What about a school’s legal responsibility to its students?
Dorit Reiss, professor at Hastings School of Law, has written extensively about the potential legal ramification of not vaccinating a child and giving parents of an infected child the right to sue. But Reiss believes a court might have trouble finding a school negligent for allowing unvaccinated children to attend, absent an outbreak. However, she clarified, during a health threat, such as the current measles one, schools do have the authority to bar unvaccinated students. And they could, she said, potentially be held legally accountable, by a parent or a teacher, for not protecting their community.
