ETHICAL DILEMMA PROJECT- NEGLIGENCE Group #3 Madi Frazier Hope Patterson Taylor Reese Ashley Tyler Mariana Espinoza Jocelyn Rodriguez

Case #3 A P.E. teacher is teaching a unit on rope climbing. A rope is hung from very high point from the ceiling of the gym to the gym floor. During lunch, the P.E. teacher places a sign on the gym door do not enter if she isn’t there. She doesn’t lock the door, because she plans on returning to her office in the gym within a few minutes. A student decides to enter anyway and is seriously injured while trying to climb the rope unsupervised. Is the P.E. teacher responsible for this accident? Why or why not?

What do you think?

Texas Code of Ethics Standard 1.10 The educator shall be of good moral character and be worthy to instruct or supervise the youth of this state.

The Ethical Dilemma Teacher places a sign on the gym door saying “do not enter.” A student was immoral and disobeyed the teachers wishes, therefore the student was seriously injured. The teacher should have locked the door to avoid physical harm of the student and is held with negligent actions.

Relevant Issue Negligent behavior of the teacher because the student went in and got physically hurt. This could have been avoided if the teacher would have locked the door of the gym. Teachers have a duty to anticipate foreseeable dangers and take precautions to protect students in their care.

Persons or groups To Consider The teacher will need to be considered. Although she took steps to avoid any accidents the student was still injured because of the teacher’s negligence. The student however, should be considered primarily. And because the student was hurt, all of the students need to be considered.

Additional Information Needed We need to know if the student had any other issues or medical issues that would have been affected by the injury. We also need the teacher’s record of any incidents that may have happened in the past. Why do you think we need the records?

Courses of action Not only does a safety meeting need to be held, but it should be stressed that the doors should be locked as a defensive measure. This would keep just any random person from walking into the classroom

Consequences Short- term The teacher could be suspended without pay. On-going The teacher should be expected to keep a record in and out times and be be accompanied by another member of the faculty. Long- term The teacher will need to attend workshops and actively become involved in school and gym safety. I see this as less of a consequence and more of a safety measure that should be taken.

Costs Psychological The student may be emotionally scarred. The school should provide a counselor to speak with the student weekly for as long as it is needed. Social The student may experience bullying. Pro- acceptance attitudes should be fostered rather than relying on an anti- bullying strategy alone. Economic The School will have to pay for the student’s medical costs or reimburse the student’s for their expenses. The school will also need to aire the appropriate counselor for the student and pay any costs to maintain safety and raise safety awareness.

Commitment Statement

Negative Consequences The P.E teacher could make the student sit out on activities involving the rope and this could result in feeling left out and not involved with the P.E class. Another negative consequence would be not getting exercise for that day.

Correcting any negative consequences The P.E teacher had negligent behavior which is when someone accidentally does something wrong, which causes someone else to get hurt. By putting just a sign up on the door saying do not enter if she is not there it caused the student to get hurt because they disobeyed and walked in. To correct this the P.E teacher can lock the door next time and no one will be able to get in and play on the equipment.