Teachers are not law enforcement, so statements from a student to a teacher are admissible in court even if the student doesn’t testify.
The Supreme Court unanimously decided as much when it announced its ruling in Ohio v. Clark on Thursday. In March 2010, a preschool teacher asked a three-year-old student about the student’s bloodshot and bloodstained eye. The child said her mother’s boyfriend had caused them. The teacher reported the injuries, as required under Ohio law, leading to the boyfriend’s arrest and conviction for child endangerment, among other crimes.
The Supreme Court of Ohio eventually ruled that the child’s statement to her teacher was inadmissible evidence. Because teachers are required to report suspected child abuse, the teacher was acting as an agent of law enforcement, so the child’s out-of-court statement was inadmissible, the court said. The federal Supreme Court’s decision reversed that ruling.
The country’s two largest teachers unions are praising the Supreme Court’s decision.
“We are pleased the [Supreme] Court recognized what educators have long understood — namely, that mandatory reporting laws aren’t about prosecuting crimes, but are there to protect abused or neglected children and to ensure those children and their families get the help and support they deserve,” Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, said. “Teachers aren’t cops. To confuse those two roles could have hampered educators’ ability to help their students.” The NEA filed an amicus brief in support of Ohio’s position.
The nation’s second-largest teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers, also responded.
“Teachers play a big role in kids’ lives; they have a duty to act in their students’ best interests,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said. “Teachers have a responsibility to report suspected child abuse — to protect children — but the question in this case was whether they should carry out these duties in the same way that law enforcement officials do. The U.S. Supreme Court correctly decided that teachers’ reporting doesn’t make teachers agents of law enforcement and recognized their role as educators who are concerned about the well-being of their students.”
The National Education Association represents more than 3 million teachers, making it the nation’s largest professional employee organization. The American Federation of Teachers represents 1.6 million teachers.
