Insurance for Elementary and Secondary Schools
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What Insurance Do Elementary and Secondary Schools Need?
Professional Liability Insurance (or E&O Insurance), protects your small business from claims of mistakes, negligence or malpractice made when providing your services that caused sobody financial loss. PLI covers your legal defense costs, damages and settlements.
Umbrella Policy adds an extra layer of protection to professionals if a serious event or cumulative claims exhaust your current polcy limits. It also covers you for events that would otherwise be excluded from your other policies.
Commercial Property Insurance will provide coverage for your properties in case damage renders them impossible to rent or lease.
General Liability Insurance protects your small business against claims of third-party bodily injury and property damage, reputational harm and advertising injury. It covers medical bills, repair costs & legal fees.
Cyber Liability Insurance protects you from the theft of sensitive data. If you suffer a data breach or software attack, Cyber Liability Insurance will cover the costs of notifying and restoring affected customers, recovering data and repairing security systems.
Workers Compensation covers your employees' medical costs and lost wages while recovering from a work-related injury or illness. The employee gives up the right to sue your company in return for receiving cash and benefits from Workers Compensation. In some states it’s mandatory for businesses!
Frequently Asked Questions
What risks do elementary and secondary schools face?
Teachers spend their days with students, colleagues and parents. This makes them susceptible to diseases and viral infections. According to recent studies, roughly 7% of the teachers in the US face injury each year. This is due to the fact that some students are armed with a knife, a club or even a gun. The teacher could file a claim against the school for lack of professional recognition, discrimination, inadequate salary, etc. Schools usually face a case of sexual abuse either from teachers to their fellow workmates or teachers to the students. These are just some of the many risks that elementary and secondary schools face.
How can an elementary and secondary school minimize these risks?
Your teachers should have Health Insurance and Workers' Compensation to help cover the expenses of the teacher's medical or rehabilitation expenses if they are sick or injured at work. For claims against their salary, employee discrimination, and other related cases, you'll need Employment Practices and Liability Insurance (EPLI). This will cover defense costs and other fees from employment-related issues.
For all other instances, you'll need to purchase an insurance that can cover most of the risks and liabilities that your business might face. Business Owners Policy (BOP) covers most of the common property and liability risks.
How can I insure my school against sexual abuse claims?
Sexual abuse claims are a common liability schools face. A General Liability will usually have this as an add-on and it is usually called abuse and molestation coverage. The policy will cover the defense and liability costs up to the liability limits of the insurance. The limits can go as high as three million dollars but if that is not enough, you can add more limits to your policy through Umbrella Insurance.
Why should an elementary or secondary school buy Professional Liability?
Professional Liability insurance is your safety net when the teachers are involved in a work-related lawsuit. This insurance will provide coverage to schools and school districts from the risks of legal consequences caused by their professional mistakes. For example, a school created a curriculum to improve math test scores; however, after implementation, the test score did not improve as expected. The school or district will be held liable and if sued, the Professional Liability insurance will cover the legal costs and the settlement amount up to the limit of the policy.