The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up two sexual-harassment cases involving teachers and students.
One case raised the question of whether a school district could be held liable for the alleged sexual harassment of a teacher by a student at her school. The second involved a suit seeking to hold a charter school liable for its handling of alleged sexual harassment of a student by a teacher.
The first case, Andersen v. Rochester City School District (No. 12-190), involves a music teacher in the New York state district who faced harassing phone calls and other behavior from a student who had allegedly burglarized her home and stolen her cell phone. The teacher, Tina M. Andersen, alleged that the school principal failed to adequately respond to her concerns about the continued presence of the student who allegedly broke into Andersen's home and was continuing to harass her.
