David Burns v. Board of Education of the City of Stamford

Summary

The Supreme Court of Connecticut answered its certified question affirmatively, holding that school children attending public school during school hours are a narrowly defined, identifiable class of foreseeable victims, so the superintendent's allegedly negligent failure to ensure that an icy school courtyard was sanded, salted, or the subject of warnings is not shielded by governmental immunity even though the duty was discretionary. Relying on compulsory attendance statutes, the statutory care, maintenance, and supervision duties of boards of education and superintendents, and the constitutional guarantee of free public education, the court concluded that parents are compelled to relinquish protective custody during school hours and that the temporary icing of the main courtyard accessway posed a significant, foreseeable danger. The judgment of the Appellate Court, which had affirmed partial summary judgment for the defendants, was reversed and the case remanded. No separate opinions were filed.