[Edward64]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

For clarity, this policy affects students in ALL grades not just K-3 graders. I think I made reference to this being the overall intention in this or the other thread.

This is the piece that i found interesting.

So who gets to make the determination if the result will be abuse, abandonment or neglect? How are they are going to do that one? Is that one person liable if they make the wrong call or will they be liable along with the school district, county, state etc.?

I'm thinking its pretty logical and glad they added that phrase explicitly. I think abuse notification process is pretty standard nowadays. I know my wife is to report suspicions of abuse to nurse/school admin. From what I've heard, better to err on the side of caution and let the school nurse/admin make the final determination. So it makes sense not to notify abusive parents without taking caution.

Admittedly, abandonment or neglect is more subjective.

If a student knew that their parents cared more and were more invested for the student's well being than school personnel, they probably would have gone to the parents first with their issues instead of the school personnel. The students may not be right 100% of the time but I would go with the 80-20 rule. 80% of the time the students will have a better understanding of whether or not they will be in danger of abuse, abandonment or neglect if their parents are notified by the school than school personnel. The student is probably better positioned to determine this danger than the school personnel

I found your quote in section #2 and this does not explicitly deal with 3rd graders.

I would agree on your 80-20 rule when talking about older kids but not on 3rd graders. So as a general assumption (not backed by any research) my guess is

Elementary school - 20-80
Middle school - 50-50
High school - 80-20