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Safety Law News for March 9, 2020

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• In Massachusetts, the Monomoy Regional School District and Harwich Police Department are looking for donations to fund the purchase and training of a K-9 to detect THC and nicotine products used by students who vape.  The plan is for the dog to spend most of its time in the high school as the K-9 partner to the school resource officer.

• In Missouri, the Callaway County Commission agreed to renew their school resource officer contracts with three county school districts.  School officials are providing evidence that the officers are building positive, trusting relationships with students and positive responses from parents of the school districts.

• In North Carolina, a report issued by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction reports a slight increase in crime in schools in 2018-19 compared to the previous year. There were 20 incidents of assaults on school personnel in 2018-19, up from 16 incidents in 2017-18.  (Annual Report on School Discipline, Crime and Dropout)

• In New Mexico, the governor signed into law House Bill 184.  The provisions of the law create funding for the training of school resource officers, including instruction on de-escalation techniques and adolescent-specific issues.  All officers must receive training within twelve months of being deployed to schools.

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Safety Law News for February 28, 2020

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• In Connecticut, the Supreme Court of Connecticut upheld a liability verdict against educators for the failure to properly supervise students.  An elementary school student was assaulted by other students while they were on the playground during the lunchtime recess.  The court ruled that persons who were assigned to monitor the students on the playground during recess were not properly trained.  The court also held that one student intern and three or four staff members were not enough to exercise control over as many as 400 students on the playground. (Osborn v. City of Waterbury)

• In Pennsylvania, hundreds of parents in the Pine-Richland School District have signed a petition demanding armed school resource officers as a means to improve the safety and security of the schools.

• In Indiana, the legislature is considering the creation of a School Resource Officer Report that will mandate school corporations and charter schools to annually report on the presence of school resource officers to the Department of Homeland Security.

• In Rhode Island, the Providence City Council has sent a resolution to the Rhode Island Department of Education requesting the replacement of its school resource officers with school counselors.  The Governor has also asked the legislature to put aside SRO funding for mental health staff in her 2021 budget proposal.

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Safety Law News for February 24, 2020

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• In Kentucky, the Governor signed into law the school safety bill that will require school resource officers to be armed.  The law goes into effect immediately.  (Senate Bill 8)

• In New Jersey, the United States District Court refused to dismiss an excessive force lawsuit against a  “Class III” school resource officer whose conduct toward elementary school students caused him to be taken off duty.  “Class III” school resource officers are previously retired law enforcement officers who are rehired to provide security in the schools.  The officer received a waiver allowing him to bypass basic training prior to being assigned to the school.  The parent’s claims alleging failure to train and failure to supervise were dismissed because of improper pleading. (Terranova v. Borough of Hasbrouck Heights)

• In Virginia, the United States District Court, refused to dismiss a case brought against a school resource officer accused of excessive force while lawfully seizing a cell phone from a student accused of posting nude pictures.  The court ruled that a jury should determine whether the force was reasonable.  The court also refused to grant immunity to the officer because the right of a middle school student posing no imminent risk of harm to be free from excessive force was clearly established before the incident occurred.  (Z.F. by Next Friend Fleming v. Adkins)

• In Indiana, officials at Mishawaka High School are implementing a policy to issue tickets to students caught vaping at least twice. The citations come with a $145 court fine and other legal consequences similar to traffic tickets.

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Safety Law News for February 20, 2020

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In Washington State, the Court of Appeals of Washington affirmed the adjudication of a student for a fourth degree assault charge, when she struck in the face several times another student with a backpack.  The appellate court agreed with the juvenile court’s rejection of the student’s self-defense claim because the force used in retaliation “was more than was necessary.” State of Washington v. V.A.M.

In Washington State, the United States Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a parent who argued that a school policy limiting his communications with school district employees was a violation of his First Amendment rights. The appellate court ruled that the policy was a reasonable, content neutral, and viewpoint neutral effort to manage the father’s relentless and unproductive communications with school officials.  L. F. v. Lake Washington Sch. Dist. #414. 

• In Georgia, school resource officers from the Floyd County Schools and Rome City Schools have formed the School Resource Officer Consortium.  The purpose of the collaboration is to learn from each other as they serve both school systems.

• In Ohio, the mayor for the City of Warren, along with a school resource officer are implementing an outreach program with students whereby a student is acknowledged for good behavior and sworn in as honorary police officer.  A second-grader received the first award before a student assembly.

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Safety Law News for February 18, 2020

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• In Florida, the District Court of Appeal of Florida held that the school resource officer who was on duty during the campus shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was not immune from the lawsuit filed by parents under a state statute that allows a recovery of damages when an officer acts “in bad faith or with malicious purpose or in a manner exhibiting wanton and willful disregard of human rights or safety.”  (Peterson v. Pollack)

• In New York, the Supreme Court, Appellate Division affirmed a finding of liability against school officials after a student was injured while rehearsing for an upcoming chorus recital when the auditorium stage riser upon which she was walking collapsed.  The court ruled that where the actual or specific cause of an accident is unknown, a jury is permitted to infer from the very happening of the injurious event that the accident was the result of negligence by the school.  (Elsawi v. Saratoga Springs City Sch. Dist)

• In Oregon, the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit ruled that school officials did not violate the rights of straight students by enforcing a school safety policy of allowing transgender students to use restrooms, locker rooms, and showers that matched their gender identity, rather than their biological sex assigned at birth.  The court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment right to privacy did not apply, that the school policy did not discriminate on basis of sex, and that the Due Process Clause did not provide a fundamental parental right to determine bathroom policies of public schools.  (Parents for Privacy v. Barr)

• In Florida, the District Court of Appeal of Florida reversed the dismissal of a criminal case filed against a student who sent a Snapchat photograph to another student, which depicted a scoped AR-15 rifle with an extended, large capacity magazine and had the caption, “Show and Tell @[the school] on Monday.”   The court ruled that the threshold standard for a “threat,” was conduct “sufficient to cause alarm in reasonable persons.”   Under that standard, the case was remanded back for trial because, “[t]he reasonableness of [the receiving student’s] perception of the post as a threat is a matter for a jury to determine.”  (State v. Cowart)

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Safety Law News for February 14, 2020

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• In Missouri, officials in the Portageville School District are once again teaching students the drug abuse resistance education program known as DARE.  The program is being brought back because officials believe “it builds a bridge between the police and the community.  The information that we teach [students] at DARE they go and share it with their parents.”

• In Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Senate approved HB 2336, which would give districts the right to adopt policies that would allow school workers to carry guns.

• In Alabama, officials in Mobile County are responding to concerns that new school discipline policies are not working.  The claim has been made that teachers are quitting their jobs because of unruly students.

• In Georgia,  Fulton County School District officials find themselves on the defensive as parents complain about fights and other disruptions in the schools.  The problems are attributable to the school discipline policies, which parents say are resulting in, “the same kids fighting all the time…the students get suspended, come back to school and fight again.”