Mentoring a High School Student

I have been contacted by a high school student who is working on her senior project, landscape photography. She needs a mentor to work with her for about 15 hours. I have emailed her a couple of times for more information and that I would need to meet her and her parents before we could work on this project. I'm not sure if the school has a statement of liability, or if I need one. My thought would be for her parent to drive her to a location and then I would meet them there. I know I don't want the responsibility of driving this student to locations.

Anyone in this type of situation? I am not a "professional photographer" and do not have any Photography Insurance for this sort of thing. My work has just been for myself.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks very much.

An attorney will tell you to get liability insurance. But my non-attorney opinion is that if you aren't being paid, if you get in a car accident, then your auto insurance would cover anything, the same as if you were taking your kid and friends to the movie.

I've done this on 3 separate occasions. One Sr. project was on landscape photography and the other two were macro nature photography themed. All 3 students were very enthusiastic and apparently learned alot, as did I. I will say that I spent more than 15 hours per student, though.

Every school will be different, of course, but all I did was fill out some paperwork, provided by the student, as to my qualifications. The school probably ran a background check on me but if they did I wasn't aware of it. There was no legal documents to sign and I never worried about insurance.....I did most of the driving when we went to local areas to shoot. The two who did macro work also came over to my house/studio for some instruction and all 3 spent time with me on my computer using LR and PS as none of them had the programs or knew how to use them.

I think mentoring a student is very admirable. You do need to be careful, however. I would ask the school for a "Hold Harmless" agreement. Second, your auto insurance will only cover up to the limits of the policy. If something happens, you could be sued in a civil proceeding, and, unless you have liability insurance, you could be out on a limb financially.

I think your idea of having a parent drive the student to a location to meet up with you is an excellent idea. You really do not want to be alone with a minor, regardless of their gender. When I was an active fire service EMT, our protocol was strict in this regard. If a minor child was involved, we were obligated to have another adult, an EMT, or parent, present during treatment. This protected us, as well as the child.

This sounds like a nice project, and will be a great experience. You just have ensure your legal bases are covered.

--P

Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions. I will follow up with the school to find out the liability issues. I want to be sure I'm protected which is why I believe I will insist the parent is always with us. Just can't take too many chances these days. Thanks again for your feedback.

Thanks again for the advice. Upon further contemplation and the issues involved, I have decided not to mentor this student. Lack of information from the student and the school make me too nervous. Thanks again.