By Kevin Lungwitz

It is not the law, but “when in doubt, report” is the standard to which you will be held in public schools. If you have suspicions about child abuse or neglect; or if you become aware of someone else’s concerns about the treatment of a child; or more to the point, if you have a doubt as to whether child abuse or neglect has occurred or may occur, or a doubt as to whether to report, stop what you are doing and make a report to Child Protective Services:

In an emergency, call 911, or your campus police department, or your SRO. Then follow-up with a prompt report to CPS. The law says you must report to CPS within 48 hours when you have “reasonable cause to believe” that abuse or neglect occurred or may occur, but the standard to which you will be held is, “When in doubt, report.”

There is a drawback to reporting every doubt you have that abuse or neglect has occurred or may occur. If everyone did this, it could overwhelm the CPS reporting system. There would be so many “when in doubt” reports that it would water down the reports made in strict adherence to the law. However, if you are ever accused of failure to report, and you had a nagging doubt, and it later became known abuse was actually occurring, you will likely lose your job and maybe more. Hindsight is 20-20.

Report, Don’t Investigate: A Short Story
Too many times, TEPSA members and others have been caught in a snare. Perhaps you have been in a similar situation: You are the principal. A staff member comes to you with a rumor of abuse or with information they are not sure about. The staffer confides they heard from another staffer the first-grade teacher put a student in the closet as punishment. Your first thought is, “This is third-hand information.” You didn’t witness the alleged event, nor did the staffer who came to you, so you decide you do not have “reasonable cause to believe.” Thus you conclude, you have no legal duty to report.

However, being a dedicated educator, you go one step farther. You concoct a plan to investigate. You talk to the original witness/staffer, and that person says there were suspicious circumstances, but they cannot prove the teacher put the student in the closet. You check the classroom video, but it is inconclusive. Four or five days later you question the accused first grade teacher and ask them if the rumor is true: Did they put the student in a closet? The teacher denies it, so you conclude it did not happen and make no report.

The plot thickens: Several months later it becomes known the first-grade teacher did, in fact, put the student in a closet, not just once, but several times over the course of the semester. Another person saw it happen, has proof and reported it to CPS. At this point, law enforcement, CPS and your school district HR will investigate. It won’t be long before everyone finds out this was reported to you several months earlier, and you made no report. Soon, the rumor will spread that you knew it was happening, and you were indifferent.

All eyes are now on you, questioning why you let this “obvious” case of abuse go unreported. “But I never had first-hand information, and I never had ‘reasonable cause to believe,’” you will surely protest. “I did my own investigation and concluded it likely did not happen,” you will continue. “Besides, the first staffer who witnessed suspicious circumstances months ago had a duty to report, so why am I the one in trouble?”

Your protests will fall on deaf ears. You will be judged by the actual turn of events, not by what you knew or did not know at the time. You might be proposed for termination or nonrenewal. You might be charged with “failure to report,” a Class A misdemeanor which includes up to one year in jail and up to a $4000 fine. You will likely be reported to the Texas Education Agency for a certification investigation. You will need to hire lawyers to assist you, which will cost tens of thousands of dollars. Your lawyers will argue you did not have “reasonable cause to believe,” while fighting all the agencies above who insist that, “when in doubt” is the standard. You may or may not win those cases, but you will have lost your reputation and a lot of money either way.

CPS Does Not Want You to Investigate
Don’t investigate. Report! Law enforcement and CPS jealousy guard their investigatory skills, so do not deprive them of that opportunity. Besides, what if your days-long investigation proved abuse did happen? Then, it might be argued that you missed the 48-hour window of time to report.

All of this could have been avoided with one phone call to CPS within 48 hours of when the first staffer reported this to you. Even if it is just a rumor, make the call. If CPS thinks your call is premature, they will tell you. There is no penalty for calling prematurely, and you will get credit for trying. The CPS website says:

If you have reasonable cause to believe abuse occurred, but are not sure, report it.

If you have any doubts about whether or not it is abuse, call the hotline.

If you don’t call, and the facts blow up, you will be blamed.

Other Staffers had a Stronger Duty to Report.
So Why Am I the One in Trouble?
All certified professional educators (e.g., teachers, administrators, teaching assistants, counselors, nurses, etc.) have a non-delegable duty to report suspected child abuse within 48 hours of having reasonable cause to believe. A staffer is not absolved from the duty to report by delegating that task to the principal, assistant principal, nurse, counselor, etc. However, in two court cases, employees who were terminated for failure to report complained that other employees, who also had a duty to report, were not terminated. The Commissioner said that did not matter. If the terminated employees had reasonable cause, then there was a duty to report without respect to the duty of other employees1

What Can I Do to Avoid This Outcome?

  1. Do More Than “Go Through the Motions” on CPS Training for Staff: Your staff needs to be fully empowered to call CPS on their own if they suspect child abuse or neglect. They need to know how to make the report. They should be encouraged to make a report. They must know they have a non-delegable duty to report, and that you are not the clearinghouse or intake portal for their observations or suspicions.
  2. It’s Okay if Staff Still Comes to You, But You Should Model What to Do: Staffers, especially younger teachers, may still come to you for advice on what to do if they suspect abuse or neglect. Stop what you are doing and call CPS with the staffer. Now, both of you are protected.
  3. Take This Hot Potato Off of Your Desk and Put It on CPS’s Desk: You are a busy principal or assistant principal. You don’t have time to investigate a suspicion of child abuse, so why add this messy issue to the stack of stuff on your desk? With one timely phone call to CPS, you can put this controversial and complex matter onto a CPS investigator’s desk, and you cannot be blamed for the result.
  4. When in Doubt, Report.

Kevin Lungwitz practices law in Austin and is a former Chair of the School Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.

Endnotes
1Matthews v Winona Indep. Sch. Dist., Tex. Educ. Agency Docket No. 101-R2-1002 (Comm’r Educ. 2002); Ruiz v. Judson Indep. Sch. Dist., Tex. Educ. Agency Docket No. 013-R2-10-2012 (Comm’r Educ. 2012).

TEPSA News, January/February 2025, Vol 82, No 1

Copyright © 2025 by the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association. No part of articles in TEPSA publications or on the website may be reproduced in any medium without the permission of the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association.

Note: Information from Legal Ease is believed to be correct upon publication but is not warranted and should not be considered legal advice. Please contact TEPSA or your school district attorney before taking any legal action, as specific facts or circumstances may cause a different legal outcome.

The Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association (TEPSA), whose hallmark is educational leaders learning with and from each other, has served Texas PK-8 school leaders since 1917. Member owned and member governed, TEPSA has more than 6000 members who direct the activities of 3 million PK-8 school children. TEPSA is an affiliate of the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

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