54 | Guidance Counselors and Mandatory Reporters: When Do Educators Have Reasonable Suspicion of Child Abuse and Neglect?

When are educators required to report suspicions of child abuse and neglect as mandatory reporters? Are unsubstantiated rumors enough to create a reasonable suspicion of child abuse? Ready to hear Chris get on his soapbox? Today, we're covering a fascinating case for all educators, especially teachers. This is the kind of thing that anyone in a school setting could easily encounter. This is a case of a school counselor who was informed by a student about a possible inappropriate relationship between a teacher and another student, but that counselor didn’t report it to her supervisors or to child protective services. Well, some more things came to light. She got fired. She filed a lawsuit. And the court said some… interesting things about all of it. Today's case is Small v Streater Township High School District. We also talk about a recent case out of Virginia, NCAA v. Shenandoah County School Board, in which a court held that students' First Amendment rights to be free from compelled speech were violated when students were required to wear school uniforms with a highly symbolic name, "Stonewall Jackson Generals," after the school district reinstated that name following a protracted conflict in the community.

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Keywords: Mandatory Reporter, Child Abuse, Teachers, Labor and Employment, Contract Termination, Due Process, First Amendment,

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