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.
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.
Preschools, daycares, and elementary and secondary schools employ more than 8 million U.S. workers.
Many of you work as:
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:
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:
Recent reports from the National Center for Education Statistics show that violence in the classroom and against school employees remains a problem.
For example:
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.
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:
An overwhelming number of survey participants worked in public schools.
The survey found that:
These high rates of violence in school contribute to the significant number of teachers and school personnel looking to quit or transfer.
The statistics and our firm’s experience suggest that the most common injuries from a violent incident in school include:
These injuries result when:
In our experience, most violence-related injuries to teachers result from students intending to cause harm.
Many studies suggest that physical violence against teachers increases the teachers’ risk for developing psychological distress and medical impairments such as:
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.
According to the study –
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.
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:
Depending on the facts of your case and the severity of your injuries, you may pursue:
During the 2018-2019 school year (the last period unaffected by COVID for which data is available), there were:
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.