Legal Question in Education Law in California

teacher admits to lying to county officals

My husband died 10-30-04...I have four children...My 13 yr. old had a VERY hard time dealing with his loss. He couldn't find it in himself to even get out of bed to go to school. After 40 days missed, I went to the district's attendance supervisor for help.My son also saw the district psych. and we decided pull my son from the school he was attending and place him in a charter school. This wasn't the answer, and after notifying the charter school of our intent, we began the enrollment process to our local junior high. All we needed were transcripts from charter school. This all took place before spring break last year. A few days after Easter, I received a phone call from DCS stating that they would be arriving at my house in 2 hours for an evaluation. I was in shock and asked them why. They said they received a call claiming child neglect/abuse and the reason they had to come out that very same day was because the caller stated it was an EMERGENCY. After her evaluation, the social worker apologized and said there was obviously no neglect or abuse going on in our home. She was not allowed to tell me who called, but I guessed. It was my son's charter school teacher and she admits to making up a total lie to make it sound like an em


Asked on 9/28/05, 7:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
MARK GEYER LAW OFFICES OF MARK MITCHELL GEYER

Re: teacher admits to lying to county officals

Dear Mrs.

1. Condolences on your loss.

2. Under California law a false report to any law enforcement/Dept of Child Services, etc., is ONLY ACTIONABLE by a prosecution agency. This means even the mean spirited false reporter cannot be sued by you directly. The police have to file a crime report and refer it to the DA or City Attorney's office for prosecution and you are therefore, only a victim of a crime, not a Plaintiff in an action for damages.

If however, the report was an official act of the School or school district you could then have a claim, potentially, against the School or district. The real issue is that since this was "nipped in the bud" and you didn't hire counsel or go through the process to any apreciable extent, your damages are rather small in the scheme of things. Read that as damages or the lack thereof, do away with any chance that a competent attorney would take your case on a per centage or contingency basis.

Nothing prevents you from vociferously complaining to the School Board, the school principal, etc. NOTE that every educator is a mandatory reporter and if the teacher lied, her supervisors would hav ereported it anyway!

I hope this has been helpful

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Answered on 9/28/05, 8:08 pm


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