Bad parental behavior

School policies can protect staff and send a message to parents that disrespectful and violent acts at school won’t be tolerated.

Few noneducators would suspect that being a teacher, principal, school bus driver, or coach might qualify as hazardous occupations. But, time and again, school personnel find themselves fearing for their personal safety. These days, a disagreement with an angry parent can swiftly deteriorate from philosophical differences to criminal intent. Incidents range from trashing a reputation on social media to actions like verbal abuse, stalking, threats of physical harm, and actual assaults. When that happens, legal issues abound.

Although there have always been hotheaded parents, school officials face greater dangers because the stakes are higher than ever. Parents with visions of Ivy League acceptance letters to their children dancing in their heads get into fistfights while waiting in line to get their child into the “best” kindergarten. After all, the road to Harvard or Yale begins with the first step, right?

The law can apply to school-linked disputes in a number of ways. If a parent or guardian assaults a teacher, for example, that may justify police involvement. But the victim also has personal recourse and can file a private civil suit seeking reimbursement for medical bills. Or, the offended staff member can sue the parent for pain and suffering or seek punitive damages in court as punishment for their actions. Unfortunately, the staff member can also sue the school district alleging lax security or citing previous instances as proof of an unsafe work environment.

Before the next parent-staff clash, districts should consider reviewing their practices to assure schools are taking proper precautions to protect employees. Building administrators also should assess whether any incident is a one-time reaction or if the offending parent should be banished from school temporarily or permanently.

Parent triggers and the law

In reviewing court cases and news articles, here are some common situations (in no particular order) that trigger parent tempers:

• Student placement with a certain teacher;
• Involuntary transfer to another school;
• Suspension and expulsion;
• Boundary line changes;
• Disagreement over grades;
• Custody disputes;
• Bullying and harassment;
• Special education;
• Incidents on school buses;
• Tardiness;
• Breaking school rules while on school grounds; and
• Sports.

Let’s dwell on that last one for a bit because few things inspire out-of-control passion in parents like athletic competition.

A father in Kenton, Ohio, was convicted of felony assault for punching his son’s coach in the face after a 2012 school basketball game. Abraham Oates Jr. was upset about his child’s playing time. A state court banned him from future athletic events under the “community control” law. Oates challenged the sentence as being overbroad and violating his liberty interest, taking on the court’s power to impose such a punishment.

In State of Ohio v. Abraham Oates Jr., the Court of Appeals of Ohio’s 3rd district unanimously ruled against the father. Judges said the prohibition on attending athletic events was appropriate given his crime of hitting the coach. The June 2013 opinion said staying away might induce rehabilitation, although it noted with dismay that even at his sentencing hearing Oates continued to complain about his son’s playing time. The court explained that the ban “. . . is aimed at keeping Oates out of those situations and ensuring his good behavior.”

Email, sports

While that was face-to-face, a federal court rebuked a Pennsylvania dad for disparaging emails about his two sons’ middle school basketball coaches and teammates. William Blasi claimed his communications were free speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

To participate in sports, parents and athletes in the Pen Argyl Area School District must sign the Parental/Spectator Guidelines, which warn against “[r]idiculing or berating players, coaches, officials, or other spectators.” During a six-week period in 2009, Blasi sent 17 emails to coaches complaining about their coaching techniques, the treatment of his sons by teammates, and the playing time of allegedly “inferior white players” over his biracial youngsters.

Educators report that abuse from parents is on the rise.

The principal responded with a letter saying Blasi had sent “scathing and threatening emails in which you berate and harass our coaches and make degrading and deplorable comments about 7th- and 8th-grade players.” Under the guidelines, the district banned Blasi from the next home game.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously concluded that Blasi’s free speech rights had not been violated and scolded him for using “. . . incendiary language denigrating coaches and young players alike. In so doing, plaintiff not only violated his own agreement to refrain from using abusive language, he also jeopardized the interests of other participants in the athletic program.” The opinion reminded him, “There is no constitutionally protected right to play sports.”

Coaches aren’t the only ones targeted in interscholastic sports. The National Association of Sports Officials published a special report titled Officials Under Assault: A 2002 Update on the subject. The publication highlights a 2001 incident in New York. While game officials were breaking up a fight between rival high school hockey teams, a parent entered the ice, grabbed an official by the neck, and wrestled with him.

In November 2000, in Ohio, “More than 100 people rush[ed] the field and five adults [were] charged with assault for attacking a high school football official as the crew [left] the field following a state playoff game. The crowd became angry when the officials called back an apparent game-winning touchdown due to a holding penalty with four seconds remaining,” the report recounts. The lesson is that school leaders should evaluate security arrangements for  high-pressure sporting events.

Bus incidents

Add buses to the list of places where chaos can happen. In 2010, an angry Louisville, Ky., parent charged onto a bus full of children, dragged the driver, Johnetta Anderson, out the door by her ankles and began hitting her on the head. An on-board videotape captured the scene and recorded the frantic screams of the elementary school students.

According to news accounts, parent Chesica White was irate because she believed the bus driver had not protected her 7-year-old son from being repeatedly bullied on the bus. White told ABC network news, “Nothing was being done, and my son was being tormented for a whole year.” Ironically, White was later sentenced to a year in jail for her assault on driver Anderson.

Anticipating conflict

The job of educators is complicated and stressful enough for a variety of reasons. Enduring in-person or electronic harassment or other legal troubles involving parents can drain time, money, and long-term physical and emotional health.

Simply put, the law can only do so much to suppress conflict beforehand. Criminal law or civil suits are effective remedies for handling the aftereffects. Therefore, it is at least in part up to school officials to establish districtwide ground rules, such as what the Pen Argyl school district did with sports. Simplistic as it might seem, it also helps to deliver regular reminders that it is not OK to attack school personnel in any way.

Promoting civility between parents and staff can be tough in the highly charged and emotional environment of public school education in the 21st century. But it’s a worthwhile investment to try to preventively inform parents that rebuttal will be swift and sure if they cross the line. That kind of deterrent approach can avoid a lot of pain and suffering — literally and legally.

Citation: Darden, E.C. (2013). Ed law: Bad parental behavior. Phi Delta Kappan, 95 (3), 70-71.