Chapter Fifteen

RISK MANAGEMENT

Risk management is the reduction of the chance or possibility of financial loss to the school district by decreasing risk exposures. Risk management programs reduce human suffering, prevent financial and property loss, and promote a positive working and community environment.

Risk exposures in public education have increased dramatically. This increase is demonstrated by the frequency of losses experienced by educational institutions and by the growth in the average dollar size of each loss. This means the amount of litigation against educational institutions, their governing boards and employees continues to rise. The expense of paying losses and increased litigation, for both defense cost and court-awarded judgments, is a very real risk exposure facing public education. Therefore education decision‑makers need to find management strategies for dealing with possible areas of financial loss.

RISK EXPOSURES IN EDUCATION

EMPLOYEES

Employee-related risk exposures include the cost of arbitration and litigation as well as the cost of lost productivity that results from disputes over employment contracts, job descriptions, and compensation schedules. Other related exposures include hiring, firing, assignment of personnel, employee evaluations, dishonest act, education and training.

Unsafe working conditions, unsafe work habits, and conditions that may pose a health hazard to employees represent a risk to the employers. Unsafe or unhealthy working conditions may evolve over an extended period of time, or such conditions may develop instantly as a result of some fortuitous occurrence. Whichever the case, any conditions that contribute to an employment-related injury of an employee may result in financial loss to the employer. Periodic premises safety inspections and the development, implementation, and evaluation of employee safety programs, including personnel handbooks, can minimize this type of exposure.

STUDENTS

Student-related risk exposures include those concerning student civil rights, assignment of a student to a particular school, equal educational opportunities for all students, student discipline, search and seizure, corporal punishment, dress codes, drug and alcohol use, physical conditions within the school setting, and school security.

The personal safety of students creates one of the most difficult risk exposures with which school districts have to cope. Risk exposures relating to the personal welfare of students exist not only during scheduled classes and out‑of‑class learning experiences, but also while students travel to and from school. State law has provisions that address safety issues concerning both students and staff. For example, the district may require state and federal criminal history background checks for contractors, volunteers and visitors on school property (KRS 160.380 and 161.148). A local board will have policies that address how such measures may be employed in the district.

CURRICULUM

Curriculum-related risk exposures are those where litigants allege some type of discrimination or some form of civil-rights violation because of the manner in which students are assigned to such classes as special education, health education, sex education, drug education, and remedial education. The information presented in some of these classes is also a source of increasing exposure. The development of programs for the gifted and the procedures for selecting students to participate in such programs are two additional areas of risk exposure. The lack of special programs to meet the individualized instructional needs of some students has also become an area ripe for litigation.

SCHOOL PREMISES

Premises-related risk exposures arise out of the buildings and other premises that the school district owns and operates. This includes any hazard that may cause bodily injury or property damage. Some examples: unsafe bleachers and grandstands, unsafe playground and recreational equipment, poorly lit stairwells and walkways, unfenced construction projects, unsecured swimming pools, ill‑kept grounds, hanging dead tree limbs, faulty electrical wiring, and improperly secured machines and other equipment. Additional risk exposures occur when fire and extended coverage perils cause loss of property or its use. The 2006 General Assembly addressed the security of school premises by requiring local boards to see that each school develop and adopt procedures for school lockdowns to be used during school emergencies for the safety and care of occupants (HB 79, a new section of KRS Chapter 158). The lockdown procedure is to be practiced at least once a year.

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation-related risk exposures include bodily injury risks to students, bus drivers, other employees, and the public. Property damage exposures related to transportation also exist both to property owned by the school district operating the transportation system and the property of others.

BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES

The board should ensure that any loss control program includes the following, as a minimum:

· The board should develop and implement policies relating to risk management. The superintendent also should develop and implement procedures relating to risk management.

· A staff person should be designated as risk manager. People should be in charge of the safety program districtwide and at the school level.

· The risk manager/safety coordinator’s activities should include, but not be limited to: reviewing losses/claims filed against the school district, presenting reports to the board, facilitating the ongoing inspection of board-owned property, developing plans based on losses and exposure, providing ongoing training of school personnel, and investigating all accidents.

· The board should ensure that premises are inspected regularly. Playgrounds and cafeterias should be thoroughly inspected each week. Personnel utilizing cafeteria and playground equipment should check the equipment prior to each use.

· The board should ensure that the district has a process requiring teachers, cafeteria workers and all other personnel to report in writing any perceived unsafe conditions to the building principal.

· The board should ensure that the district has a process for making necessary repairs when unsafe conditions exist.

· The board should ensure that there are procedures for developing and managing personnel records, particularly the control of access to such records.

· The board should clearly define fringe benefit programs that are offered employees, outlining the criteria used in selecting the programs. The criteria should carefully delineate the employer's role in administering each of the programs.

· The board should adopt a policy regulating the use of employee-owned automobiles for employment-related travel.

· The board should implement a policy that prescribes procedures for collecting and depositing cash and for controlling the use of district-owned property by employees.

· The board should ensure that the district exercises caution in declaring certain students “handicapped,” in assigning them to various anomalous programs, in methods of disciplining students, in decisions retaining students in their present grade level, and in decisions promoting them to a higher grade level.

· The board should adopt a policy on the maintenance of student records. For example, if students are 18 or older, they have the right to determine who, other than school officials, may review their records.

· The board should adopt policies and procedures that help ensure the safety of students when they are traveling to and from school, when they are in school, and when they are engaged in school-related events occurring away from school. Policies and procedures in this area should include transportation safety policies, security procedures, premises safety inspection, student dismissal procedures, disaster drill procedures, policies governing out‑of‑class learning experiences, and policies governing extracurricular activities.

· The board should adopt policies and procedures for employee involvement at all levels of the safety program.

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Kentucky School Boards Association

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