In another,[p] laintiffs allege that some student defendants in the graphics class physically abused them through forcible and offensive sexual contact,...[allegedly] touched their breasts and genitalia, sodomized them, forced them to touch the genitalia of the student defendants, forced plaintiffs to perform acts of fellatio, forced plaintiffs to watch similar acts performed on …

Ann. tit. 24 §§ 13-1326-13-1330, 13-1333 and 13-1343 (1962 & Supp. 1991), thus creating an affirmative constitutional duty on the part of the school defendants to protect plaintiffs from the types of acts committed by the student defendants.

Vocational Technical School,'0 two students brought a civil rights action against a public school district under section 1983, claiming that the school district was liable to the students for sexual molestation by their classmates.

The court concluded, however, that plaintiffs' allegations were insufficient to establish a breach of the duty through reckless indifference to plaintiffs' rights by the school defendants.

As a result, our nation's judiciary has struggled to determine exactly when a public school's affirmative duty to its students arises, and great debate has emerged among courts and commentators, leaving the law in this area in considerable disarray

On the basis of the record before it, the district court found that defendants Goode, Peters, and Bazzel were entitled to qualified immunity under § 1983.

The Peters was not capable of teaching and protecting the students because she had not been sufficiently trained.

Accord Nishiyama V. Dickson County, 814 F. 2d 277 (6th Cir. 1987)(prisoner allowed to operate police vehicle unsupervised was clothed with state authority and became de facto state actor). a Some courts have used a custodial-type rationale to justify the imposition of constitutional duty to protect upon school officials.

DR and LH also claimed that in February of 1989, Peters had asked students what was happening in the bathroom and that students had told her that DR was in the bathroom with male students.

By contrast, the district court opinion stated that the assaults on DR occurred between January and April or May of 1989 and the assaults on LH occurred between December of 1988 and March or May of 1989.

[CITATION] Sex equality: Sexual harassment

[BOOK] Sex equality

[CITATION] Sword & Shield Revisited: A Practical Approach to Section 1983

[CITATION] Section 1983 Civil Rights Litigation and Attorneys' Fees