Law Commons^™

Dark Sarcasm In The Classroom: The Failure Of The Courts To Recognize Students' Severe Emotional Harm As Unconstitutional, Emily F. Suski

Cleveland State Law Review

Sometimes the very people who are supposed to teach, nurture, and protect students in public schools—the students’ teachers, principals, coaches, and other school officials—are instead the people who harm them. Public school officials have beaten students, causing significant physical harm. They have also left students suffering from depression, suicidal ideation, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. When school officials cause such severe harm to students, all the federal courts of appeals to consider the issue have concluded that the Fourteenth Amendment at least in theory protects them, regardless of whether the form of the harm is emotional or physical. Yet, an analysis …