Analysis of Qualified Immunity for Texas Public School Professional Employees as Interpreted by the Texas Courts Page: 62
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CHAPTER 6
EXCESSIVE FORCE IN DISCIPLINE
Ten published cases have considered whether a public school employee may be sued for
using excessive force in discipline. Texas Education Code, Section 22.0511(a) (2008)
specifically permits lawsuits "in circumstances in which a professional employee uses excessive
force in the discipline of students or negligence resulting in bodily injury to students." Of these
ten cases, there are two in which the public school employees were not granted immunity due to
this exception. In the other eight cases, the public school employees were granted immunity.
Six of these eight cases in which immunity was granted were based on the protection provided in
Section 22.051 (previously Section 21.912). The remaining two cases involved motions by the
public school employees to grant immunity under Section 22.051 but were unable to meet the
requirements. These public school employees still were immune from liability, but under
different statutes.
The first published case that was tried regarding the excessive force in discipline
exception to Section 21.912 of the Texas Education Code was O'Haver v. Blair (1984). The
facts of the case are as follows: Shawn O'Haver, a fifteen year old high school student, was
playing football on the San Antonio Madison High School practice football field with a group of
people on Sunday, October 7, 1979. The Madison High School football coaches were holding a
coaches meeting at the high school at the same time. Two of the Madison coaches, Burkholder
and Leonard, left the meeting and went to the practice field to move the water sprinklers. Coach
Burkholder told the group playing football to leave the field and they refused to do so.
Burkholder and Leonard returned to the coaches meeting to contact the police.62
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Carman, John Nathaniel. Analysis of Qualified Immunity for Texas Public School Professional Employees as Interpreted by the Texas Courts, dissertation, May 2009; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9857/m1/68/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .