Ms. Davis is an elementary school teacher and has just started her position at Red Oaks public school in a grade one classroom. Within the second week of the school year she notices a little boy in her class named Jerry Simmons has a notably apparent bruise just above his left wrist and seems to have puffy eyes upon arrival in the morning. Normally the child is quite extroverted and seems to be keeping to himself throughout the typical morning routine.
Ms. Davies delegates the responsibility of calling CAS to one her colleagues that is more experienced in reporting.
Incorrect solution for this scenario
Since Ms. Davies was the first professional, it is also her legal duty as Jerry's teacher to directly report the claim. Ms. Davies is responsible for acquiring all details about the report and successfully communicating them to CAS (Ontario College of Teachers, 2018).
Ms. Davies makes an anonymous call to CAS since she does not want to be liable for reporting on behalf of Jerry.
As a certified teacher, it is imperative that Ms. Davies provides her name when making a CAS report in order to remain credible and uphold her duty to report in unsafe cases (Peel CAS, p.1).
Ms. Davies can even request to not have her name shared to the Simmons family and use "the school" as the source of the report instead (Peel CAS, p.1).
Ms. Davies ignores the mark present on Jerry's arm and the report is not processed.
Failure to report on reasonable grounds can report in legal action against Ms Davies. This can include a fine of up to $5000 and being labeled guilty of professional misconduct (Ontario College of Teachers, 2018).
Ms Davies asks Jerry to clarify how he got the bruise using non-leading statements (Peel CAS, p.1).
Ms. Davies notifies principle of the situation, fills out the correct paperwork and then makes the phone call to CAS with all the details of Jerry's bruise and personal information accessible to the school
Correct solution for this scenario
Notifying the principle as well as filling out the correct paper work is crucial when reporting a claim to CAS
Ms. Davies calls parents following the suspicion of unsafe living circumstances for Jerry to inquire about his home life.
Incorrect solution for scenario
Ms. Davies is supposed to make the call in attendance of an administrator especially if it is her first time contacting CAS as a teaching professional (Ontario College of Teachers, 2018)
