Claudia Teti ’16: For the majority of problems that arise at Episcopal, the school relies on the discipline committee, the faculty, and the administration to settle the issue. However, when a situation occurs that the school cannot handle on its own, EA’s legal team offers it’s assistance. The attorneys of the firm Lamb McErlane protect and assist the school in these legal matters.
Dr. Catherine Hall, Assistant Head of School, noted “We use the team for stuff that is outside of the box, totally unusual, or something that calls into question the policy that we have.”
Planning for J-term highlighted the importance of the legal, specifically for courses that involved travelling. When composing liability forms for parents to sign, the lawyers provide input. In the past few years, there have been several major lawsuits against independent schools involving international trips. According to Fox News, a jury awarded $41.7 million to Cara Munn, a woman who sued her prestigious boarding school, The Hotchkiss School in Lakeview, Connecticut, after contracting a tick-borne illness on a school trip to China that left her unable to speak and brain damaged. “Hotchkiss failed to take basic safety precautions to protect the minor children in its care,” Munn’s attorney Antonio Ponvert III said. “I hope that this case will help alert all schools who sponsor overseas trips for minors that they need to check the CDC for disease risks in the areas where they will be travelling, and that they must advise children in their care to use repellant and wear proper clothing when necessary.” This case certainly did alert the Episcopal Academy. These waivers are extremely important for making parents aware of certain risks involved with traveling abroad and informing school chaperones of their responsibility over the children. However, being overly careful can be negative, as Hall explained. “I would hate for us not to be able to do an India trip, for example, because we were too cautious. So, it’s a matter of finding that balance.” The lawyers play a large role in making these documents, and the conditions they contain, clear, well defined, and hopefully, balanced.
Lamb McErlane has been representing EA for about five years, and Joel Frank, an attorney at the firm, explains the work they do for the school. “When there are matters that the school is not comfortable handling internally or does not have particular expertise in, it will occasionally reach out to us to handle something or just to answer some questions,” he remarked. These matters include liability and student safety, such as the J-term trips, the language involved in the student handbook, and they “grayish” area of student privacy and social networking. On the issue of social networking, Hall commented, “Things like that are always changing, and it’s one of the grayest areas that needs the most nuancing of language.” This is where a law degree is imperative. To make sure the language is accurate and the policies are enforceable, the school meets with the attorneys at least once a year to discuss and review this information. When Frank was asked about the experience of working with EA, he responded, “We are impressed with the professionalism of the school and all that it brings to the table educationally and to the community as a whole.” In closing he added, “We are honored to be a small part of that.”