Aside from the off-kilter polling in the presidential race, the U.S. Senate race was stacked against the chances of a continued Republican majority: 24 of the 34 seats up for election were in Republican hands and Congress had historically low approval ratings. In the end, both the House and Senate maintained their Republican majorities and Donald Trump won the White House.
A unified Executive and Legislative branch means that President-elect Trump’s agenda will have a strong chance of success over the next two years. That’s not to say it will be easy. Of the President-elect’s goals for his first 100 days, some key priorities for Christian schools are:
• A promise to “fully repeal” the Affordable Care Act and replace it with health savings accounts. This would presumably resolve the conflict for Christians who object to government compulsion to provide abortifacient contraception in health insurance plans.
The Verdict
Dealing with Discipline and School Policy The appeals judge in his opinion wrote:
In order to state a claim against a private school for improperly exercising a disciplinary policy, a plaintiff must allege the school either failed to “adhere to its own established [disciplinary] procedures” or, in carrying out the discipline, failed to “follow a procedure that is fundamentally fair.” Hernandez v. Don Bosco Preparatory High, 322 N.J. Super. 1, 21 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 162 N.J. 196 (1999). However, not all failures to abide by internal procedures violate fundamental fairness. See id. at 21-22.
When a private association fails to adhere to its own procedures, the court will “balance the organization’s interest in autonomy and its reason for straying from its rules against the magnitude of interference with the member’s interest in the organization and the likelihood that the established procedures would safeguard that interest.” Hernandez, supra, 322 N.J. Super. at 19 (quoting Rutledge v. Gulian, 93 N.J. 113, 123 (1983)). Ultimately, “[w]hether the procedure is fundamentally fair will depend on the circumstances.” Id. at 22.
The appeals judge stated:
We conclude from our review that plaintiffs’ allegations pertaining to bias, the manner in which H. K. was questioned, the lack of a fair opportunity to respond to the charges, and the failure of defendant to disclose any information about its investigation, if true, suggest defendant’s process was fundamentally unfair.
Moreover, in light of the somewhat vague nature of the procedures set forth in the HIB policy, defendant’s failures to provide a copy of the investigation report and to specify the offending conduct suggest defendant failed to follow its established procedures when disciplining H. K. and acted in an unfair manner.
• A school choice bill that “redirects education dollars to give parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious, or home school of their choice.”
• A promise to “cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum, and order issued by President Obama.”
• A promise to “begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list.”
Whatever may happen, and no matter who holds the office of president, our responsibility as Christians is to pray for those in authority “that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2:2). Congratulations to America’s newest public servants. May the Lord give them wisdom.
Continued from Jury Box on pages 40–41. .
The appeals court reversed the decision and sent it back to the trial court.
What Can Christian Schools Learn from This Case?
It is important for Christian schools to have a clear and understandable policy regarding investigations into alleged harassment, discrimination, or bullying. Those procedures should clarify who does the investigation, what procedures must be followed, what kind of written report is done, and who receives the report.
Second, the policy must be followed consistently and fairly. When schools are inconsistent in policies and procedures, the courts will consider it to be unfair and liability will then exist.
Courts rarely get into interpreting whether a policy is fair or not. However, they want to see that policies have been followed in a fair and consistent manner.
Investigations should be carried out in a timely manner, and the resulting decisions must then be communicated to the student and parents. In this case, it seemed that the school prolonged the investigation and its decision as to the future of the student.
The parents in this case also claimed they were not well advised of the policies. It is important to make sure parents and students receive a handbook and sign an acknowledgment that they understand and submit to the policies and procedures of the school.
© 2016 by the Association of Christian Schools International
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