280.26 - INTERVENTION IN ALTERCATIONS.
280.26 INTERVENTION IN ALTERCATIONS.
1. An employee of an accredited public school district,
accredited nonpublic school, or area education agency may intervene
in a fight or physical struggle occurring among students or between
students and nonstudents that takes place in the presence of the
school employee in a school building, on school premises, or at any
school function or school- sponsored activity regardless of its
location. The degree and force of the intervention may be as
reasonably necessary, in the opinion of the school employee, to
restore order and protect the safety of the individuals involved in
the altercation and others in the vicinity of the altercation.
2. A person who is not an employee of an accredited public school
district, accredited nonpublic school, or area education agency may
intervene in a fight or physical struggle occurring among students,
or between students and nonstudents, that takes place in the presence
of the nonemployee in a school building, on school premises, or at
any school function or school-sponsored activity regardless of its
location. The intervention may occur in the absence of an employee
of an accredited public school district, accredited nonpublic school,
or area education agency, or at the request of such an employee,
utilizing the degree and force of intervention reasonably necessary
to restore order and protect the safety of the individuals involved
in the altercation and others in the vicinity of the altercation.
However, a person who intervenes in the absence of an employee of an
accredited public school district, accredited nonpublic school, or
area education agency shall report the intervention and all relevant
information regarding the situation as soon as reasonably possible to
such an employee.
3. An employee of an accredited public school district,
accredited nonpublic school, or area education agency who intervenes
in a fight or physical struggle pursuant to subsection 1 shall be
awarded reasonable monetary damages against a party bringing a civil
action alleging a violation of this section, if it is determined in
the action that the employee has been wrongfully accused. A
nonemployee of an accredited public school district, accredited
nonpublic school, or area education agency who intervenes in a fight
or physical struggle pursuant to subsection 2 shall be limited to the
recovery of reasonable attorney fees and court costs, if it is
determined in a civil action alleging a violation of this section
that the nonemployee has been wrongfully accused. Section History: Recent Form
98 Acts, ch 1195, §2