Rock by Rock v. Central Square School Dist.
| Decision Date | 27 September 1985 |
| Citation | 494 N.Y.S.2d 579,113 A.D.2d 1008 |
| Parties | , 28 Ed. Law Rep. 548 Michael P. ROCK, an Infant by his Parents and Natural Guardians, Edward J. ROCK and Jacqueline E. Rock, and Edward J. Rock and Jacqueline E. Rock, Individually, Appellants, v. CENTRAL SQUARE SCHOOL DISTRICT and Susan Easton, Respondents, Robert Curtis, Defendant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Gary L. Orenstein, Syracuse, for appellant.
Bond, Schoeneck & King, by Francis Maloney, Syracuse, for respondents.
Before DILLON, P.J., and DOERR, BOOMER, GREEN and PINE, JJ.
The infant plaintiff was injured while in an eighth grade English class taught by defendant Susan Easton in a junior high school in the defendant Central Square School District. The injury occurred prior to the commencement of class when a fellow student flipped his pen onto his desk causing the eraser to separate and strike the infant plaintiff in the eye. At the time of the incident, defendant Easton was standing in the doorway between the hall and the classroom pursuant to a directive in the Faculty Handbook which provided that "each teacher is expected to be in the halls during the passing of classes for the purpose of supervision."
Special Term properly granted summary judgment to defendants. A school board is not the insurer of the safety of students and a school teacher may be charged only with reasonable care such as a parent of ordinary prudence would exercise under comparable circumstances (Ohman v. Board of Educ. of City of N.Y., 300 N.Y. 306, 309, 90 N.E.2d 474; Swiatkowski v. Board of Educ. of City of Buffalo, 36 A.D.2d 685, 686, 319 N.Y.S.2d 783). It was the intervening act of the student, not the alleged failure of the teacher, which was the proximate cause of the infant plaintiff's injuries (see Carrillo v. Kreckel, 43 A.D.2d 499, 501, 352 N.Y.S.2d 730; Swiatkowski v. Board of Educ. of City of Buffalo, 36 A.D.2d 685, 686, 319 N.Y.S.2d 783, supra; Chmela v. Board of Educ. of City of N.Y., 26 Misc.2d 10, 14-15, 207 N.Y.S.2d 401, affd. 17 A.D.2d 826, 233 N.Y.S.2d 56, lv. denied 13 N.Y.2d 599, 245 N.Y.S.2d 1026, 194 N.E.2d 837).
Order unanimously affirmed, without costs.
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