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Safety Law News for April 8, 2021

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— In New York, the United States District Court upheld the search and seizure of a student whose threats to blow up school property were taken seriously by school officials.  The student told classmates, “don’t come to school tomorrow” and that he was going to blow up the school. The court held that the seizure, in which the student was placed in a conference room, was reasonable in both duration and scope.  The court also upheld the searches of the student’s locker, wallet, and cell phone.  As to the cell phone, the court ruled that “[a] cellular phone can be used to detonate an explosive device, and therefore a search of the phone was reasonably related to the objectives of the investigation of the bomb threat.”  N.U. by Amar v. E. Islip Union Free School District

— In Colorado, Senate Bill 182, which would have heavily restricted law enforcement’s authority inside schools, has been removed from legislative consideration in the current session.  The provisions of SB 182 would have placed schools at risk by prohibiting arrests and tickets for students suspected of an array of offenses — like physical assault or sexual harassment of teachers and other students, trespassing, gambling, loitering, petty marijuana offenses or offenses relating to alcohol or tobacco use.

— In Maryland, officials in Anne Arundel County are focusing on connecting students with mentors and counselors instead of arresting them for juvenile offenses under an experimental “pre-arrest diversion” program.  Under the provisions of the “Fresh START” program, police patrol and school resource officers hope to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in charging teens; and provide early intervention services to youth affected by trauma, mental health and/or substance abuse.

— In Florida, the Sarasota County School District is signaling the alarm over THC-laced products that are appearing in schools.  Both law enforcement officials and educators are warning parents that the drug is being packaged in forms that are difficult to detect.  The THC is made to appear as candy or snacks.

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Safety Law News for April 5, 2021

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— In Oregon, the United States District Court certified a class-action lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Education brought by parents of special needs students to challenge a form of blue-slipping school discipline.  “Blue-slipping” identifies a widespread practice in which schools, under pressure to keep reported suspension rates low, send disruptive students home informally.  Schools justify this practice for many reasons, not least because of insufficient support personnel to oversee and correct disruptive student behaviors.  The federal court ruled that the parents could sue the state on behalf of all students with disabilities aged 3 to 21 who had been subjected to a shortened school day or were at substantial risk of being subjected to a shortened school day due to their disability-related behaviors.  J.N. v. Oregon Department of Education

— In Florida, members of the Broward Sheriff’s Office received training to help communicate with students with autism.  The training emphasizes recognizing the unique challenges that confront autistic children, the best ways to interact, and traits that can help avoid miscommunication.

— In Maryland, the General Assembly is considering legislation that would increase the qualifications necessary to serve as a school resource officer.   House Bill 522, will require a school resource office or school security employee to meet heightened qualifications, require the Maryland Center for School Safety to develop a specialized curriculum, including educators in the curriculum, and establish a complaint process for students and parents.

— In Maryland, parents, students and educators in the Charles County Public Schools have given their School Resource Officer program strong support, with 90% of respondents saying the presence of SROs is either extremely important or important to them.  According to the survey, 72.97% said it was extremely important to have SROs assigned to schools; 17.43% said it was important. A little over 6% of the 5,627 respondents — which included students, parents, school system staff and community members — said it wasn’t needed.

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Safety Law News for March 31, 2021

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— In New York, the United States District Court refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a student who was sexually harassed and physically assaulted during a study hall by another student.  School officials told the victim that the incident would “be a warning” for the harasser and reassigned the victim to her harasser’s study hall.  The court ruled that liability under Title IX is established when, after a school is placed on notice, it fails to take reasonable steps to protect the victim.  The school has a duty to prevent a student from encountering her harasser.  AA by BB v. Hammondsport Central School District

— In Illinois, officials in Elgin have hired a gang intervention specialist to empower their gang prevention program.  The violence intervention program, Operation Homefront, will focus on decreasing juvenile violence, minimizing juvenile arrests, stemming gang involvement and reducing high school dropout rates. It will have a multidisciplinary approach with partnerships between the police, schools, community-based organizations, residents and faith-based groups.

— In Virginia, officials in Henrico County are having a public comment period on proposed changes to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the role of police in schools.  The first proposed change would require the school’s principal to make a good faith effort to contact the student’s parent prior to the beginning of any student interview by police.  The second change would require a parent or guardian to be contacted in person, electronically or by phone or video conference when a student is arrested.  The third change would mandate that a police official who wants to interview a student on campus as part of a criminal investigation do so through the school resource officer in coordination with school administrators.

— Two school districts have revised and renewed their school safety plans to deploy police officers.  In California, officials in the City of Carlsbad have extended the agreement at the request of the schools.  The schools continue to believe that the “relationship with law enforcement is cooperative and productive.”  In New Mexico, the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board is keeping officers in schools after implementing eight recommendations created by a community advisory board.

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Safety Law News for March 26, 2021

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— In Missouri, the Missouri Court of Appeals refused to grant immunity to school teachers and nurses in a lawsuit brought by parents of a special needs child who died as a result of obstruction of her tracheostomy.  The court ruled that official immunity would not protect the school officials from liability arising from their failure to comply with the directives set forth in student’s individualized education program.  The court ruled that the malpractice was not protected under the Paul D. Coverdell Teacher Protection Act of 2001 because it was not properly included on the face of the educators’ petition to support their motion to dismiss.  Kemp v. McReynolds

— In North Carolina, officials in the Wake County Public School District are continuing its school resource officers program after two community surveys revealed support for continuing the program if revisions in the role of the police officers are made. The district’s latest community survey of the program shows that three-quarters of respondents still favor the collaboration.

— In North Carolina, Beaufort County Schools have reorganized their school safety plan around a new partnership with a private security company.  Allied Universal Security will provide the district with school resource officers.  Its personnel is comprised of sworn and armed law enforcement officers, “dressed as a sworn police officer, uniformed similar to what a state trooper would look like.”  The private police force will work before, during, and after the school day ends.

— In New Hampshire, the Senate passed a bill that establishes committees to study the role and scope of authority of school resource officers.  Senate Bill 96, which also requires that the memorandum of understanding between a school district and a school resource officer be made public, was sent on to the House of Representatives.

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Safety Law News for March 23, 2021

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— In New York, the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, held that a school was not liable for injuries sustained by a student at the hands of a fellow student.  The court ruled that “a school district acts in loco parentis with respect to its minor students, [and] owes a special duty to the students.”  This duty requires that schools “adequately supervise the students in their care.”  The court dismissed the lawsuit because the school took reasonable steps to prevent the fight.  While the steps failed to prevent the incident, the court concluded that the school “cannot reasonably be expected to continuously supervise and control all movements and activities of students.”  Wienclaw v. East Islip Union Free School District

— In Florida, the Florida Legislature is considering a proposal to allow counties and municipalities to install cameras in school speed zones and enforce speed limits.  Schools support the legislation based on data that shows its school buses are illegally passed more than 400 times each day while children are getting on and off the buses.

— In Virginia, officials in the Albemarle County School District are planning to replace the police officers in its school safety program with “school safety coaches.”  The new positions will require completion of the police-based school safety officer certification through the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.  Even so, the coaches will neither be armed nor have the authority to arrest.

— In Missouri, the Hannibal Public Schools have revised their anti-bullying program to make greater use of the Courage2Report App to report, document, and act upon incidents of bullying.  When a student uses the app, officials immediately get an email and take action.  Data compiled by the State of Missouri shows that students in rural areas are 15.5% more likely to be bullied than students in urban areas.

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Safety Law News for March 19, 2021

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— In Maryland, the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland reversed the adjudication of a student for shouting in the classroom that he would “shoot up” the room if he did not find a folder he had left behind during an earlier class.  The court ruled that although school officials may prohibit a true threat that is a serious expression of intent to harm others, the dividing line between a true threat and constitutionally protected speech favored the student. No witnesses perceived the statement as a true threat.  In Re: J.W.

— In West Virginia, legislators have proposed a revision to the Education Code that will allow teachers and other school employees to have concealed carry weapons in the classroom.  When approved, the “School Protection Officers” could carry a gun, pepper spray or other allowed protective weapon in school.

— In Colorado, proposed school safety legislation would revise discipline policies to minimize student run-ins with police. Senate Bill 21-182 would require discipline reporting to find and correct racial disparities, modify the school code of conduct to encourage age-appropriate discipline outcomes, and set more stringent rules for the selection of school police officers.

— In California, the majority of students and parents in the Fresno Unified School District want to keep armed police officers on Fresno Unified campuses, according to surveys conducted by the district and Fresno State University.  This represents a significant shift for keeping police in schools.  A majority of the Fresno Unified School District Trustees are also in support of the school resource officer program.