Should the school or child be responsible and in what way?

Question

My 10 year old son had his finger intentionally stomped on by another boy today at school. The teacher did nothing. I believe his finger is broken and am taking him to have it x-rayed tomorrow. If it is broken, what should I do as a parent? Is the child, teacher/school responsible for the medical bill? Also, it is his writing hand. Should the child have to help my son write his school work?

Answer 1

First, if you think your son's finger is broken why are you waiting until tomorrow to have it x-ray'd?? Why didn't you take him today?

Things like this happen in ANY school (public or private) and most school's have a "bullying" policy. Even if they don't have a policy, the other kid should definitely be disciplined.

Ask your son if he has any witnesses to what happened. Then go talk to the teacher and find out what happened, and what was or was not done about it. If nothing was done about it, make a plan for something to be done about it and be sure to set a timeline. After you talk to the teacher and get the whole story, contact the other child's parents (this may or may not do you any good, depending on what kind of people they are). If no disciplinary action has been taken against the other kid by the timeline you set, then contact the principal and go through the same process with a new, shorter timeline. If nothing is done then go to the district.

As far as paying for medical expenses, I very much doubt that the school will absorb it. You'll more than likely have to try to get it out of the other kid's parents. I don't want to say "kids will be kids" because I think they need to be held accountable for their actions. But things like this have been happening forever and if your insurance is paying the bills, then maybe you could take the high road and just ask the other parents to pay the deductible or copays. Otherwise you may end up in a legal battle if the other parents aren't cooperative, and that would end up costing you so much more time (not to mention money) and aggravation - you'd need to decide if it's worth it.

Answer 2

Okay, I'm assuming all you have to go on is your son's version, since I doubt you called up the teacher and s/he said, oh yeah, I just let him stomp on it, I regularly let children break peices off of one another. Now I'm not saying that your son didn't tell you the truth, because it may have happened exactly like he said. But you might want to call the teacher, so that you can get his/her perspective on what happened. I wouldn't tip your hand either, ask open-ended questions like, did you notice anyone arguing in my son's class today? I hate to say it, but with 20-30 kids in a class, the teacher may simply not have noticed what happened and that may be the reason why no action was taken. I'm not saying that I believe that's right, I'm just saying that s.hit happens. I'm also wondering how this other child could have stomped on your son's hand, it would have been very difficult for him to hold your son's hand down on the ground and stomp on it at the same time and at 10 years old, it's not like they are going to be down on their hands and knees during class. Anyway, from a legal standpoint, I think the school is more responsible than either the other child or the teacher. You'd have to talk to a lawyer about that one though. I don't understand how you think it would be feasible for the offending child to write your son's schoolwork. Do you mean just writing it during class? What would he do, follow your son home from school so that your son could dictate his homework to him? Besides, I doubt that would be necessary, if he was unable to write because of this, his teacher would make provisions so that he would not have to write until his hand was healed.

Answer 3

First of all, you need to get the facts. From what you've written, it sounds like you are responding to your son's version of what happened. I do not mean to suggest that your son is lieing, but, as a teacher of 10 and 11 year old teachers, I can assure you that they don't always provide all of the information. So, talk to the teacher, and find out what happened.

Second, if he was injured that seriously, the nurse should have been involved. What does she have to say about it?

Finally, your insurance will be the responsible as the primary payment source. The parents of the other child would be responsible if his actions were truly intentional, but that could be a court battle. The school might have liability as well, depending on what actually happened, but again, you need to get the facts before you'll know that.

Answer 4

No, the school is not responsible at all. Rules are there for a reason, and most schools, both elementary and high school, don't allow mp3s or cellphones. Obviously if he had told you when it initially happened, you would have gone and gotten it right away, and there wouldn't have been a problem with it being misplaced. You can't fault the school on that either, it's not their responsibility to be the keeper of electronics. Don't buy your son another one, make sure he earns the money to replace it himself. Don't be too hard on him though, kids ARE allowed mistakes. It's just that these days those mistakes sometimes involve expensive things - and not just a favourite toy or something.

Answer 5

It hurts to know that there are so many incidents in public schools that happen similar to this, my son was assulted (a kid intentionally urinated on him) at the same age & of course a public school. The school did nothing & had my son not asked to call himself would have had to wear the same clothes! We petitioned to have the child removed, for a parent teacher conference & some sort of legal & educational action...nothing happened. Not for lack of our efforts either. But we continued to keep in touch with anyone at the school who was willing to help, got involved with as much volunteering at the school as possible(we both work) and continue to teach our son that not only should you defend your self but you should try to avoid things getting physical. Unfortunatly for boys today it is a major struggle. Keep trying to get administrators involved & read up on any info that can help you within the school district. And if you should happen to run into his parents...whatever will be will be.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

I would confront the school with this issue. Then I would confront the parents. I wouldn't fly off the handle though. Don't go directly to the principal. This will only make the teacher more defensive. I would calmly go to the teacher and ask to hear her side. You may not be hearing the whole story from your child. If you are not satisfied, then go up the chain to principal. I would get the other child's parents involved. They need to know what their child has done so that they can correct this behavior that the school obviously didn't.

And heck yeah!!!! He should help him with his work!!!! Great idea. Bring it up to the teacher!!!! Good luck!!

Answer 7

if your after compensation i would say the kids parents. the school should have some type of disciplinary action for this kind of behaviour and if nothing is done or there is no such policy then i would right a letter to the board of governors and demand action.but teachers are few and can not be everywhere all the time.
as for police action if the USA is like the UK he is a minor and exempt from the law till hi is of legal age

Answer 8

When I registered my son for school, there was a paper that I signed at registration that said, "Any injuries will need to be paid for by the parents." You need to talk to the school and see what was in their policy.

And you do have to look at what happened. Another kid stepped on his finger. Did he mean it? Did he push your son down and slam his foot on his finger? I could see it where a teacher broke his finger, but you need to go after the other parent (Kid). Why go after the school? That kid that stepped on his finger needs to learn to watch what he is doing. A teacher has 25+ kids in her class. She can't watch only one. Go after the kids parents. Not the school. Why blame someone else (the school) when you said another kid did it? Makes sense.

Answer 9

go to the parents and tell them there boy is ******* up my childs finger and he needs to get it casted and cant rite, then go stomp of the kids finger in the other fmaily(the ones who sons stomped on your sons finger) go to the school and throw hte bill at them, its a law, they have ot pay, if they dont, take action

Answer 10

I would certainly go by the school and speak with the teachers and principle to get all the correct details. However, I doubt they will do anything about it but at least they will be aware of the situation for future reference.