Permission slip (and fall)

Leave it to a lawyer to actually read those pesky permission slips kids bring home that require a parent’s signature.

Roslindale insurance attorney Nina E. Kallen is on a mission against the field trip release forms used by Boston Public Schools, which include a comprehensive waiver of liability that Kallen argues leaves families without recourse if a student is injured as a result of negligence while on an outing.

“Basically, what it means is if a student is injured while on a field trip because of the negligence of the school or a BPS partner — and I don’t even know how far that goes — they have no recourse,” Kallen says. “As an attorney who deals with who should be responsible, I know at some point someone is going to slip up and someone is going to get hurt. They should have the same recourse as any other kid.”

The permission slips Kallen considers “outrageous” cover “any acts of negligence or otherwise” from the moment a student is under BPS supervision throughout the duration of the trip.

Kallen says the forms could produce bizarre outcomes. For example, if a bus driver falls asleep at the wheel and hits someone on the sidewalk while transporting students on a trip, the person on the sidewalk can recover damages, but the students on board cannot.

Kallen has had numerous conversations with BPS staff and the City of Boston Law Department. She also took her argument directly to the School Committee in February. The school district, however, shows no sign of backing down.

“Massachusetts is one of several states that encourages and upholds a relatively protective position in terms of the ability of schools to use broad permission slip and field trip liability waiver language,” spokesman Lee McGuire says in a prepared statement. “In Sharon v. City of Newton, 2002, the Supreme Judicial Court found that the City of Newton’s broad waiver of liability provision within school permission slips was valid and that holding otherwise would impair the District’s ability to provide extracurricular activities.”

For Kallen, though, it’s a moral issue, not a legal one. Rather than requiring that parents sign comprehensive waivers of liability, BPS should require its field trip partners to carry insurance adequate to cover injuries caused by negligence, she says.

“I think there should be no release of liability,” Kallen adds. “This is a public school, which requires a release so that children can participate in a very important part of the educational experience.”

On that, at least, Kallen and BPS agree.

“At BPS, we believe there is significant educational value in field trips to enhance and enrich our students’ experiences outside the classroom walls,” McGuire writes. “These waivers help ensure our schools can continue to offer these experiences to children, and we take care to make the waivers available in multiple languages and with clear information so families can make their own decisions about whether to participate.”

Unwilling to deprive her own children of such “experiences,” Kallen says she ultimately signs, but notes on the release form that it is “under protest,” and she includes a paragraph-long summary of her objections.

Following Kallen’s presentation, the School Committee asked its lawyers for a report on what other school districts do. Kallen says her own research has found a range of practices — including no waiver of liability whatsoever — but that she hasn’t found any school system with a waiver as comprehensive as the one employed by BPS.

“To me, that is the least important question. I don’t care what other school systems do,” Kallen says. “We should be leading on this. I care what Boston is doing, and they need to take these releases away.”