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Safety Law News for November 19, 2019

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• In Texas, educators in McLennan County are installing devices that detect when students are vaping on campus.  The devices, called Halo Smart Sensors, are in restrooms and other common areas.  If the sensors go off, a notification is sent to administrators’ cellphones.

• In Tennessee, the state education commissioner says the law enforcement presence in schools is increasing as a result of funding grants totaling $7.2 million.  Over 1300 school resource officers have been trained and deployed in schools. But 450 schools still lack a school resource officer. 

• In Massachusetts, officials for the Dracut Public School District are implementing a new anonymous reporting system for the mental health of their students.  Students can post anonymously through a hotline, website or mobile app. The responses are routed to a team of mental health professionals. 

• In Washington D.C., the Secret Service released a report on school safety.  The study concludes that most of the violent attacks in schools over the past decade were committed by students who telegraphed their intentions beforehand—and could have been prevented.  The Report recommends the use of behavioral threat assessments.

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Safety Law News for November 14, 2019

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• In Texas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a free speech suit filed by a cheerleader who was removed from her cheerleading squad due to her off-campus social media activity.  The cheerleading coaches discovered a series of posts on her personal Twitter account containing profanity and sexual innuendo. The ruling allowed school officials to enforce their more rigorous conduct rules for participation in an extra-curricular activity.  (Longoria Next Friend of M.L. v. San Benito Indep. Consol. Sch. Dist)

• In New York, the New York Supreme Court ruled that school officials were not liable for a student’s death by suicide on the basis of the allegation that the educators failed to act to stop bullying.  The court reasoned that the duty of care exists in loco parentis but operates within the limited zone of an educator’s physical custody of and control over a student.  The student’s death occurred after school hours and off school premises, where district had no control over student, and there was no allegation that school officials were on notice of possibility of student’s suicide. (Collazo v. Hicksville Union Free School District)

• In Maine, officials in the City of Portland are seeking a revision in the agreement with local police to prevent school resource officers from wearing body cameras.  The school board voted unanimously to remove body cameras based on the belief that they erode the right to privacy of students.  Police officials do not agree with the decision.

• In North Carolina, Pitt County is the 14th county in the state to adopt the School Justice Partnership. SJP is an initiative managed by the North Carolina Judicial Branch’s Administrative Office of the Courts.  Its goal is to reduce the number of juvenile referrals to the court system through collaboration by school resource officers, school officials and representatives of the courts.

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Safety Law News for November 8, 2019

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    • In Colorado, the Durango School District 9-R board has decided not to arm school security guards with firearms after months of heated community debate.  The district’s announcement followed a survey.  The survey showed the community supporting arming school security guards 51.7% to 48.3%. The survey explained that security guards would be former police officers who would be highly trained in firearm use.

    • In California, in a five to two vote, board members of the Sacramento City Unified School District finalized the decision to reduce the number of police on campus.  The district is experimenting with new models for school safety and law enforcement’s role on its campuses.

    • In Virginia, the Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of a student for violating gang-free school zone laws.  The student argued that Miranda warnings were required when he was questioned by his assistant principal and two officers six months prior to the incident that led to his arrest.  The court ruled that “[p]olice officers are not required to administer Miranda warnings to everyone whom they question.” The court applied the following factors and held that the student was not in custody.  (1) the manner in which the individual was summoned by the police, (2) the familiarity or neutrality of the surroundings, (3) the number of officers present, (4) the degree of physical restraint, (5) the duration and character of the interrogation, and (6) the extent to which the officers’ beliefs concerning the potential culpability of the individual being questioned were manifested to the individual.  (Melvin Yovany Argueta-Diaz v. Commonwealth of Virginia)

    • In Illinois, the Appellate Court of Illinois affirmed the decision of the Board of Education of the City of Chicago to fire without a written warning a tenured teacher for striking a ten-year-old student in the face.  The court ruled that the use of force far exceeded the scope of any reasonable force necessary to maintain safety and discipline inside the school. (Don Huddleston v. Illinois State Board of Education)

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    Safety Law News for November 5, 2019

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    • In Missouri, the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld the search of a student’s backpack by school officials.  A firearm was found in his backpack during a routine search where all students are required to walk through a metal detector and have their bags hand-searched by either a school safety officer or a teacher.   The court ruled that the search of the backpack was reasonable given the student’s lessened expectation of privacy in the public school setting and the “extremely compelling” interest of educators to ensure safety in public schools. (Interest of L.E.)

    • In Florida, the Broward County School District approved a $3.4 million school security contract with Broward Sheriff’s Office that will place at least one armed school resource officer in every school.  The policy will bring the school district into compliance with state law.  The agreement also raises the wages of the officers from $46,000 to $54,700.

    • In Indiana, many public schools are not using the hand-held metal detectors provided by the governor’s office in the 2018-19 budget.  Schools do not wish to search all students upon entry to the school.  They are content to rely on trained administrators and school resource officers for reasonable suspicion searches of individual students.

    • In Texas, officials for the Manor ISD are creating a school-run police department consisting of 10 officers and one police chief.  The startup cost will be around $700,000.  The goal is to save money, create more safety positions, and “have a police force of employees that work for the district.”

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    Safety Law News for November 1, 2019

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    • In Kentucky, the Jefferson County Board of Education will vote soon on a proposal that would eliminate the school resource officer program, replacing it with an in-house security team consisting of 48 officers. The new officers would report directly to school officials.

    • In Nevada, Carson City officials have ratified an agreement between the City and the school district to expand the school resource officer program.  The agreement increases from three to five the number of officers deployed at the schools.

    • In Montana, the Governor recently announced a ban on vaping products, but a judge blocked that ban.  Now vape shop owners are looking to extend the block.  School resource officers say kids are still getting their hands on vapes.  Shop owners say the ban would put them out of business.

    • In New York, officials in the City of Poughkeepsie are implementing a “Safe Passage Home” program.  The policy is in response to reports involving students and violence during their walks home from school.  Volunteers will be posted in “hot spots” throughout the neighborhood as kids are leaving school to deter and report potential violence.

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    Safety Law News for October 29, 2019

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    • In South Carolina, the U.S. District Court ruled that a school resource officer used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of a student.  The officer, called to a classroom when a student refused administrative requests to leave her desk, flipped the student and the desk backwards to effect a take-down maneuver.  The court ruled that the severity of the misconduct was minor (disrupting the classroom), the student’s resistance was passive, not posing a threat to the officer or anyone else, and she did not have a weapon. (Shakara Murphy v. Benjamin Fields)

    • In Arkansas, the Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the delinquency adjudication of a student for having committed the offense of “terroristic threatening.”  The student told a classmate that he was a school shooter and that she should wear green on an upcoming school day.  The court rejected the defense of the student that the statements were meant to be a joke. (A.J.A. v. State of Arkansas)

    • In Florida, officials in Indian River County, experiencing an increase in threats against schools, have posted a video to warn would-be offenders.  The video, posted on the school district’s Facebook page, says: “Making a fake threat is considered a felony offense. It doesn’t matter if you’re joking or being sarcastic.”

    • In Arkansas, a new law that allows schools to create campus police forces is creating staffing and budgeting uncertainty among local law enforcement agencies.  Several districts in the state have been approved to start their own police departments.  The officers have jurisdiction on school property and connecting or adjacent land, such as sidewalks and alleyways.