(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court will decide if two families can sue the Superintendent of the Southeast Polk school district who they claim didn’t do enough when their children were harassed and threatened. School District attorney Samuel McMichael told the justices during oral arguments that administrators can’t be sued because public employees have qualified immunity under Iowa code.

“Plaintiffs have brought in the superintendent, really, simply based on his position within the school district, and not based on his involvement and underlying action. So I think qualified immunity here is important to protect those type of instances,” he says. The parents’ attorney, Marrissa Pasker, says civil rights lawsuits are meant to prevent discrimination from happening. “It would be illogical to think that the legislature intended educational institutions to be liable, but not the individual actors who were carrying out the discrimination,” Pasker said.

The Iowa Supreme Court will issue a ruling on the case at a later date.