Official immunity protects public officials from an overabundance of law suits for unseen circumstances of negligence on the job. Under the doctrine of official immunity, a public official is not liable to members of the public for negligence that is strictly related to the performance of discretionary duties. Green v. Denison, 738 S.W.2d 861, 865 (Mo. banc 1987). When public officials perform purely ministerial duties, however, they may be held liable. Kanagawa, 685 S.W.2d at 835. Most public officials are often held to higher standards to stand for the safety, rights, well-being and fair interest of the general public or those under their care. Therefore, public officials are expected to use their best judgement when making decisions that will affect those individuals whom they represent. Courts and legal commentators have long agreed that society's compelling interest in vigorous and effective administration of public affairs requires that the law protect those individuals who, in the face of imperfect information and limited resources, must daily exercise their …show more content…
Dr. Bernard Taylor Jr. v. The Honorable Brent Powell, Judge Powell noted that “Missouri law has yet to definitely determine whether school superintendents and principals qualify for official immunity.” In this case, Dr. Bernard Taylor, acting superintendent, did not disperse, nor attempt to aid teachers, special education staff, and other key educators in a specific case of a student severly injuring another student. J.W., the student with a psychotic background was enrolled in a undesirable and questionable school of safety. Dr. Bernard was aware of this student’s violent background and did not attempt to distribute or interact on behalf of the student body’s safety. He was dismissed and charged. Dr. Bernard sought “official immunity” as his defense. Bernard has appealed three different times, based solely on official
This decision makes it clear the most important thing for a school to do is to protect the students. It also states that the board of education, whose role is to oversee the schools, must make sure that the staff of the schools is protecting those children. This case highlights that long-term abuse can happen in schools if there are not clear policies or, if there are, that there is no one ensuring that those policies are
High school student “John Doe” responded to peer teasing by choking the student and then kicking out a school window. Middle school student “Jack Smith” made sexual lewd comments to female classmates. Both had a history of hostile and aggressive behaviors that are manifestations of their disabilities. On the fifth day of the school suspension, the district notified both boys’ parents that they were proposing expulsion and they extended suspension until the expulsion proceedings were finished. Doe filed suit against the school district and the superintendent on grounds that the disciplinary actions violated the “stay-put” provision of the then Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) (later IDEA). Having learned of Doe’s case, Smith also protested the school’s actions and intervened in Doe’s
“Marvin L.Pickering, a high school science teacher in Illinois wrote a letter published in a newspaper denouncing the board of education's choice of allocating of funding between athletics and academics, he also criticized the superintendent who did not inform the local taxpayers why they were actually paying more for the school. After posting the letter, the high school teacher was fired because the board claimed that he delivered false information that could affect the efficiency of the school administration, it damage the reputation of the board of education and of its superintendent and that it could possibly encourage “controversy, conflict, and dissension” between the school staff "Detrimental to the best interests of the schools"(Findlaw.com, I) . Pickering decided to sue the school for violating his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to free speech and of equal protection because he claimed that he has the right to free speech and is allowed the same rights as everybody else.“
Discretion does have its advantages. Philip Howard puts forward as an argument that discretion is an essential and inevitable element of public administration. According to Howard discretion is needed to make certain that benevolence is in the manner of governing. He suggest that in an effort to attain conformity with the rules or fairness, more than is normal limited the discretion of public officials in some principle of action adopted by government areas.
“Searches and Seizures in Public Schools: Going Beyond the Supreme Court’s Ruling in New Jersey v. T.L.O.” The Journal of Negro Education 57 (Winter 1988): 3-10. Price, Janet, Alan Levine, and Eve Cary. The Rights of Students. Carbondale, Il.:
This is better explained by the public servant knowing why he is doing the job and who it is benefiting, socially, and how he is impacting and making a change for the better in their own mind, personal. In the first two “chapters” of Caught between the Dog and the Fireplug, or How to
Police officers are faced each day with a vast array of situations with which they must deal. No two situations they encounter are ever the same, even when examines a large number of situations over an extended period of time. The officers are usually in the position of having to make decisions on how to handle a specific matter alone, or with little additional advice and without immediate supervision. This is the heart of police discretion. As we shall find, the exercise of discretion by police has benefits and problems associated with such exercise. The unfettered use of discretion can lead to the denial of citizen rights. Strategies that control the use of discretion are, therefore, very important. The benefits and problems of police discretion and controlling strategies are the focus of this essay.
The stakeholders in this policy area, based on the amicus briefs filed in the Citizens United case and frequent litigants in other similar cases, include politicians, candidates for political office, political action committees, civil rights organizations, nonprofit and legal organizations, agents of the federal government, and political scientists. The Federal Elections Commission is a particularly typical litigant in this policy area, petitioning in a manner that would likely call for an overturning of the precedent in Citizens United. A number of politicians, both Democratic and Republican, also filed amicus briefs in favor of the appellee, the Federal Election Commission, making it probable that these and other politicians would be in favor of overturning the precedent set in Citizens United. Few politicians
The founders feared the threat of a unitary government and adopted a federal system of government. The Constitution is vague and uncertain on how the responsibilities and roles should be assigned among the levels of government (Stillman, 2009). As a result, the public administration field management process is somewhat generic and inadequate. The founders didn’t allow for the difference time would make and how it would affect political characters, ethical values, policies and laws, and organization design (Green, 2002).
“Therefore the primary duty of public servants is to act as guardians and guarantors of the regime values for the American public” (Frederickson, 205). Frederickson viewed those in public servitude as the great ambassadors and representation of the American Government system. When one thinks of such a character we perhaps think about our Founding Fathers or Jimmy Stewart’s character in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Earlier, I pointed out that the public had the ability to voice and relay their opinions on their public officials, especially if they are not pleased with them. Each individual holds certain morals to themselves and certain values are treasured to them, because they are ones they learned through their experiences.
In Woodlock v. Orange, the school counselor, known as N.W., was advocating for systemic change on behalf of her special education students. This was well within the code of ethics. N.W. was repeatedly expressing her concerns to the administrative intern and principal. Her primary concern was a lack of certified gym and art instructors, which violated state special education mandates and the children’s IEPs. She raised other safety concerns to the administration with little to no response. She began to document all of her interactions with the administration, leading to a written reprimand issued to her by the principal. This reprimand stated that N.W. was “taking it upon yourself t...
Stillman II, R. (2005). The Study of Public Administration in the United States: “The Eminently Practical Science” (Ed) Public Administration Concepts and Cases, 8th ed. (pp. 17-29). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
Public Administration involves the development, implementation and management of policies for the attainment of set goals and objectives that will be to the benefit of the general public. Since Public Administration involves taking decisions that affect the use of public resources there is often the question of how to utilize public resources for maximum public good. The National Association of Public Administration has identified four pillars of public administration: economy, efficiency, effectiveness and social equity. These pillars are equally important in the practice of public administration and to its success. This paper seeks to explain the role of each of the pillars in the practice of public administration.
Public administration as a field of study and as a practice has continually evolved with American society. The United States has survived and thrived through major cultural shifts, varying degrees of economic climates, and both civil and world wars. Through out all these changes in our country, one thing has always remained the same, the fact that we are an ever evolving and always changing nation. Theories and forms of practice of public administration have also evolved parallel with the history of the United States. There have been numerous events in American history have lead to changes in society and the practice of public administration has both led and followed in the adaptation process of such monumental changes.
...ot function properly. Politics and administration should be seen as very interconnected. It is worth reiterating just as the structure of governments has changed over the years, the structure and role of public administration have also changes dramatically. Furthermore, it is important to state that public administration has grown from its traditional role of merely implementing policies adopted by the “political” branches of government to playing very significant role in the formation of public policies. This is definitely more evident in regards to professional expertise bureaucratic officials provide during problem identification, agenda setting, policy formulation, and evaluation that shape the content of public policy today. Overall, the idea that Wilson has proposed gives an accurate idea of what the relationship should be between politics and administration.