Duty of Care in Schools: Why Process Protects Students | Brian Murray

Duty of Care in Schools: Why Process Protects Students | Brian Murray

Duty of care comes down to two questions: where is every student right now, and would your discipline process hold up if a family challenged it in court?

Brian Murray spent more than 25 years across independent, public, and international schools as a dean of students and director of student leadership, and he's candid about the moments when his process didn't hold. A student who went missing overnight turned out to be asleep at home, because a sign-out never got logged and the handoff between the duty teacher and the dorm parent never happened. Looking back at whether his schools could account for day students if there had been a fire, he puts it plainly: "I was negligent."

Bridget Johnson has sat in the same chair, which is why this conversation goes straight to what holds up under pressure. They get into an expulsion that was overturned in court on due process because the discipline process and the boarding code of conduct weren't documented, and into why student life leaders find it so hard to draw the line with a kid they've poured themselves into. Bridget's answer is the one she gives every team: process, process, process, because it won't always produce the same outcome, but you have to follow it.

They also take on what duty of care asks of a school after a mandatory report is filed, why discipline committees and duty logs have to stick to the facts, and what underfunded student life costs when families stop recommending the school. Bridget closes on the continuous thread that runs through admissions, student life, and alumni work: relationship building, which every one of those teams depends on.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

Why a missing-student scare usually traces back to a handoff nobody logged How often an adult should have eyes on each student, and why some students go a whole school day without hearing their name What duty of care asks of a school after a mandatory report is filed, not just before it How an undocumented discipline process and a missing boarding code of conduct can get an expulsion overturned on due process Why the hardest conversation in student life is telling a student you've invested in that this is the line Why discipline committees and duty logs have to deal with the facts in front of them, not feelings or rumors How underfunded student life shows up later in attrition and in what families tell other families This episode is supported by Gener