A new Principal, school files in a state of disarray and a failure to heed warning signs, were all factors that led to the awarding of $700,000 in damages to a teacher injured by an unruly student.

Jeanette Sticker was a school teacher employed by the NSW Department of Education and Communities. ‘X’, a student at her school, was then aged 8 years old. He was a refugee from Sudan, who had a history of ‘severe behavioural problems’ including aggression and violence towards other students and staff.

In March 2009, Ms Sticker attended an incident in the playground where X was misbehaving. In accordance with school procedure, she removed X away from other students and led him gently by the hand to the Principal’s office. During the course of this, X unexpectedly and violently pulled Ms Sticker backwards, resulting in spinal injuries that required surgical intervention.

The court made several key findings that lead to its award of damages, namely;

• X was assigned a ‘high risk assessment’ due to his violence towards other children.
• The filing of school records was in a deficient state, such that the emerging pattern of dangerous behaviour by X could not be seen.
• X’s behaviour was so alarming that he should have been referred to a paediatrician.
• The school was not adequately dealing with X’s escalating problems.

The key issue in this case was not the behaviour of X, but the inadequate systems and procedures the school had in place to deal with the situation. The judge found that the reasonable thing for the school to do in this case was to remove X from the school.

Ms Sticker had acted reasonably and prudently in following school procedure to address risk posed to other students by X, and in this case she was not found to have contributed to her injuries.

It was also significant that the Principal, Ms Gledhill, had been appointed only two months before the incident. However, this served only to highlight the poor state of the school records.

An expert’s opinion in this case summed up the school’s actions as being ‘too little, too late’.

This case highlights the importance of schools;

• having clear policies and procedures in place to deal with aggressive behaviour of students;
• accurately capturing data with respect to incidents of aggressive behaviour of students;
• reviewing this data in order to accurately identify systemic patterns of aggressive behaviour;
• undertaking a risk assessment in relation to at risk students;
• escalating the management of behavioural issues where appropriate; and
• taking appropriate action in the circumstances based on the best information available.