School Violence: Legal Rights for Teachers, School Bus Drivers, and Education Workers Victimized by Assaults
Workers Comp is Available for Teachers and School Personnel Injured by Violence
Our schools should be safe places for children, teachers, administrators, and support staff to come together to learn and build relationships. And many are.
But unfortunately, crime and violence at school still happen. And the data suggests that parent and student assaults on teachers and school staff are increasing.
The consequences of school violence are devastating for the students and teachers involved.
But it goes further. Violence in schools also impacts innocent bystanders, students’ families, and the community. Indeed, a school’s reputation for violence might cause families to move to different neighborhoods, teachers to leave the profession or ask for reassignment to a safer school, or educators to refuse to apply for vacant positions.
This article discusses violence against teachers, school bus drivers, educators, and school personnel. It explains the different types of school violence and your legal rights as a teacher or school staff member injured after a student assault or breaking up a fight. Often teachers qualify for workers comp for injuries suffered due to school violence.
We invite you to keep reading to learn more about available workers compensation benefits following injuries resulting from violence in school.
And if you have questions about workers comp law or how to negotiate a workplace injury settlement, contact us today. We help injured workers and accident victims get the medical care and money damages they deserve.
Defining Violence in Schools
School violence occurs on school property, during a school-sponsored event (such as a sports game or theater production), or on the way to or from a school-sponsored activity.
School violence includes physical violence, psychological violence, bullying, carrying weapons in school, and sexual violence.
Physical school violence refers to a physical force causing injury, disability, or death in a school setting. Examples include punching, slapping, pushing, pulling, kicking, shoving, scratching, throwing objects, burning, choking, using a weapon, biting, or using the body to restrain another’s movement.
Psychological school violence includes verbal abuse, harassment, social exclusion, and nasty rumors arising to the level of defamation.
Sexual violence at school refers to rape, sexual harassment, and crude and inappropriate jokes that are sexual in nature.
And bullying includes repeated teasing, cyberbullying (mean posts, emails, or text messages; inappropriate pictures; etc.), locking a person inside a room, or forcing someone to do something they do not.
How Common is Violence Against Teachers, School Bus Drivers, and Staff in Schools?
Preschools, daycares, and elementary and secondary schools employ more than 8 million U.S. workers.
Many of you work as:
- K-12 teachers
- Teaching assistants
- Teaching aides
- Special education teachers
- Substitute teachers
Classroom work gives teachers and aides more contact with students (sometimes one-on-one instruction), putting these employees in greater danger of suffering from workplace violence.
But a significant number of you also work in schools or around students as:
- Coaches
- Cooks
- Custodians/janitors
- Education and childcare administrators
- Food preparation workers
- Grounds maintenance workers
- Guidance counselors
- Librarians
- Maintenance workers
- Principals
- Referees
- School bus drivers
- School psychologists
- Social workers
- Umpires
And though some data suggests that teachers are at an increased risk for physical assault compared to other occupations in the education setting, the truth is that all persons working in education are at risk of becoming assault victims.
In a chapter in the Handbook of Workplace Violence, edited by E.K. Kelloway, J. Barling, & J.J. Hurrell, Jr. (2006), Irvin Sam Schonfeld addressed the prevalence of violence and weapons in U.S. schools.
Schonfeld reviewed some literature on school violence and cited studies finding:
- Teachers were the victims of more than 1 million nonfatal crimes, including theft, battery, and rape, from 1997 through 2001.
- Violence and crime were more common in urban and suburban schools than in rural schools.
- Persons working in education suffer assault rates higher than members of most other occupational groups. For example, in one study, teachers reported being victimized by assault at a rate three times the state average of all occupations. Further, school bus drivers reported assault at a rate six times the state average in that same study.
Recent reports from the National Center for Education Statistics show that violence in the classroom and against school employees remains a problem.
For example:
- There were 56 school-associated violent deaths in America from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018
- In 2019, the victimization rate at school was 30 victimizations per 1,000 students.
- Eighty percent of public schools reported at least one incident of violence, theft, or other crime during the 2017-2018 school year. This resulted in more than 1 million incidents, or 29 incidents per 1,000 students enrolled.
- During the same school year, more than 45 percent of schools reported at least one incident of violence, theft, or crime to the police.
- In 2019, roughly five percent of students ages 12-18 reported they had feared an attack or harm at school during the year.
And remember, the official statistics likely undercount many incidents of violence or threats because teachers or other victims might not report the incident (often to protect the student from the long-term consequences of suspension or expulsion). Or because administrators or other persons did not report all incidents to the organizations that compile the data on school violence. Indeed, one study found that 20 percent of teachers victimized by school violence in the previous year knowingly chose not to tell administrators of the incident.
What Do Teachers and Other School Employees Say About Violence?
School violence is harming a high percentage of teachers and school staff. And physical and verbal violence are causing many teachers to transfer or leave the profession.
Nearly 15,000 persons participated in the survey:
- 9,370 teachers
- 860 administrators
- 1,499 school psychologists and social workers
- 3,237 staff members in other positions (school counselor, school resource officer, paraprofessional aide, etc.)
An overwhelming number of survey participants worked in public schools.
The survey found that:
- Thirty-three percent of teachers reported at least one incident of verbal harassment or threatening violence from students during COVID. Examples of harassment include verbal threats, intimidation, sexual harassment, and intimidation.
- More than forty percent of school administrators reported threats of violence from parents during COVID.
- Depending on the employment position, fourteen to twenty-two percent of persons surveyed were the victims of physical violence from students. Physical violence includes throwing objects, physical attacks, and using objects as weapons.
- There were higher levels of threatening violence in middle and high schools.
These high rates of violence in school contribute to the significant number of teachers and school personnel looking to quit or transfer.
What Injuries are Associated with Violence Against Education Workers?
The statistics and our firm’s experience suggest that the most common injuries from a violent incident in school include:
- Ankle injuries from slipping or tripping during the violent event
- Back injuries (including muscle strains and herniated discs)
- Concussions and head trauma resulting in post-concussion syndrome and headaches
These injuries result when:
- Students act aggressively and initiate the incident with the teacher directly or throw objects at the employee.
- The school employee intervenes in a violent incident, such as breaking up a fight between two students.
- The teacher or school personnel restrain a student from acting erratically or aggressively.
- The employee helps the student perform activities of daily living, such as with an ill child or a special needs (intellectually disabled) student.
- An adult (parent, coworker, or third party) acting with escalated behavior initiates contact with the teacher or staff member
In our experience, most violence-related injuries to teachers result from students intending to cause harm.
How Does School Violence Impact Teachers and Classroom Personnel?
Many studies suggest that physical violence against teachers increases the teachers’ risk for developing psychological distress and medical impairments such as:
- Acute Stress Disorder
- Anxiety
- Fear
- Feelings of helplessness
- Sleeping problems
In addition, violence in the classroom may have long-term consequences for teachers, students, schools, and communities even when the injuries resolve fully.
For example, victimized teachers are at a higher risk of poorer job performance, increased dissatisfaction with their jobs, and burnout.
In turn, these consequences may affect the quality of education received by their students. Or put additional stress on other educators and staff who may have to cover for teachers who transfer elsewhere or leave the profession after an assault.
Workers Comp for Educators Harmed by Violence
Available Data on Workplace Injuries Arising from Student-on-Teacher Violence
According to the study –
- Classroom employees (teachers, teaching aides, special education teachers and assistants) filed 71% of the claims
- Violence-related claims accounted for 38% of all claims filed by classroom personnel and about 13% of all claims filed by other staff members.
- 25% of all claims related to violence, with students perpetrating nearly all these incidents.
Data from other sources indicates that violence against teachers results in more than 900,000 lost days of work per year. This is in addition to time spent on student disciplinary proceedings.
Available Workers Comp Benefits for Teachers and School Employees Harmed by Violence
State workers comp systems provide benefits for employees injured by an employment risk. And workplace violence is a risk for educators and school administrators.
Each state has a statute of limitations (a deadline) for reporting a work injury and filing a formal claim for benefits. For example, in Virginia, you must notify your supervisor (or Human Resources) of the work injury within thirty days of its occurrence and submit a claim within two years.
If you satisfy your burden of proof, you may recover:
- Wage loss payments (temporary total and temporary partial) for time missed from work or wages lost if you return to light duty after receiving medical work restrictions.
- Medical treatment for life for the violence-related injuries and consequences of these injuries (includes prescription medication, therapy, hospitalizations, surgery, diagnostic imaging, and doctor appointments)
- Reimbursement for mileage and transportation to and from doctor appointments or vocational rehabilitation meetings
- Compensation for permanent loss of use (based on an impairment rating) or scarring/disfigurement (permanent partial disability) from the injuries resulting from violence
- A lump-sum settlement
Other Legal Options for Violence-Related Injuries at School
Depending on the facts of your case and the severity of your injuries, you may pursue:
- A Social Security Disability claim if you are out of work for twelve months or more or never return to your pre-injury job. Your age determines what you must prove – the older you are, the easier it is to qualify for disability.
- A tort law claim in civil court if someone else harmed you intentionally or due to negligence. These third-party claims significantly benefit you because you may recover damages for pain and suffering.
Discipline, Crime, and Violence in Schools in Virginia
During the 2018-2019 school year (the last period unaffected by COVID for which data is available), there were:
- More than 7,500 incidents of assault and battery
- More than 2,500 incidents of bullying
- Nearly 25,000 incidents of disorderly conduct
- Eleven incidents of extortion
- More than 31,000 incidents of fighting and conflict
- Close to 5,000 incidents of harassment
- Almost 200 incidents of trespassing
- More than 6,600 incidents of verbal or physical threats
Helping Teachers and School Members Victimized by Student and Parent Violence Get Workplace Injury Compensation
People who do not work in education or handle personal injury claims may not realize the physical nature of teaching and other jobs in schools. Or that student-on-teacher violence is a significant problem that results in many workplace injuries.
If you are a teacher or staff member victimized by violence at daycare or elementary or secondary school, report your work injury and seek medical care immediately. Though you might consider keeping it to yourself to avoid more paperwork or prevent the student from receiving discipline, you may suffer in the long run. Injuries that seem minor can often become catastrophic for your health and finances.
Contact us today for a free consultation.
We have helped hundreds of injured workers get the medical care and financial recovery needed to move forward. And we have the skill and resources to help you get a fair recovery.
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