Legal Question in Education Law in California

I was late one hour to pick up my 5 year old from kindergarten today. I found her outside the school wandering around in tears without any supervision. Turns out the school dismissed early today for parent-teacher conferences. I received no notification of the early dismissal. There were at least 20 other kids outside as well. It appears the school made a serious error in not ensuring the notification went out. I'm pretty upset about this and want to know what the California law states about the school being responsible for a kindergarten age child until she is safely picked up by her parent.


Asked on 10/18/10, 7:34 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Robert F. Cohen Law Office of Robert F. Cohen

I am not intimately familiar with this area of the law. However, the school should have made sure your daughter was supervised until a parent or guardian arrived to pick her up. You should speak with the school administrator about this horrible oversight.

Read more
Answered on 10/24/10, 12:29 am
Andrew Harrell W. Andrew Harrell, Attorney at Law

There is a clear duty on the part of schools to supervise children, particularly at the kindergarten and elementary school level. A significant number of accidental injuries and deaths at schools are due to such failures to supervise. If there is any residual trauma to you or your child, it may be actionable as a tort against the school. It is insufficient to talk to school administrators. I have been involved in cases like this for more than 20 years, and administrators tend to dodge responsibility. Report the problem directly to the school board, to the police and possibly to your county social welfare agency. This school by sheer luck avoided a disaster.

Read more
Answered on 10/26/10, 7:08 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Education Law questions and answers in California