Parents sue district and 5 employees over failure to protect child from threats

Parents of an elementary school student filed a lawsuit against a school district and five district employees, claiming that another student had been severely threatening their child for at least two years. 

These threats included telling their child to kill herself and making death threats involving guns. 

The school put a "stay away" plan into place to separate the children, but declined the parents’ request that the offending student be barred from riding the bus with their child.

The parents alleged in their lawsuit that the district failed to take the legally required steps to ensure their child’s safety by not implementing a threat assessment plan as required by law. The parents asked the court to temporarily ban the offending student from the elementary school campus, school district buses, and school events. The parents also sought a declaration that district employees had failed to carry out their mandatory duties. 

In Texas, public school employees are considered part of the government. Unless a specific law explicitly allows it, public school employees cannot be sued in their professional capacity. Therefore, the court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the employees were immune from suit. 

The parents appealed the dismissal of the lawsuit to the court of appeals, arguing that the employees were required by state law to take actions by conducting a threat assessment when a threat is reported, and that the employees failed to do this.  

However, the court of appeals rejected this argument on the basis that the parent had failed to provide enough specific facts to prove that the employees had violated their ministerial duties. Therefore, the court dismissed the lawsuit. 

For educators, the main takeaway from this case reinforces the protection offered by governmental immunity. If parents are unhappy with a school district's handling of a threat, successfully suing the individual educators involved is difficult. Unless the parents can clearly demonstrate that the school staff completely ignored a strict mandate required by law, this decision suggests that Texas courts will dismiss the lawsuit to protect educators from incurring personal liability.