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According to Woody (1988), the key words related to defining the appropriate standard of care are ordinary, reasonable, and prudent. Ordinary pertains to what is accepted or customary practice. Reasonable relates to the appropriate and adequate use of professional knowledge and judgment. Prudent means the exercise of caution, not in the sense of being traditional or conservative, but rather maintaining adequate safeguards.

School psychologists should be familiar with the term risk management. Unlike ethical decision-making models that have the primary goal of safeguarding the welfare of the client, a risk management analysis is conducted to minimize exposure of the school or the practitioner to legal liability (Behnke & Jones, 2012). It is understandable that school districts and school psychologists wish to avoid lawsuits and other legal actions against them. Lawsuits and due process hearings are stressful, time consuming, and expensive. However, it is important “to avoid placing the protection of [the school] or the professional from legal action above the welfare of the client” (Welfel, 2012, p. 284). Experts in ethics and law agree that the best way to avoid lawsuits is “to do the right thing” (Knapp et al., 2012; Welfel, 2012). For school districts, this means knowing and respecting the legal rights of students and parents. For individual practitioners, this means knowing and making decisions consistent with our codes of ethics and aspirational ethical principles as well as working to safeguard the legal rights of schoolchildren and other clients (Knapp et al., 2012; Welfel, 2012). Readers interested in risk management strategies are referred to Bennett et al. (2006), Knapp et al. (2012), and Sales et al. (2005).