O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1184 (2019)

Reporting of students committing prohibited acts

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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(a) Any teacher or other person employed at any public or private elementary or secondary school or any dean or public safety officer employed by a college or university who has reasonable cause to believe that a student at that school has committed any act upon school property or at any school function, which act is prohibited by Code Section 16-5-21 or 16-5-24, Chapter 6 of Title 16, and Code Section 16-11-127, 16-11-127.1, 16-11-132, or 16-13-30, shall immediately report the act and the name of the student to the principal or president of that school or the principal’s or president’s designee; provided, however, that an act which is prohibited by Code Section 16-11-127.1 shall be reported only when it involves a: (1) Firearm, as defined in Code Section 16-11-131; (2) Dangerous weapon or machine gun, as defined in Code Section 16-11-121; or (3) Weapon, as defined in Code Section 16-11-127.1, together with an assault. (b) The principal or designee who receives a report made pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section who has reasonable cause to believe that the report is valid shall make an oral report thereof immediately by telephone or otherwise to the appropriate school system superintendent and to the appropriate police authority and district attorney. (c) Any person participating in the making of a report or causing a report to be made as authorized or required pursuant to this Code section or participating in any judicial proceeding or any other proceeding resulting therefrom shall in so doing be immune from any civil or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed, providing such participation pursuant to this Code section is made in good faith. (d) Any person required to make a report pursuant to this Code section who knowingly and willfully fails to do so shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

History

Code 1981, § 20-2-1184, enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 1834, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1012, § 7; Ga. L. 2010, p. 963, § 2-12/SB 308; Ga. L. 2014, p. 432, § 2-11/HB 826; Ga. L. 2015, p. 805, § 11/HB 492.

Annotations

Editor’s notes. Ga. L. 1994, p. 1012, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provided that the Act shall be known and may be cited as

the “School Safety and Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 1994.” Ga. L. 1994, p. 1012, § 2, not codified by the General Assembly, sets forth legislative findings and determinations for the “School Safety and Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 1994.” Ga. L. 1994, p. 1012, § 29, not codified by the General Assembly, provides for severability.

Ga. L. 1994, p. 1012, § 30, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the Act shall apply to all offenses committed on or after May 1, 1994. Ga. L. 2010, p. 963, § 3-1/SB 308, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part, that the amendment of this Code section shall apply to all offenses committed on and after June 4, 2010, and

shall not affect any prosecutions for acts occurring before June 4, 2010, and shall not act as an abatement of any such prosecution. Law reviews. For survey article on local government law, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 263 (2008). For article, “Crimes and Offenses,” see 27 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 131 (2011).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Failure to report assault on a student. - Appellate court’s reversal of a grant of judgment on the pleadings to the defendants, the members of a school board of education, a school principal, the assistant principal, and a clinic nurse in their individual capacities, was in error in a negligence suit brought by the parents of a student who was assaulted by another student; the mandated action set forth in O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1185 on the part of a school to create a safety plan was a dis-

cretionary duty rather than a ministerial duty, and while O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1184 establishes Georgia’s public policy concerning the need to report timely to the appropriate authorities the identity of students who commit certain proscribed acts on school grounds, the statute did not create a civil cause of action for damages in favor of a victim or anyone else for the purported failure to report timely. Murphy v. Bajjani, 282 Ga. 197, 647 S.E.2d 54, 2007 Ga. LEXIS 470 (2007).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Violation of section does not require fingerprinting. - Violation of O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1184 is not, at this time,

designated as an offense for which those charged with a violation are to be fingerprinted. 1990 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 90-22.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases, 2006–2010 · leading case: Murphy v. Bajjani, 647 S.E.2d 54 (Ga. 2007).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Murphy v. Bajjani, 647 S.E.2d 54 (Ga. 2007). · cites it 12× “219 ( 617 SE2d 575 ) (2005)); a claim of negligence per se for failing to report immediately to the district attorney and the police the name of the student believed to have committed an aggravated battery on school property (see OCGA § 20-2-1184 (b)) was viable because Timothy…”
Bajjani v. Gwinnett Cnty. Sch. Dist., 630 S.E.2d 103 (Ga. Ct. App. 2006). · cites it 24× “ministerial duties required by OCGA § 20-2-1185 by failing to develop a security plan for North Gwinnett High School; by failing to have measures to ensure appropriate and timely medical response; by failing to have measures designed to warn teachers and students of dangerous…”
Anthony v. Am. Gen. Fin. Servs., Inc., 697 S.E.2d 166 (Ga. 2010). · cites it 4× “While OCGA § 20-2-1184 establishes Georgia's public policy concerning the need to report timely to the appropriate authorities the identity of students who commit certain proscribed acts on school grounds, it does not create a civil cause of action for damages in favor of the…”
Reece v. Turner, 643 S.E.2d 814 (Ga. Ct. App. 2007). · cites it 6× “2 We note that in 1994, the General Assembly enacted OCGA § 20-2-1184, which imposes reporting requirements upon a school principal or his or her designee for certain types of offenses (including sexual offenses) involving students committed upon school property or at a…”
Verdi v. Wilkinson Cnty., 655 S.E.2d 642 (Ga. Ct. App. 2007). · cites it 2× “at 200-201 (2) (OCGA§ 20-2-1184, which requires school employees to report to designated authorities the identities of students who commit certain proscribed acts, imposes a criminal penalty for the failure to do so; the statute does not create a private right of action for…”
— 20-2-1184(b) — 1 case
Bajjani v. Gwinnett Cnty. Sch. Dist., 630 S.E.2d 103 (Ga. Ct. App. 2006). “ministerial duties required by OCGA § 20-2-1185 by failing to develop a security plan for North Gwinnett High School; by failing to have measures to ensure appropriate and timely medical response; by failing to have measures designed to warn teachers and students of dangerous…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.