Parental consent with waiver… are they legal?
Posted by: Roy in Business, customer service, feedback & reviews, management, tags: activities, college, consent, legal, off-school, parent, students, waiverEverytime the school conducts an activity outside their premises, they would send a Parental Consent Slip. This is done to inform the parents of the authenticity of the activity and to seek their permission for their children to join the activity.
Last night, my son presented the said slip to me for signature. They are going to have a Team Building activity on Sunday, and it will be help outside the school. I read the letter, and just as I suspected - the consent comes with a waiver. Signing the consent would mean that I would allow my son to join the activity AND at the same time waiving my rights to hold the school responsible for any untoward incident that might happen during the activity.
My son is in first year college, 15 years old, old enough to be responsible for himself and all. But we know how things are nowadays, and there are lots of external factors that could cause to happen what should not happen. Heaven forbids, but taking all precautionary measures isn’t an assurance that nothing will happen.
Is the waiver part of the slip legal? Is the school really not responsible? They are in fact the one who initiated the activity, and it is a requirement for every student to join. If I won’t let my son join the activity, I fear it might have an affect in his grades.
Honestly, I believe that this should not be case, and that school should still be held responsible for these types of activities. Parent’s consent is fine, but waiver is not legal.
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Hello,
Just wanted to share, I remembered attending a Seminar and a forum, regarding legalities and business. One of the speaker is a Judge and that same question was raised, will the waver really waves the responsibility from the school? the answer is, it does not, the waver is merely a paper and it does not Wave the responsibility of the teacher or the school when something happens. the court likewise does not honor or accepts the reason that there was a waver given by the parents.
Logically speaking, the waver is a waver permitting your son or whoever it is to participate in a particular event, not allowing them to die or be harmed.
i guess this would help in your Blog
Hi Kris! Thanks for the info. I do believe that the waiver is not really binding as far as holding responsibility is concerned.
That’s why I wonder why do they need to have parents signed a paper specifically stating that they are holding schools and teachers free from any responsibility for anything that will happen. It should be illegal and therefore should be discontinued.
Thanks for dropping by.
Hi Roy,
The waiver is to inform you of the activity and to assure you that anything untoward happening is not a “responsibility ” of the school - meaning the school would NOT deliberately allow your child to be harmed, that any untoward event that may happen is unintentional and is a result of something which is beyond the control of the school like mishaps/accidents.
If you don’t allow your child to attend, then he will miss out on the vital activity. Life is about taking chances. You have to be “unafraid” to take them, even on your part as a parent. Our children can never grow fully if we don’t allow them to venture into new areas.
You must have faith that anything that may happen is HIS will.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Jena!
Yes, I agree that nobody would want anything to happen. At least not intentionally, that’s I can’t understand they need to be released from something that is yet to happen.
I will not hold my children’s growth just because of this, I always allow them to join any school activities.
Thanks for dropping by!