Simonetti v. School District of Philadelphia

CIRILLO, Judge,

dissenting:

I respectfully dissent. The majority begins its discussion by pointing out the proper standard of review for this Court as follows:

“Appellate review of the record of a trial before a judge without a jury is limited to a determination of whether the findings of fact of the court below are supported by competent evidence and whether or not the lower court committed error of law.” Rubinstein v. J.E. Kunkle Co., 244 Pa.Super. 474, 479 , 368 A.2d 819, 822 (1976), quoting E.I. duPont, de Nemours and Co., Inc. v. Berms Studios, 211 Pa.Super. 352, 354 , 236 A.2d 555, 556 (1967). In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we are required to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winners. Id., 244 Pa.Superior Ct. at 480, 368 A.2d at 822 .

Rather than applying this standard though, the majority takes a neutral view of the evidence and begins comparing the instant case with similar cases in other jurisdictions and reaches the overly simplistic conclusion that momentary absence from a classroom by a teacher is not negligence. Since I do not believe that the majority presented the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, as required, I will begin by stating the facts as I feel they should be viewed in this appeal.

The teacher, Mrs. Powell, remained in the classroom with three children during recess period while the other children were outside playing. The three children were not at recess because they were being punished by the teacher for their misbehavior earlier in the day. At least one of the three children had been a persistent behavior problem since he began school. Mrs. Powell went outside the classroom, following the recess period, to monitor the other thirty children who were returning. Mrs. Powell positioned her *563 self in the hall in such a way that she could not see the classroom, which was filling up with children returning from recess and in which the three discipline-problem children were sitting. Because she could not see into the classroom from where she stood, she was not aware that there were children running around with sharp pencils in their hands. She also could not hear the “hollering” or “yelling” going on inside the classroom. Not only was Mrs. Powell not in a position to see or hear what was happening in the classroom during this rukus, but she was busy talking to another teacher. In fact, she was so engulfed in conversation that following the incident in question, the minor plaintiff, who was crying, had to go into the hall and interrupt the two teachers to get Mrs. Powell’s attention. Based on these facts, we must determine whether there is evidence in the record to justify the trial court’s findings of negligence. Courts v. Campbell, 245 Pa.Super. 326, 330 , 369 A.2d 425, 426 (1976).

Besides failing to apply the proper standard of review, the majority attempts to find support for their position by citing non-Pennsylvania cases, all of which are factually distinguishable from the instant case. All of those cases involved a teacher who left the classroom unattended to do another assigned task. While the teacher was absent, a student was injured through some mishap. The majority concludes that these cases support the conclusion that “momentary absence from a classroom is not negligence.” While I agree that momentary absence alone is not sufficient to support a finding of negligence, I do believe that additional factors coupled with momentary absence could support a finding of negligence. The majority does not consider questions such as why the teacher left the room, how long she was gone, and what she did while she was out, as being important in determining negligence. I believe these facts are essential in distinguishing our case from those cited by the majority.

In the case at bar, while Mrs. Powell may have been authorized to stand outside the classroom to monitor those coming in from recess, this did not relieve her of the duty to *564 supervise the children as they entered the classroom, especially when she knew the behavior-problem children were in the room; nor did it free her to strike up conversations with fellow teachers in the hallway. Unlike the cases cited by the majority, the teacher could have done both tasks, i.e., monitor those in the hallway and watch those in the classroom at the same time by positioning herself in the doorway so she had a view of the inside of the classroom and that of the hallway. Moreover, the distraction of talking to other teachers when she was supposed to be supervising her thirty students is another factor which should be considered in determining whether there was sufficient evidence for the trial court to find negligence. These additional facts, which are absent in the cases relied upon by the majority, are sufficient to qualify the “momentary absence” of the teacher and support a finding of negligence. Therefore, I would affirm the finding of negligence by the lower court because it was supported by competent evidence.