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Safety Law News for August 21, 2013

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— In New York, the Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of a case brought by parents of a student upon whom a teacher fell and injured.  The injury occurred when the teacher “started sending the children back to their seats, and as she went to hand out papers, she lost her footing and tripped over one of their feet.”  The court stated that the rule of law is clearly established, that, “(t)he duty of care owed by a school to a student derives from the simple fact that a school, in assuming physical custody and control over its students, effectively takes the place of parents and guardians.”  The court ruled that it is a “duty to adequately supervise the students in their charge and they will be held liable for foreseeable injuries proximately related to the absence of adequate supervision.”  However, the rule of law makes an important exception for injuries that occur in incidents that happen “in so short a span of time that even the most intense supervision could not have prevented it.”  Therefore, the court affirmed the lower court ruling that, “lack of supervision is not a proximate cause of the injury in this case.”  K.L. v. City of New York

— In Colorado, the Denver Police Department hosted a round-table with School Resource Officers to discuss the return of SROs in schools in this fall.  The officers “have recently completed the 40-hour National Association School Resource Officers Basic training, which fulfills Colorado POST training requirements. Moreover, they have received other training that is beneficial for their work in schools, including de-escalation techniques, effective communication with youth, conflict resolution, crisis intervention, and a well-defined decision-making model.”

— In Indiana, the Northeast Sullivan Schools have created their own in-house police department.  The Superintendent says that, “(w)e decided to establish our own department so we did not have to contract with a separate company. This gives us control on who we hire and have the same people each day.”  Other school districts (more than 40) are also creating in-house police departments in the state.

— In Tennessee, House Bill 7023 proposes a new state-wide policy that would allow law enforcement to deploy an SRO even if the school district does not want them.  The bill stipulates “if a local board of education has not entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a law enforcement agency to assign a school resource officer at each school within the local board of education’s control, then a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction may assign at least one (1) law enforcement officer to serve as a school resource officer at the school.”  HB7023 is part of a special legislative session on public safety.

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Safety Law News for August 14, 2023

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— In Kentucky, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled that a trial court erred in granting a directed verdict in favor of a school teacher who chained a student to a tree to keep him from skipping class.  Specifically, the student’s case was remanded for a new trial on the issue of damages including punitive damages.  The student’s lawsuit was based on claims of false imprisonment and assault and battery.  Factually, “(b)y his own admission, (the student) had either skipped the class or left the class early on a number of occasions during that semester.”  One day, “when (the teacher) walked into the classroom, he had a large log chain over his shoulder and had several key locks on his belt loop. (The teacher) then told (the student) that he was going to keep him from leaving the class early…(The teacher) secured the chain around (the student’s) ankle, and led him outside to an area where…(the teacher) then put the chain around a tree, locked it, and told (the student) not to go anywhere.”  The legal standard announced by the appellate court was that, “false imprisonment (is) any deprivation of the liberty of one person by another or detention for however short a time without such person’s consent and against his will, whether done by actual violence, threats or otherwise. Furthermore, false imprisonment requires that the restraint be wrongful, improper, or without a claim of reasonable justification, authority or privilege.”  The lower court ruled that there was enough evidence to establish that a false imprisonment and an assault and battery occurred. However, the lower court concluded that there was no evidence that the student had been damaged by the teacher’s conduct.  The appellate court reversed, ruling that “was sufficient evidence of emotional damages to warrant submitting the issue to the jury,” and that “(n)either false imprisonment and assault and battery requires proof of damages.”  Banks v. Fritsch.

— In Texas, the Plano Independent School District (ISD) will begin the process of implementing a school safety program ensuring an armed safety guard is present on every school campus.  The policy was announced in response to House Bill 3, which requires public school boards to make sure at least one, armed, security officer is present on every district campus during school hours.  The school Marshall must be licensed by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, pass a psychological exam, and complete 80 hours of initial training and 16 hours of refresher training every two years.

— In Kentucky, Kentucky school districts continue making progress toward the policy goal of deploying law enforcement officers to all schools. An upcoming Report from the Kentucky School Security Marshal’s Office finds 685 school resource officers deployed Kentucky public schools, a 33% increase from 2022 and the most in state history.

— In Louisiana, the Iberville Parish Sheriff hopes that the deployment of school resource officers on every campus will eliminate truancy as well as provide campus safety.

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Safety Law News for August 11, 2023

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— In Ohio, the United States District Court held that “First Amendment protection does not extend to complaints made in the context of a sports program when the complaints are related to coaching decisions, coaching methods, coaching style, or playing time, when the speech could reasonably be forecasted to cause a substantial disruption or material interference with that program.”  The case arose when “(t)he parent complained to (the coach) via private text messages about the amount of playing time (the student) was receiving. His text messages also accused (the coach) of bullying (the student).   The parent also apparently sent text messages to (the coach) threatening to sue her.”  The parent filed a lawsuit claiming First Amendment retaliation against the school officials and the coach.  The court, applying the framework of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, held that, “speech that could undermine a coach’s authority or sow disunity on the team causes a substantial disruption or material interference.”  The court reasoned that, in deference to school officials, it was “reasonable in forecasting that a student-athlete’s alleged right to participate (in a school sponsored sport) on his own—or his father’s—terms…would create a substantial or material disruption to team unity or would undermine the coach’s authority.”  “(D)isappointment and frustration with a coach’s conduct do not, without more, entitle a player to legal relief.”  Place v. Warren Local School District Board of Education

— In Arizona, “(f)unding exists for school resource officers through the Arizona Department of Education’s School Safety Grant, but some schools have yet to find an officer to fill the position.

State officials point to a lack of law enforcement officers across the board which they say trickles down to specialty assignments like SROs to create safety gaps in schools.

— In Florida, officials in the Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa County school districts say every school resource officer is now equipped with Narcan to be used in an emergency to treat a suspected overdose by a student.

— In North Carolina, the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners “cleared the way for the staffing of school resource officers at every school in the district…(including) all 13 elementary schools in the county.”  “The commissioners approved a request from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office to fund (the) positions.”

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Safety Law News for August 7, 2023

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— In Ohio, the United States District Court ruled that parents were not entitled to a preliminary injunction prohibiting a school from enforcing its policy against discriminatory harassment or bullying based on the personal characteristics of other students.  The parents sued to relieve their children of the burden of being “forced to use the pronouns that a transgender child identifies with or be subject to reprimand.”  The court looked back to the case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, holding that, “public schools are permitted to proscribe student speech that “materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others.””  The court also, noted that “school policies intended to reduce the pervasive harassment of transgender students…advance public schools’ mission of ensuring that all students have an opportunity to learn and grow in an environment most conducive to speculation, experiment and creation.”  Finally, the court said, the parents, “cannot establish (a right to file a lawsuit) because (their children) have not suffered an injury in fact, because none of the students (have) been disciplined for violating any of the Policies.”  Parents Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District

— In Tennessee, public and private schools in the state “have a new mandate: Keep exterior school doors locked or secured with an employee gatekeeper, even for after-school events when students are present.  The law, part of an overall $230 million school safety and security program that went into effect July 1… also includes grant funding for every school to have a school resource officer.”

— In Missouri, many school districts are being trained on the software Raptor Alert, which will allow school staff to silently trigger alarms and communicate with emergency responders.  State funding is available for school districts to sign up for the mobile application.

— In Ohio, two Warren County private schools plan to pay full cost to deploy a resource officer to their campuses.  The Lebanon Christian Schools of Lebanon is contracting with the City of Lebanon and the St. Margaret of York Catholic School is contracting with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office.  The officers would not be school employees, and the police department and sheriff’s office would be responsible for the conduct and performance of the officers.

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Safety Law News for August 4, 2023

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— In California, the United States Court of Appeals held that police did not violate the Fourth Amendment by detaining briefly parents of a student while investigating allegations that their son planned a shooting at his school that day.  The appellate court affirmed the lower court ruling that the Deputies’ acted lawfully, even in the absence of reasonable suspicion, because special circumstances existed that justified a suspicionless seizure of the parents. “We are hard-pressed to imagine a more important, time-sensitive matter than preventing the unspeakable tragedy of a school shooting. Thus, while the government’s interest in detaining non-suspect witnesses begins at a low ebb, the fact that the Deputies were actively attempting to prevent a mass shooting at a school sufficiently increased the government’s interest to warrant a brief detention.”  Bernal v. Sacramento County Sheriffs’ Department

— In Congress, the House of Representatives is proposing a new funding source for school safety.  The Securing American Classrooms Act of 2023 would use some of the $1 billion in unspent COVID relief funds to provide grant funding for partnerships between schools and local law enforcement agencies to increase school safety.

— In Kentucky, schools are struggling to hire mandated school resource officers.  Kentucky schools are required to have their own armed school resource officers.  According to a Report, roughly 55% of schools did not have an SRO. The SRO is state-mandated, but not state-funded.

— In Texas, the Allen Independent School District is hiring armed guards for elementary schools and early childhood centers.  Schools in Texas must put someone armed with a gun on their campus.  In the Allen ISD, there were too few police officers to cover the elementary and early childhood schools.  Grant money from the state will cover about half of the cost.

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Safety Law News for July 28, 2023

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–  In Arkansas, the United States Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by parents of a special needs child who was injured in school.  The visually impaired child was injured at various times while at school or on the playground.  The lawsuit was filed after she started experiencing staring-spell seizures.  The parents alleged discrimination on the basis of her vision disability by failing to provide appropriate safety accommodations in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Section 504(a) of the Rehabilitation Act.  The appellate court ruled that, “Section 504 requires something more than an incorrect evaluation, or a substantively faulty individualized education plan, in order for liability to exist, and it requires more than non-compliance with the IDEA statutory mandate to provide a free appropriate public education.”  The appellate court also ruled that, “(w)here alleged ADA and Section 504 violations are based on educational services for disabled children, the plaintiff must prove that school officials acted in bad faith or with gross misjudgment to recover damages.”     The case was dismissed because, “the (school) made consistent efforts to accommodate (the student’s) vision issues.”  The standard announced by the appellate court is that, “(s)o long as the state officials involved have exercised professional judgment, in such a way as not to depart grossly from accepted standards among educational professionals, we cannot believe that Congress intended to create liability under (the special education laws).”  Baker v. Bentonville School District

— In Oklahoma, school resource officers in the Oklahoma City Public Schools are receiving reality-based training involving scenarios and verbal de-escalation.  The goal is to teach skills in de-escalation, control, and self-protection.

— In Oregon, the Beaverton City Council has voted to keep police officers in schools.  The school district was supportive of renewing the contract with police.  The two-year contract “will be between the city of Beaverton, the district and other agencies, as they will divide the cost for the armed officers.”  The police officers will be called “youth services officers.”

— In Georgia, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia partnered with the Georgia Alliance for School Resource Officers and Educators, the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, and the Georgia Gang Investigators Association last week to provide an intensive law enforcement training, “G.R.E.A.T.” (Gang Resistance Education and Training), for more than 40 police officers from school systems in the Northern District of Georgia.