SAM Coverage Requirements: After School Programs/ELOP, Camps and Overnight Camps

[Mari]

Hi Team,

With these lawsuits having impact on programming, we are interested to know what different districts are requiring of these listed vendors to be contracted? What is your district policy for single and aggregate amounts for SAM coverage? What are the single and aggregate amounts being requested for general liability?

[Karen]

I am not part of a district but rather, a JPA for charter schools. This is an issue that we often navigate. For SAM, I would prefer nothing less than $2,000,000 per occurrence with a $2,000,000 aggregate. It’s tricky because most General Liability policies will exclude SAM. If SAM is included within the GL limits, I would consider a higher GL limit (depending upon the vendor’s scope of work). I also realize that sometimes, these vendors can’t find the coverage or can’t find higher limits of the coverage. Therefore, a business decision needs to be made whether or not the risk of a vendor not meeting insurance requirements outweighs the benefits of the service they provide. With prevention being the primary focus, mitigation strategies should be a part of the contractual agreement. As an example, require vendor to take CSA prevention (which will be a part of Mandated Report 7-1-25), read your staff-student interaction policies, not being alone with students (staff present at all times if possible), etc. I hope this helps.

[Mari]

Thanks for the feedback, “these vendors can’t find the coverage or can’t find higher limits of the coverage” and not to mention what it is costing them if they can find it. This is what we are running into with vendors.

[Sheryl]

We determine SA/M coverage based on the activity and if there is potential for students to be alone, one-on-one, with a vendor. For after school programs, we ask for at least $1M/$3M aggregate, depending on the risk of the activity. They must be printed and TB, and we require a staff member to be present at all times. With that being said, we don’t ask for SA/M. For private counseling or ther activites we ask for at least $1M/$3M aggregate, $3M in SA/M coverage and sometimes they can make it work with some of the umbrella coverage. They must state on the cert that the Umbrella coverage can be used for SA/M. It get’s so complicated. Call if you want to talk. FCUSD 916-294-9000 ext. 104610

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