See You In Court ' March 2022

• Published date: 03 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Consumer Protection, Education
• Law Firm: Shipman & Goodwin LLP
• Author: Mr Thomas B. Mooney

The Nutmeg Board of Education, indeed the entire Nutmeg Public Schools community, was breathing easier with the end of mask mandates. But newly-elected Board member Nellie Nervous remained concerned. At the February meeting of the Board, Nellie shared that concern with her fellow Board members and the public.

"I am worried," she began. "Everyone is happy that our students and teachers now have the option of wearing their masks or not. But the CDC is still recommending that students wear masks, and I think that we should mandate masks on our own. We are creating an unsafe school environment by not following the science and continuing to mandate masks."

Veteran Board member Bob Bombast scoffed. "If the State doesn't mandate masks in schools, how could we? The simple truth is that we don't have the authority to impose such mandates."

But Nellie continued the debate. "When the CDC recommends masks, we are derelict if we do not require them. If someone gets COVID at school, we are going to get sued. I don't know about you, but I don't want to hire a lawyer, let alone pay damages to someone who gets COVID in our schools. I move that we continue with the mask mandate for anyone entering the Nutmeg Public Schools until the CDC withdraws its recommendation for masking in our schools."

Ms. Chairperson waited for a second, but there was none, and Nellie's motion failed. Moreover, when the State mask mandate ended at the end of February, Mr. Superintendent and the Nutmeg Public Schools lifted the mandate that students, teachers and visitors wear masks in the schools, though officially they did recommend that all continue to wear masks.

Last week, Nellie was upset when she answered a knock on her door at home and was greeted by a sheriff serving her with a complaint. The parent of a Nutmeg student is suing all the members of the Board of Education as well as Mr. Superintendent. The parent claims that the Board was negligent in not mandating that everyone wear a mask while in the Nutmeg Public Schools, which failure, she further claims, caused her child to contract COVID. From what Nellie could determine from the complaint, the parent is demanding unspecified damages in excess of $15,000.

Nellie promptly sent an "I told-you-so" email to Mr. Superintendent and her Board colleagues, reminding them that she had warned them about the risk of liability. Mr. Superintendent, however, ignored Nellie's email, and instead sent an email to all the Board members, telling them that...