4 Ways Schools Can Avoid Coronavirus Liability Landmines This Fall – Campus Sefety
Schools must do all they can to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 on their school community. Equally, they must limit the liability exposure for their staff and the institution. These are not mutually exclusive goals.
Schools face an unprecedented challenge in the fall: the resumption of in-person educational delivery amid the coronavirus pandemic. Just what that might look like and how it will be accomplished is not yet clear. It is, however, a matter of concentrated national consideration and occasionally intense partisan debate. At a minimum, it will likely include some level of social distancing and greatly increased sanitation. Applying the processes to an entire school environment, not just classrooms, but cafeterias, playgrounds, gyms, locker rooms and school buses will pose significant planning, operational and implementation hurdles. This will not be quickly nor easily accomplished.
An issue that has been noticeably absent in the re-opening discussion is the liability exposure that schools are certain to face. The record following other disasters, the litigious nature of our society and the human need to assign blame when faced with an adverse outcome all but guarantees that litigation will follow. Compounding this issue is another reality: Nearly all school district’s liability insurance coverage specifically excludes claims related to viral infection or transmission.