As more and more schools decide to start with virtual learning this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic, some parents want to give their children a different educational experience.
They’re opting for “learning pods” or “homeschool pods.”
Pods are being created by groups of parents who will gather together a small group of students to learn together in one home so they can socialize rather than be isolated in their own homes. For some, a parent or two will supervise the group as they take virtual lessons from their teachers, while others are hiring a tutor to do the job.
Others are homeschooling groups of students.
Either way, if a parent is inviting people into their home, they could face potential liability if something goes wrong or if someone gets sick.
NJ Advance Media asked Adam Scales, a law professor and co-director of the Rutgers Center For Risk and Responsibility in Camden, how parents can protect themselves.
Q: If someone gets the coronavirus after being part of a learning pod in someone’s home, will the homeowner face potential liability?
Scales: Yes and No.
Yes, such supervising/hosting parents would be liable for negligently-caused harms — whether it is a slippery floor, a kitchen fire, or failure to screen someone with COVID symptoms. However, specifying precisely what “negligence” looks like for COVID is not simple, and there is a substantial question of causation.
Find all of the most important pandemic education news on Educating N.J., a special resource guide created for parents, students and educators.
So yes, there is potential liability, but unless there is gross inattention to detail — a pod with 20 kids where you can’t possibly keep track or ensure social distance, perhaps — actual liability is unlikely.
Q: Would homeowners insurance cover this?
Scales: The answer is probably no. Such policies have exclusions for business pursuits, and that includes formal daycare arrangements such as this.
If the homeowners policy is not applicable, the homeowner may turn to an umbrella policy. Although they vary in their terms, umbrella policies can cover things excluded by the underlying homeowners policy.
Note that people may be able to get a rider to the homeowners policy to cover learning pod liability by contacting their insurer in advance.
Either way, they will have to pay for learning pod coverage, and insurers may exclude COVID no matter what.
Q: It’s one thing if someone breaks an arm and another thing if someone gets the coronavirus. What’s different?
Scales: The difference is that we are likely to have a clear idea how the leg was broken and what mistake led to that.
Q: How could someone even prove they got the virus in the pod?
Scales: How would you know that “Sick Kid A” got the disease from “Sick Kid B?” Very hard to prove.
That said, if this were any other communicable disease — chicken pox, for example — I do not think the courts would hesitate to let the jury sort it out. However, because the threat to limitless litigation is real. I think courts will end up requiring more specificity when plaintiffs argue for causation.
Q: Should learning pod hosts look at business insurance policies?
Scales: Absolutely. They need to make sure their homeowners policies will at least cover accidents involving the pod children. It may be a rider to the homeowners policy or separate coverage. Don’t wait. Shop for it now.
Q: Should homeowners ask participating families to sign liability waivers, promising not to hold the homeowner responsible?
Scales: I expect that pod hosts will require people to sign liability waivers. I do not expect that the waivers will in fact absolve hosts of liability for their own negligence, but I do expect courts to be leery of imposing liability in all but egregious cases of misconduct.
Waivers should communicate the uncertainties and inherent risks of this activity. That is, your kid might get sick from the pod even if everyone does everything right. Got it? Then sign here.
Q: Should pod hosts require masks, temperature checks or COVID-19 tests before they start?
Scales: Kids should not be cheek to jowl.
You should follow whatever the CDC guidelines are.
I look around my house and maybe I could do six kids maybe four feet apart? I think it’s going to be very difficult to follow all those guidelines in spaces that are not designed for that.
Masks, absolutely. You’re in someone’s house so everybody should be masked up.
With temperature checks, it’s not easy to know if that’s effective because many kids are asymptomatic. If you want to look good, why not, because it doesn’t cost anything.
COVID tests might be a bit of a stretch. I understand it’s complicated to get a test when you need it and it can take time to get results, so I have questions about the value of the tests.
Q: What about self-isolation or a quarantine before pod classes begin?
Scales: You’d have to be a pod all the time, I suppose. Theoretically six of you could rent a house and just stay there and order from Whole Foods or pizza.
As I understand the school pods consent for you go to someone’s house and then you go home. If you wanted to do this right you would have to quarantine and then let people in. I don’t think that’s realistic.
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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com. Have a news tip or a story idea about New Jersey schools? Send it here.