It is March during the heart of the state?s performing band competition season. Massey Senior High School band (composed of 10th, 11th, & 12th graders ? there are nine 8th graders playing with the band) is rapidly completing a very successful performance season. Many of the parents have been great supporters and fund raisers for the band; the principal, Mr. Bentley, has been greatly pleased with the band, the band members, parents? support for the band, and especially for the band director, Ms. Jane Eagle.
Jane Eagle is a second year teacher; she teaches band at Massey Senior High School and at the Furgason Junior High School. Ms. Eagle is a very pretty, petite, and single 24 year-old woman. She is well respected by her students, their parents, and other faculty members. Ms. Eagle is a true ?beach-bunny, California-Import? in every sense of the word; she had moved into the district from the Chula Vista section of southern California. She confidently tells everyone that she had not seen much cold, ice, or snow in her career; there are few spots in southern California that experience snow, cold, or ice.
The band, successful at the state competition, boarded the three buses to make the three hundred miles trip back home. Ms. Eagle is quite elated with the band?s performance that she assumes that the drivers? of the buses will check on weather condition, condition of the buses, and highway conditions. It is 12:00 PM when the buses depart the state capitol for home. The sky is beginning to darken quickly. The buses travel almost 200 miles with a minimum amount of snowflakes to be seen. The buses make the first rest stop; a decision by all of the adults is reached to continue non-stop until the buses are home.
After about 15 minutes of traveling, the snow storm is now upon the three buses. The storm makes driving almost impossible. A general decision is made by ?an unknown person? to pull over to the side of the road to wait for a short time until the storm eases; it is not 6:00 PM. The wait (32 minutes in length) produces 4 inches of snow with no visible sings of the storm easing. Ms. Eagle suggests that they try to find a place to spend the night. All three buses return to the highway to find a place to spend the night. Travel is quite difficult; after one hour of driving, they find a motel willing to accept the large group.
Because of the snow storm, the motel has only 14 rooms available; there are 124 people on three buses. This means that each room will have to sleep 9 people to a room. The motel is willing to make the adjustments; unfortunately there are not an equal number of boys and girls in the group. This means that some boys and girls will have to occupy rooms. The boys and girls quickly decide on the grouping for the respective rooms. Mixed group sleeping arrangements is the standard; the students are delighted. Ms. Eagle and several of the adults use their credit cards to pay for the rooms; Ms. Eagle assures the adults that they will receive their money back once the school district discusses their situation. The total prepayment was $945.97. Ms. Eagle has never seen a snow storm and is in a ?state of shock.?
Many students play in the snow in various states of dress and undress, the students refer to it as ?this is an orgy of fun.? The motel management has never encountered so many high school students behaving in a manner similar to this. In the letter to the superintendent, they state, ?It was like being at a ?Roman Orgy,? I have never, ever witnessed such total disregard for property and a sense of ?human decency.?
In one particular room, Joan Junkel and Mark Engle decide to cement their love; they make a baby! They and four other couples had decided to share their love with one another. Because of the total of 46 inches of snow and the 15 degree weather, the students remain at the motel for a total of 3 days. The students are delighted with this arrangement. When the buses leave the motel, the final total for the rooms, the incidental damages, room service, and telephone calls was $9,577.15; this included the prepayment. Ms. Eagle weakly stated, ?This is going to mean that we spend the entire summer washing cars! Remember this time well!? When the buses return to Micaville, they and Ms. Eagle quickly become the talk of the town.
On Tuesday afternoon, three days following the return, the principal and Ms. Eagle witness a mass demonstration of almost 900 people in front of the high school demanding both of their resignations. Teachers, parents, and students are becoming quite alarmed by the escalating circumstances. The demonstrations last almost 4 hours with plenty of coverage by the local television, radio, and newspapers. The events quickly begin to hasten following the demonstration. On Wednesday morning the superintendent receives an additional bill for damages to the motel in the amount of $21,118.11.
Three days later the board of education calls a special meeting to decide what to do. The board of education has received hundreds of telephone calls, letters, emails, faxes, and visits from well over 2,000 citizens of Micaville; the community is not happy. The board of education decides to dismiss Ms. Eagle immediately; they decide to demote the high school principal to a teaching position. They fire all three bus drivers. The superintendent is given a severe letter of reprimand and is served with noticed to begin to look for employment at the next contract period talks.
The local attorneys are delighted. It appears that there are law suits for everyone.
Ms. Eagle was greatly negligent in this scenario. Ms. Eagle owed a large standard of care due to the activities involved; traveling a great distance, performing, and returning home following the performance. She owed the students a planned trip to the performance. Had she demonstrated a hightened standard of care she would have been watching the elements and planned appropriately before leaving the performance grounds. The situation dims as she once again is negligent when reaching the motel. There was definately a breach of duty because a relatively prudent parent wouldn't dream of having mixed gender arrangements or allowing the behavior1 that was reported to have had occurred. At no time did her actions involve consulting a higher authority. The Principal and Superintendent should have been consulted on every decision regarding the situation.
I do feel that Ms. Eagle is liable; however, because of vicarious liability the school district will also be liable for Ms. Eagle's actions. In regards to the acts of these children while on this trip; their parents hold stakes in the liability for the damages done to the property. Due to vicarious liability parents may be held legally responsible for the torts that their children committ.
As the administrator I agree with the actions of the board to a point. I do support the dismissal of Ms. Eagle she was grossly negligent. However, I don't believe that the bus drivers deserve to be fired because of the actions of their passengers. I find it hard to penalize the principal when they weren't aware of the situation that was taking place. I would fight to retain my position and to clarify the situation and it's circumstances.
1Cioffi v. Bd. of Educ. of N.Y., 278 N.Y.S.2d 249(N.Y. App. Div. 1967)
Section TWO ? Attending to Attendance
Molly McBurns is 16 years old, lives in Missouri Valley, Iowa with her parents and two brothers; Molly attends Benson Senior High school, Benson, Nebraska. Her brothers attend Missouri Valley High School, Missouri Valley, Iowa; Molly is a forward on the ?newly? nationally ranked Bunnies Basketball Team. Until the Bunnies were ranked number 2 by the USAToday Sports, few people in Iowa or Nebraska were concerned with the basketball team of either Benson or Missouri Valley. What a mess!
Mike Griffith, the basketball coach of Benson High School, listed Molly as residing at his home in Benson, Nebraska; owing that she and many of her team mates spent a great deal of time at his home and the gym he that that was the proper approach. Dave Connors, the athletic director, signed the eligibility forms and forwarded them to the conference office without questioning any of the athletes.
Ann Marie Holmes, the Benson High School principal, and her secretary reviewed the eligibility forms and forwarded these the conference offices. The director of the athletic conference reviewed the forms noting they were duly signed and notarized. Everyone seems rather pleased with all of the procedures being followed and policies in place.
Is there a problem? The head coaches of Burke and Omaha North High Schools are hearing rumors that Benson is using an illegal player. They have officially sent a ?inquiry? to both the Nebraska State High School Athletic Association and the Omaha Board of Education.
Molly McBurns technically cannot attend Benson Senior High School. It is not legal for a family to have children that reside with them attend two different high schools. It would be legal to option the whole family out but the tuition would have to be decided and agreed upon by the state government and the district.
There is a great deal of negligence being committed throughout the process of having Molly become elligible. Primarily, Mike Griffith should be forced to resign for breaking conference rules, falsifying records, and lying to qualify Molly as elligible. However, the athletic director and principal are also negligent for not varifying the information and investigating the circumstances.