Just got off the phone with a dear friend who has worked in administration for an Oregon school district that is NOT in Portland for many years. She is still employed there.
She told me that the school's culpalbility (sp?) begins when the student either gets on the bus or arrives at the school. (Steps foot on the school grounds). However, if the student is with a parent, it is when the parent takes them to the classroom or the office and checks them in.
Now, this is a gray area because of the science fair. She wanted to know if the school officially started the day at their regular time or did they officially start at 10AM because of a special event? She said this might be a legal case so that a judge could determine who was responsible for Kyron due to the event. But, she said it didn't look good for the school. She did NOT know any of the circumstances other than what I told her, so please know that there are other variables to this situation that may have given her a different response. My basic question to her was if the school might be held responsible and her final answer was "from what you are telling me, it doesn't look good for the school".