuit like this would not have made it anywhere when I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s…my parents would never have the nerve to admit that they weren’t responsible for their children, nor would they expect the school to take on their responsibility.
Not saying that I don’t think you bring up an important thing to consider, but I think we need to note that the article notes that the accident happened “blocks away from the school.”
Perhaps the brother did indeed show up at the proper time, but was unable to find his sibling? Say school ended at 230- even if the brother did go out to look for his younger sibling, he probably would have waited around for a little while, assuming he was just late. Even if he waited just ten minutes and the little brother was within five square blocks, I don’t find it hard to believe that the older brother may not have been able to find him in 50 minutes time.
I’m not at all saying that it does- just saying that maybe the fact that the brother wasn’t around isn’t necessarily the nail in the coffin we would think it may be for the parent’s responsibility.
I read the ruling and still can’t agree. this whole thing would not have happened had the child had a different type of parenting. The child did not inform his parents or siblings that he had a half-day, even though he had done the same thing the day before. And if the child was not permitted to walk home by himself, and had done so the day before, why didn’t the parents/sibling remind the school of that problem? More to the point, the child, knowing he was not supposed to walk home by himself, took it upon himself to take a long way home for entertainment…..as I see it, you can’t make the child be responsible but if a parent knows their child does things like this, why should the school be punished for what seems to be to be a lack of discipline from both the child and the parent? It was the child’s and parent’s lack of responsibility which created the peril, not the school….the school can only act, when it is notified that is should!!!
All of you parents out there that would rely on a NINE YEAR OLD to tell you their schedule – report early dismissals – vacation time – holidays etc Raise Your Hands…. Oh yeah, and tell you the night before that they have a 5 page book report due the next day and havent even read the book…
Exactly – Give me a break – any “normal” or halfway intellegent person would take it upon themselves to become involved in their children’s school including activities – schedules – etc. The father was obviously not a “first timer” if he had two other boys that were older and who obviously were put “in charge” of minding their brother –
The father seems to be the guilty party here – not the school district – It seems like they’ve done everything they could to make certain the parents were notified of the schools schedule –
The parents couldn’t have been that oblivious to think that there weren’t scheduled days off – especially at the end of the year – It’s a given!!!
I know I personally have signed similar handbook confirmation documents through my son’s entire elementary – and including his high school years – He’s 18 and a senior and I still have to sign!
Tragic end for a life so young – but there has to be some personal responsibility taken by the parents of this child – Not lay it off on someone because they screwed up…
Here is the rest of the story. “New Jersey Supreme rules parents are not responsible” When schools dismiss the whole day for weather events the parents are upset because it upsets their plans. I have an idea. Don’t have children and you can aviod both the inconvience and responsibility that comes with having children. You will also avoid the inconvience of grandchildren and wondering who will take care of you later in your life.
What a disgusting ruling. It bascially absolves parents of any and all responsibility of their children and places it all in the lap of the school. What pure B.S. I hope they appeal and fight this bogus decision. If you can’t take care of your children maybe you should have had any in the first place.
Finally, a voice of reason. Why is everyone responsible for every child in every way with the possible exception of its conception?
I felt the same way until I read that it was an early dismissal. I’m sorry, I think we need tort reform and all, but it seems to me that this is not at all unreasonable. Students should have been sent home with a slip for parents to sign indicating that school would let out early on that day to ensure the wellbeing of the children in its care. In loco parentis means that they are to be as careful for the children as their parents would be, and the parents were obviously not in the habit of letting this boy run wild with no supervision.
Exactly — if the parents don’t have notice that school will be dismissed early, they don’t have the opportunity to be responsible for their children. Unless LR and MaryB are suggesting that parents go to school with their children every day and wait at the school gates for dismissal, the parents have to have a way of knowing *when* their children are leaving school custody.
Now, when this goes to trial, I would not be surprised to see that the school has a defense — I’ve never attended a NJ school, but every school I or my children have attended has sent home calendars, notices of upcoming holidays and early dismissals, etc. If it turns out this school really provided no notice of an early dismissal, then the school was clearly negligent. If the school did provide multiple notices and the parents simply forgot, that’s the parents’ negligence. But that’s a question of fact for the trial.
I don’t know about elsewhere, but in the midwest, every time a school is to be let out for weather related reasons it is announced on TV, the radio stations, on a website dedicated to school closings and a blast email is sent to the parents of children in the schools.
I do realize that some do not have access to the above at their jobs and that is understandable, but parents should always have a backup system in place for instances such as this. It is not the school’s responsibility that this kid was playing in the street.
Can you imagine being a school administrator if this ruling holds? You will basically have to babysit all students until their parents are able to pick up their kids so that you can transfer responsibility to them.
I’m certain that the school did send a note home for the parents advising of the early release…they probably sent it home with the kid himself, and knowing how kids operate sometimes I’ll wager the note was lost by the kid, or never found its way out of his backpack, or the parents never thought to look through his backpack or school bag to see what their kid was doing in school. In my mind there is no substitute for parental responsibility and the notion that parents can shuck this duty off on schools or malls or friends and relatives is absolute BS.
I wonder how NO STUDENT is so “certain
the school did send a note”?
This one has a rather easy solution. Dollars. Initiate a broad letter to parents authorizing the school to dismiss etc. As an alternative in the letter if the parent decides not to sign the waiver, the school will hold the children in the gym or caf. at a rate of $25/hour. Parent will be called as to where their child is.
Money talks but this story is just tragic as one where no money can fix.
My faith in humanity has been restored by the comments of the majority on this issue. A critical piece of information needed to make an informed judgment is missing, that being the circumstances of how the kid got hit. Was the driver negligent? Did the kid usually walk to school? If so, it shouldn’t matter what time school let out.
Having been a member of multiple school boards and having a wife who is a teacher, I would find it a rare situation when a school let out early for anything but a weather emergency. It’s a fact of life that people put their careers/jobs before their children when a school is involved. They mistakenly rely on the school and the teachers to be their default baby sitters. God forbid the parents are inconvenienced by an early dismissal. Teachers aren’t paid to baby-sit students until parents arrive. In spite of “fines” for being late, parents never pay them anyway. The simple truth is, if you decided to have a family, you made the comittment to take care of your children. If you need to compromise your career so bit. Otherwise, as one respondent correctly pointed out, why did you have kids in the first place? It may sound harsh, but too may working parents “want it all” but don’t want to pay the price.
If there’s one thing I remember having a grasp of as a kid in school it’s when we were let out early and talking about it nonstop. And, I HIGHLY doubt this was an impromptu event because, lets use our brains here, schools don’t do that. Furthermore, I know when I was in school (all the way through high school) we were given calendars to take home that let parents know of holidays, conferences, etc…
Personally, I find it rather fishy these parents claim they knew nothing of a half day.
Sounds like they were forgetful and are looking to place blame.
You know what I find really funny though, is that parents have put down the iron fist on what a teacher can and cannot do (discipline) but now, it’s the teachers responsibility to care for the child AFTER school as well???
you need to have a license to drive a car, own a gun, sell liquor, teach, practice medicine, etc….but any MORON can have a child. awesome.
I googled the school system, and surprise, surprise they have an online calendar with events, early dismissals, etc. I believe that it can be fairly assumed that they inform parents of early dismissals.
I wonder if the State Supreme Court or the Appeals Court considered this?!
My wife is an Elementary school principal in VA. You can’t imagine how much parents demand of educators and how little they demand of themselves.
Hopefully, the preponderance of the evidence will result in dismissal.
If this accident happened at 3:30 where was the adult sibling that was scheduled to pick him up? In N.Y. most schools are out between 2:30 and 3:00PM.
Perhaps the parents are looking to keep the responibility of child rearing on others then the family that had the child.
Excellent point, stunned! I think you hit it right on the head…if the child was hit at 3:30, shouldn’t the parents have been there by that time anyway!?
Genius!!!
What we have here is a perfect example of the social-progressive attitude, and the arrogance of the courts, dictating that no one should ever be allowed to be injured by anything without recovering monies from someone, regardless of fault, or the facts and circumstances that may impose duties on the injured person or his/her family. What is also amazing is that this was a unanimous decision by all of the justices. My God, isn’t there any hope left for some sensibility and assignment of responsibilities where they should reside? NJ residents, expect property taxes to increase because of this decision – we’ll now be obligated to pay for baby-sitters.
Our society values are so far out of whack that the Pope has to plead for sanity on the roads by suggesting the 10 commandments of driving. Personal responsibility has been eroded to the point of absurdity in this country. ARC is right, our legal system thinks somebody has to pay for everything that happens. Our judges, lawyers themselves, don’t have the stones to throw out any frivolous or non-meritorius suit. People have bantered about tort reform for decades but don’t think it will happen anytime soon. Too many lawyers have bellied up to the social trough.
Your comment: ….”In my mind there is no substitute for parental responsibility and the notion that parents can shuck this duty off on schools or malls or friends and relatives is absolute BS.” …is absolutely on the mark; I could not say it better. A lawsuit like this would not have made it anywhere when I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s…my parents would never have the nerve to admit that they weren’t responsible for their children, nor would they expect the school to take on their responsibility.
Not saying that I don’t think you bring up an important thing to consider, but I think we need to note that the article notes that the accident happened “blocks away from the school.”
Perhaps the brother did indeed show up at the proper time, but was unable to find his sibling? Say school ended at 230- even if the brother did go out to look for his younger sibling, he probably would have waited around for a little while, assuming he was just late. Even if he waited just ten minutes and the little brother was within five square blocks, I don’t find it hard to believe that the older brother may not have been able to find him in 50 minutes time.
Just a thought…
I don’t understand the relevance of your point…how does that make it the schools fault?
I’m not at all saying that it does- just saying that maybe the fact that the brother wasn’t around isn’t necessarily the nail in the coffin we would think it may be for the parent’s responsibility.
I wonder if the brother’s school was let out early as well…that would be interesting to know.
I too believe that the parent(s) bear far more responsiblity for the safety of their children than a school district.
Read this & draw your own conclusions.
http://www.njsba.org/legal_02/jerkins-versus-anderson.pdf
I read the ruling and still can’t agree. this whole thing would not have happened had the child had a different type of parenting. The child did not inform his parents or siblings that he had a half-day, even though he had done the same thing the day before. And if the child was not permitted to walk home by himself, and had done so the day before, why didn’t the parents/sibling remind the school of that problem? More to the point, the child, knowing he was not supposed to walk home by himself, took it upon himself to take a long way home for entertainment…..as I see it, you can’t make the child be responsible but if a parent knows their child does things like this, why should the school be punished for what seems to be to be a lack of discipline from both the child and the parent? It was the child’s and parent’s lack of responsibility which created the peril, not the school….the school can only act, when it is notified that is should!!!
All of you parents out there that would rely on a NINE YEAR OLD to tell you their schedule – report early dismissals – vacation time – holidays etc Raise Your Hands…. Oh yeah, and tell you the night before that they have a 5 page book report due the next day and havent even read the book…
Exactly – Give me a break – any “normal” or halfway intellegent person would take it upon themselves to become involved in their children’s school including activities – schedules – etc. The father was obviously not a “first timer” if he had two other boys that were older and who obviously were put “in charge” of minding their brother –
The father seems to be the guilty party here – not the school district – It seems like they’ve done everything they could to make certain the parents were notified of the schools schedule –
The parents couldn’t have been that oblivious to think that there weren’t scheduled days off – especially at the end of the year – It’s a given!!!
I know I personally have signed similar handbook confirmation documents through my son’s entire elementary – and including his high school years – He’s 18 and a senior and I still have to sign!
Tragic end for a life so young – but there has to be some personal responsibility taken by the parents of this child – Not lay it off on someone because they screwed up…