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Doe v. Cedar Rapids Community School District9/5/2002
etaining, and supervising a particular teacher are not policy choices our legislature intended to immunize. They do not affect the "big picture" but rather have impact on a very small scale. These decisions must be made by every school district when a teaching position is vacant and must be filled. Such decisions are no different than a government employee's decision to turn left or right at a stop sign. Actions of this nature are not immune from liability because they are not real policy decisions implicating governmental functions.
Under the present facts, the School received an application, reviewed it, presumably interviewed Lindsey and decided whether or not to hire him. Once on staff, the School's decision to renew his contract did not involve policy considerations. Finally, the School's choice to either supervise Lindsey or not supervise him was not based on social, economic, or political policy. All of these decisions were merely "ad hoc decision based on the situation confronting [the School]." See Alake v. City of Boston, 666 N.E.2d 1022, 1025 (Mass. App. Ct. 1996) (chaperones supervising school children not immune from suit). The School's actions were nothing more than the application of professional judgment to a given set of facts. Its conduct was not "entwined in a layer of policy-making that exceeded the mere application of rules to facts." Oslin v. State, 543 N.W.2d 408, 416 (Minn. Ct. App. 1996).
These ultimate decisions do not affect social, political, or economic policy any more than the decision itself is based on these considerations. See Kansas State Bank & Trust Co., 819 P.2d at 600 (discretionary function must involve some sort of policy formulation when following the "nature and quality" test articulated in Downs, 522 F.2d at 990).
The burden is on the School to prove its actions are entitled to the shield of discretionary function immunity. 18 Municipal Corporations ยง 53.04.20, 162 (3d ed. 1993). The School did not offer and the district court did not articulate any policies at the heart of the School's decision to hire, retain, or supervise Lindsey. It has not even attempted to satisfy this burden with the exception of mere assertions that policy considerations were involved. The required demonstration is completely absent in this case. At the time the School made decisions regarding Lindsey's hiring, retention, and supervision, considerations were not immediately involved that directly related to the exercise of governmental policy judgments. See Ex Parte Cranman, 792 So. 2d at 404. Rather, the School's actions were nothing more than a product of ordinary, day-to-day operations. The decisions the School made in hiring, retaining, and supervising Lindsey did not implicate policy formulation at any level. Given these facts, the School has not satisfied the second prong of the discretionary function immunity test. As such, the School does not enjoy immunity from the Does' suit for negligent hiring, retention, and supervision.
As a matter of public policy, surely, our legislature, in enacting Iowa Code section 670.4(3), did not intend to allow a school district to hire, retain, or leave unsupervised a teacher with known propensities for child abuse with total impunity. The School had an affirmative duty to take all reasonable steps to protect its students. See Rodriguez v. Inglewood Unified Sch. Dist., 186 Cal. App. 3d 707, 715 (1986). In protecting its children, a school must exercise the same care toward them "as a parent of ordinary prudence would observe in comparable circumstances." City of Cedar Falls, 617 N.W.2d at 18.
Teaching and learning cannot take place without the physical and mental well-being of the students. The
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