Legal Issues Impacting Playground Supervision
Implement and Maintain Proper Supervision
by Dr. Melinda Bossenmeyer, The Recess Doctor
Playground Supervisor Training Reduces Injuries
Why is it important to actively supervise children on the playground?
Active supervision is a strategy that works; it helps ensure safety and positive play experiences. It requires adult supervisors who are alert, are aware, know safe playground rules, and intervene when inappropriate behavior occur. Supervision is the active, yet unobtrusive, monitoring of the play environment. –National Program for Playground Safety.
Expert Witness-Playground Injuries
As you may know, for more than 20 years, I have been hired as an expert witness in cases involving student injuries and how those related to playground supervision, playground supervision training and safety.
In this article, I will share with you some words of wisdom I have learned serving as an expert. One key in all of the cases has been whether Administration implemented and maintained active playground supervision. Negligent supervision is a contributing factor in 40% of all injury cases, so providing playground supervisor training to your school staff plays a huge role in reducing injuries and potential avoidance of District liability.
Implement and Maintain Proper Playground Supervision
The dreaded call from an attorney
A typical call from a student’s plaintiff lawyer will say, “We plan to sue the school and the principal because my client was severely injured. The supervision must have been negligent.” The attorney’s statement is important to the question of whether your school site is implementing and maintaining adequate supervision.
If an injury occurs and it could have been prevented through proper supervision or by taking action to remediate a foreseeable problem, then your school site may face liability for the child’s injury.
Some Questions used to determine liability and to evaluate the effectiveness of training and Supervision
The following questions typically help to identify potential liability in injury situations at school.
1) What was the supervision like when the injury occurred?
2) What caused the injury and where did it occur?
3) What rules and procedures were in place to reduce injuries? Are they written or verbal?
4) What was the state of the equipment, surfacing, etc.? Did the condition of the surfacing or the equipment contribute to the injury?
5) Does the school keep records and publish a schedule for dealing with playground maintenance issues?
6) Did the custodian and/or maintenance department employees receive training in identifying playground safety issues and procedures?
7) Did the teachers receive training on how to properly supervise the playground and was the training documented annually?
Litigation and how to avoid it.
Below are some of the anxiety-inducing situations surrounding injuries that have been reported from the attorneys’ perspective. (May or may not be accurate information).
Attorney says…..
“The accident occurred before school started, therefore no one was on duty.”
Example 1 : Proper Procedures and Training.
Teachers should be assigned supervision duties while students are on campus. Keep your supervision assignment sheets. It is probably best to open the gates to the school within 30 minutes of school starting as you can make a case for that as a “reasonable” and “typical” practice. After school hours it is best to have students leave campus and go home unless they are participating in a supervised after school activity.
Attorney says……
“My client was hanging upside down on the bars and fell and was injured. But shouldn’t a supervisor have stopped him?” This description is usually followed by the attorney relating that the child said, “we’ve been hanging from the monkey bars all year. No one ever stops us.”
Example 2 : Proper Procedures and Training
Children often report that they didn’t see any supervisors however, clearly they are often there and students are not aware of them. Utilizing an identifying vest, tee-shirt, small apron or similar delineation helps students to be aware of where they can go for assistance and more easily see supervisors. A playground or recess supervision schedule will likely be subpoenaed in this situation. Keeping records of supervision schedules is important. A set of school playground rules is important in this case because they indicate that this is prohibited behavior. You may have a school rule that says “play safely on the parallel bars and use them appropriately.” Hanging upside down is an activity that is prohibited and therefore you should train supervisors to actively communicate and enforce this expectation.
Attorney says…….
“The staff was talking on the phone sitting on a bench watching the playground when the accident happened”.
Example 3: Proper Procedures and Training
A set of Supervisor Guidelines that prohibit the use of cell phones other than in the event of an emergency during recess and lunchtime shows that the school has taken the initiative to try to keep children safe. Training supervisors to circulate within an assigned supervision zone reduces the possibility of a supervisor sitting on a bench. A statement prohibiting sitting on a bench while supervising should be added to the Supervisor Guidelines and distributed to all adults that supervise the playground.
Each of the above accurately illustrates injury situations I have confronted in lawsuits against Districts and school personnel. In situations such as these, it is difficult for the school to claim that proper supervision had been in place without the documentation and training described above.
Most elementary school injuries occur on the playground, whether at recess or during physical education class. Therefore, supervision on the playground as well as regular maintenance of equipment and surfacing can greatly help to reduce injuries and potential litigation. The maintenance topic will be covered in an upcoming newsletter.
Pay Now or Pay Later…..
A severe injury to one student can result in costing the school district millions of dollars. My most recent case settled for an undisclosed amount of money, but opening negotiations started in the multi-million category. Proper training and consistent implementation of playground supervision may have prevented the injury, which for the student resulted in a lifelong injury.
Playground Supervision Training is a legislated administrative responsibility (in most states). This includes training your staff on playground supervision techniques to keep kids safe. It is also the “right thing to do” to help prevent children in our care from receiving injuries, some of which can be life-changing or as described by an attorney in legal terms “an end of life injury” meaning an injury that will be with the student from the time of the injury until death.
We offer playground supervision training for your staff.
