Drowning at High School Subject of Confidential Settlement

Submitted by Bob Jacobson on Fri, 02/25/2011 - 07:54

 

Drowning at High School Pool Subject of Confidential Settlement
 
I recently came across an article from The Arizona Republic by Jeffrey Javier and print it here in its entirety:
 
 
Peoria Unified School District settles claim over teen's death
Peoria schools, family of boy involved in pool incident keep figure secret
by Jeffrey Javier - Feb. 19, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
PEORIA - The Peoria Unified School District and the family of the teenager who died of complications after being pulled from the Ironwood High swimming pool last spring have reached a settlement of the family's wrongful death claim.
The amount remains undisclosed by agreement of both parties.
The family filed a claim for more than $26 million against the school district and Glendale last August after the death of 16-year-old Jesus "Jesse" Prado.
PE teachers Larry Allen and Tim McKee, who were monitoring the pool, also were named in the claim.
Jesse, who was learning to swim, died May 14, two days after slipping unnoticed to the bottom of the deep end of the high-school pool.
Jenny Prado, Jesse's aunt, said the negotiation was stressful for the family, but that reaching a settlement has brought closure.
"We're at a point now that the family can finally move forward," she said.
The claim alleged that Glendale and the school district own the pool and are responsible for its safe operation.
School-district attorney Michael Hensley said the settlement means that claims against the district, Glendale and the two teachers will be dismissed.
The settlement money came from the Valley Schools Insurance Trust, the district's self-insured trust, he said.
Hensley said the Feb. 1 settlement contained a confidentiality provision that prohibited him from providing the amount.
The courts allow settlements of legal matters to be confidential if both parties agree.
Since Jesse's death, the school district has suspended use of school pools except for students on the swim team.
District spokeswoman Danielle Airey said the district continues to work on policy for swim classes and expects guidelines to go to the board for approval soon.
"In the meantime, the high-school pools remain closed," Airey said.
The agreement between the district and Glendale for use of the pools remains unchanged, she said.
Allen has since returned to work but was reassigned to another school. The school board fired McKee in December, saying he was negligent and failed to create a safe environment for his students. McKee is appealing that decision in Maricopa County Superior Court.
McKee filed a notice of claim with the district last August seeking $350,000 in damages. The nine-year PE teacher accuses the district of failing to follow Maricopa County requirements to have lifeguards at public pools and not abiding by its agreement with Glendale for lifeguards.
 
Confidentiality of Settlement not Unusual
One item that caught my interest was the nature of the settlement being confidential.  There may be several reasons why the parties agreed that the settlement would be confidential.  Most likely the defendants insisted on the settlement being confidential as part of the terms of the settlement.  Confidentiality in this case would likely be requested to discourage other potential claims for injury against the school district.  Since this was a claim for wrongful death, the settlement was likely a large amount.
 
Liability was Clear
 
In my opinion, based on the facts presented in the article, the defendants were clearly at fault.  Although it isn’t totally clear as to whether or not the pool was on or off site of the school, what is clear that during a school period two instructors were on duty and present while a student in their care drowned.  Since guidelines and policies for swim classes are still being worked on, one has to wonder what was in place prior to this tragedy.  McKee’s firing is not surprising, but his suit for damages is.  His claim that life guards should have been present seems like he is admitting that he was not competent to give instruction and maintain safety during a school swimming class.  The next question would then be why the school would allow an incompetent instructor to teach a swimming class.  Having been personally involved in swimming programs with the Boy Scouts and the Red Cross, safety is a high priority.  An occurrence of this magnitude is one that I believe most people would agree was preventable and should not have happened.