Governing Conduct: Understanding The School’s Role in Blurry Situations

It’s reasonable for an independent school to have conduct expectations for its community--students, employees, and parents. Some of those expectations are clearly set, as are the consequences for policy violations. However, increasingly independent schools are grappling with the gray areas of conduct management. Do they have jurisdiction over out-of-school student conduct? Is there a liability issue when employees engage in political or social justice advocacy on campus? Do schools have any control over parent behaviors on or off of campus?

In this session, NAIS Legal Counsel, Megan Mann will delve into some of the sticky situations that may be “less clear” for schools when it comes to conduct governance or jurisdiction. We will review the handbook (employee and family/student) policies at play, some of the particular risk management concerns, and questions that schools can ask themselves to better understand this landscape.