On 10/2/2019 9:11 AM, Monona Rossol wrote:
And this
is in part why the major hit in the $60 million award in the
Beacon High School case went against the school. The Jury got
it. They understood that there actually were two victims in that
courtroom, the injured student and the untrained teacher.
Yep. Most of my testimony in the Beacon case was about best
practices not being met. There was some line of questioning around
the school not needing to adhere to NY Science Safety Manual because
they were too elite. The defense lawyer asked me, "Shouldn't the
school be able to assume that when they hired a trained chemistry
teacher that they were trained in safety?" I said, "Absolutely not.
I don't assume that when new PhD chemists are hired in our
department. I still meet with them and discuss our expectations and
do what I can do to make sure they are trained in safety." I said in
court that, "Everyone is accountable to some standard." I am not
sure that I mentioned anything about OSHA - but I did speak to
accountability.
The principal admitted on the stand a few days later that she made a
mistake by not making sure the teacher was trained or otherwise
knowledgeable by education.
I have laid out the warnings, papers, standards and events on a
timeline and, even though it is not much of a defense, it is
becoming increasingly difficult to say moving forward for a teacher
to say, "I didn't know". The case in April may not have been upheld
Federally, but I seem to remember when that one first posted there
was something about the fact that it should not have been in the
Federal system.
Most importantly, educators should realize that they are accountable
to their students and they had better start to ensure that they are
using best safety practices in class.
Sammye
--
******************************************************************************
We, the willing, led by the
unknowing, are doing the
impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for
so long, with so
little, we are now qualified to do everything with
nothing. Teresa
Arnold paraphrased from Konstantin Josef Jire=C4=8Dek
(1854 - 1918)
Samuella
B. Sigmann, MS, NRCC-CHO
Senior
Lecturer/Safety Committee Chair/Director of Stockroom
Chemistry
Appalachian
State University
525
Rivers Street
Boone,
NC 28608
Phone:
828 262 2755
Fax:
828 262 6558
---
For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at