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Doe Parents No. 1 v. State11/27/2002
ence in this case, as well as those upon which this court relied in Miller, see supra note 41, confirm. Thus, whether the DOE's duty is characterized as one of "reasonable supervision of its students," as we did in Miller and Kim, or as a "special" duty, "inlocoparentis," to exercise reasonable care to protect a student from foreseeable harm, as the Eisel and Brooks courts did, does not alter what the DOE's duty quintessentially entails -- to exercise reasonable care in ensuring that students are educated in a safe environment free from any unreasonable risks of harm. See, e.g., Brooks, 903 P.2d at 79; Carabba, 435 P.2d at 946-47, discussed supra in note 44. It therefore follows that the circuit court did not, as the DOE suggests, "greatly expand" the duty of care that the DOE owes to students and their parents when it expressed the self-evident, namely, that the DOE's duty stems from its custodial relationship, in loco parentis, with students and, thus, obligates the DOE reasonably to anticipate, as would a reasonably prudent parent, foreseeable harm and to take whatever action is reasonable to protect a student from that foreseeable harm. Cf. Figueroa v. State, 61 Haw. 369, 376, 604 P.2d 1198, 1202 (1980) ("The State's duty to Michael to exercise reasonable care arises from the relationship created between the two as a result of Michael's commitment to the Boys' Home by the Family Court and so long as he was in the custody, the law provides that the director of social services shall be the guardian of the person of every child committed to or received at [the Boys' Home]. HRS § 352-9 (1976); see Restatement (Second) of Torts § 314A(4).").
As a final matter, however, we note that the circuit court may have inartfully characterized as "included" duties the DOE's obligations to: (1) "conduct a reasonably thorough administrative investigation of T.Y.'s allegations against Norton"; (2) "adequately supervise its employees, including teachers, who are in a position to cause injury to students"; (3) "provide adequate training to its administrators in appropriate issues, such as the proper methodology for conducting administrative investigations, pedophilia, and the procedures for conducting interviews of students who may be victims of sexual molestation by a teacher"; (4) "properly conduct interviews of students who may be victims of sexual molestation by a teacher"; and (5) "immediately contact the parents of such students unless good cause exists not to contact the parents." The circuit court's characterization of the foregoing as "duties" should be read in conjunction with its findings relating to the specific means by which the DOE breached its general duty of care on the facts of this case. So read, the circuit court did not, as the DOE urges, impose "law enforcement" responsibilities upon the DOE's administrators to investigate allegations of child abuse or to hold DOE administrators to a standard of care requisite to mental health professionals or attorneys. Rather, the circuit court highlighted the particular conduct that, on the record before it, was unreasonable and that, therefore, constituted breaches of the DOE's duty to exert reasonable care in ensuring the safety and welfare of its students.
b. Breach of duty
"Whether there was a breach of duty or not, i.e.[,] whether there was a failure on the defendant's part to exercise reasonable care, is a question for the trier of fact." Knodle, 69 Haw. at 386, 742 P.2d at 383; see also Bidar v. Amfac, Inc., 66 Haw. 547, 552, 669 P.2d 154, 159 (1983). Generally, the defendant's conduct is measured against "what a reasonable and prudent person would . . . have done under circumstances" in determining whether there has been a breach of
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