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Safety Law News for February 10, 2020

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• In New York, the Lockport City School District is installing facial recognition technology to monitor who’s on the campuses of its schools.  Lockport school officials believe that, “if the technology had been in place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the deadly 2018 attack there may never have happened.”

• In Indiana, the Indiana Youth Tobacco Survey from the Indiana State Department of Health just released its most recent youth tobacco survey, finding that the use of e-cigarettes increased 400 percent among middle and high school students from 2012 to 2019.

• In Maryland,  the parents of four students in the Montgomery County School District have filed lawsuits for injuries received while participating in school sponsored athletics.  The lawsuits point to the hazing ritual that led to sexual assaults.  The parents claim that school officials, “had extensive notice of the abusive and predatory brooming ritual perpetrated by the football players [and] … chose to ignore the danger it posed to the students.”

• In Tennessee, Davidson County officials, including school resource officers, are combating gang activity by implementing the GRIP Program.  The “Gang Resistance and Intervention Program,” is a 9-month program that supervises and counsels children in the Davidson County area.  If gang members end up in the juvenile justice system, they go to GRIP court.

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Safety Law News for February 4, 2020

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• In Kentucky, the Daviess County Public Schools have filed a lawsuit against e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs.  The school district claims that large numbers of students across the county became addicted to nicotine because of a coordinated effort by Juul to advertise directly to the children.  Several other school districts will join in the suit.

• In Ohio, educators and law enforcement officials in Stark County are utilizing the new MILO Range Pro Single Screen simulator to realistically prepare for a wide range of scenarios.  The technology teaches how to deescalate a situation as well as how to respond to an active shooter.

• In Kansas, officials in Unified School District 497 are receiving regular advice and counsel from a student advisory council. Made up of 19 students from Free State High School and Lawrence High School, the Lawrence School Board gives their thoughts on school resource officers, school safety and security, and other topics.

• In Virginia, the schools in Amherst County are receiving new doors to enhance classroom security. The new doors are fire-rated.  Each teacher will have a unique key for their classroom and doors will be locked from the inside.

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Safety Law News for January 31, 2020

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• In New Mexico, House Bill 184 has been introduced imposing mandatory training requirements on school resource officers.  It would require SROs to get more extensive training on crisis management, how to respond to students with mental and behavioral issues, and how to mentor students. It would also provide funding for equipment.

• In Pennsylvania, parents in the Saucon Valley School District are pressing the members of the board and administrators to explain their refusal to hire a resource officer.  The parents appear to be concerned about response times; the Lower Saucon Township Police Department, whose headquarters are several minutes’ drive from the district campus, is the current closest law enforcement agency.

• In Wyoming, the Campbell County School Board, after months of consideration from the community, will soon allow staff to carry guns in schools.  The new policy will go into effect only at six schools outside of the city limits. The reasoning behind the policy is to eliminate the exposure of these campuses to harm given the long law enforcement response times.

• In Washington State, the Wenatchee School District is making changes to its dress code after discussions with school resource officers about clothing and attire that is incompatible with a safe school environment.  The changes were approved by a committee comprised of board members, high school students, campus administrators and one central office employee.

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Safety Law News for January 28, 2020

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• In Kentucky, a bill filed in the current legislative session would require all school resource officers to carry firearms.  The proposal, Senate Bill 8, amends Senate Bill 1 which did not specify whether or not resource officers had to be armed.

• In Massachusetts, the Norfolk District Attorney’s office is implementing a canine component to the safe school’s programs.  Community Resource Dogs, in the form of puppies, are being deployed with school resource officers as they work with children in crisis.

• In New York, the Warren County Sheriff is contemplating changes to the school resource officer program that he now considers to be “unsustainable.”  The program uses recently retired police officers to serve in schools, but these officers want neither full-time work, nor after-school events work.

• In Indiana, South Bend schools’ suspension and expulsion rates for all students, including the disproportionate rates for black students, have continued to increase.  Next door, neighboring districts School City of Mishawaka and Penn-Harris-Madison have seen the opposite happen.  Officials in South Bend are examining how best to support restorative justice school discipline policies to change the upward trend.

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Safety Law News for January 21, 2020

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• In New York City, parents and other teachers in a Queens middle school say they are increasingly concerned over the lack of school discipline.  The problem rest in the implementation of restorative justice discipline policies.  Faculty and staff say that they are no longer respected and supported.  One teacher says, “a kid was on videotape beating up another child, and that wasn’t enough for an out of school suspension. You don’t think other kids see that?”

• In Maryland, the parents of a 16-year-old girl who was shot and killed at a school in St. Mary County have filed a lawsuit, claiming the educators failed to take proper steps to prevent violence.  The lawsuit claims that the shooter had a “significant history of violence,” including threats to shoot a gun inside the school, and that his behavior toward their daughter was reported.

• In Texas, the Frisco Independent School District is taking steps to prevent students from using vaping products.  One part involves an anonymous system that allows students to report when someone is vaping on campus.  Another part is the “CATCH My Breath” modules, which feature lessons meant to engage students in the vaping prevention conversation.

• In Indiana, after a state program made hand-held metal detectors available to every public school, incoming data show that the actual use of the wands has been minimal.  Some school officials declined because they perceive that the deployment of the wands involves too many rules and regulations.  Others make students aware that they have them and are willing to use them if necessary, but do not follow through.

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Safety Law News for January 17, 2020

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• In New York, the Schenectady City School District is struggling to implement its restorative justice school discipline policies.  The new policies aim to handle incidents with constructive rather than punitive measures.  The tide of parental concerns about student safety and school disruptions is spilling over into school board meetings.

• In Tennessee, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and the Hamilton County School Board have been struggling to find SROs. They are considering hiring and training private security officers to do the job. The stop-gap officers would patrol inside the school facilities and on the grounds but would not be involved in discipline or provide counseling to students, which is what their school resource officers do.

• In Illinois, an interagency agreement between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department is redefining the roles of school resource officers in the schools.  According to the provisions of the agreement, officers will no longer be allowed to intervene in student discipline. (Read agreement here)

• In Indiana, the Noblesville School District is installing vaping detectors in its efforts to stop teenagers from vaping in three of its buildings.  The sensors work similarly to a smoke alarm and will notify school leaders when vaping is detected.