Legal Question in Administrative Law in California

Re: Signing a document

I would say no, because as a matter of policy the law would frown on making a child the agent of the parent for purposes of signing permission slips. This is notwithstanding that in a business situation a competent adult can be delegated signature authority.

Nevertheless, if the school were sued, and ALL the facts came to light, the child-signed note would probably be adequate to relieve the school of liability because in fact the parent had given permission.

All in all, the purpose of permission notes is undermined if children sign them; the school has no way to know the facts and circumstances and should reject any note that appears to be signed in the child's handwriting because of the high probability that it is unauthorized.