What Is Your Child's Liability Number?

In today's Tribune we find:

District Seeks Aid For Student Walkers

I am collecting a few dots on the issue of accountability/liability to the point that another picture is starting to form in my mind. From the above article, we are to understand that the HCPS every year makes a list of hazardous conditions and then sends it to the DOT and local governments. These entities review the lists and in some manner decide whether or not they can or will make improvements based on some unknown decision making process, money being part of the equation.

One has to realize that right here at this point is where it can become obvious to people a lot smarter than me that what I just said leads to a logical deduction that there is no sound accountability to that decision making process.

We will set that concept off to the side while we look at another ingredient in this pot. We add the intriguing part that "if the District can get local governments to acknowledge that the areas are hazardous, the Florida Department of Education will provide additional funds for busing student."

"Both entities must agree that the locations meet the state criteria for hazardous walking conditions to qualify for more funding," said education department spokeswoman Deborah Higgins.

Sounds reasonable, right?

But here is where the State acts just like our local school board when it is presented with information that might raise the level of liability, therefore, it is better to disregard the information completely. Acknowledgement of a problem means there is a problem, and that is not good for legal defense purposes.

Therefore the state does this: ""We get the lists from the district every year and return them on the advice of our legal staff," said Kris Carson, a DOT spokeswoman. "We're not willing to accept liability."

Because the State realizes how local systems work together to take advantage of the state:"But we're not going to sign off on a list that we didn't create," she said.

"Cause the bottom line for the State is the issue of liability. "If the DOT acknowledges that roads under their jurisdiction are hazards, they might be held liable if a student is killed or injured on their way to school."

It sounds callous when I speak the truth, but the cost for a killed student is limited to $200,000. Do a search on my blogs for Eric Martin for more information if you want to see the stark truth.

So, your child has a liability number on it. But only if some one recognizes it. That is why paper trails to more than one place about problems provide the heat necessary to raise the issue of liability. Heat seeking missiles don't have to see the target, they just follow the trail of heat right to it.