Relationships with students are the priority: an open letter from the superintendent of Stillwater Public Schools in Oklahoma, where an eighth grade student died from a self-inflicted gun wound at school on September 26. Many Texas teachers are cutting back…
Author: Bernie James
Safety Law News for 10/31/12
When an off-campus Facebook dispute led to an on-campus knife confrontation, educators handled the incident like they would any knife threat on campus. Rather than ruling on a high profile strip search case, the North Carolina Supreme Court has returned…
Safety Law News for 10/29/12
When a Los Angeles Unified SRO was unable to break up a hallway brawl and rescue a fallen student, he released pepper spray into the crowd of about 50 students. An Illinois mother is suing her son’s school for strip…
Safety Law News for 10/23/12
Teen drinking and driving appears to have dropped nearly 54 percent during the last two decades and the CDC credits both tougher laws and parental involvement. Bullying reports have risen 50 percent in New Jersey schools—while violence, vandalism, and crime…
Safety Law News for 10/18/12
North Carolina students gathered in a hallway for a group “hugging protest,” in response to their principal’s announcement of a no hugging policy on campus. A Wisconsin student was expelled for fighting, but in an unusual turn of events, never…
Safety Law News for 10/15/12
On school buses, surveillance cameras capture everything from intoxicated drivers to student fights, and the cameras appear to have the support of everyone from union representatives to parents. Oakland Unified School District has voted to accept federal monitoring in at…
Safety Law News for 10/10/12
The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld a high school student’s ten day suspension, after the football team captain violated a school rule against recklessly endangering other people. In one hour, a Connecticut SRO’s work ranges from handing out peanuts to visiting…
Safety Law News for 10/5/12
In-school suspensions are replacing other forms of discipline in a Louisiana school district, as educators say that home is often the source of students’ problems. Local police question whether the discipline is strict enough. A Maryland student said he would…
Safety Law News for 10/2/12
“Thank you, Officer Karney, for saving my son’s life”: a mother writes to the SRO whom her son tried to shoot. Her son is now serving a six year sentence for attempted murder. When North Carolina passed its new law…
Safety Law News for 9/28/12
An undercover police officer, who spent nearly two years as a “student” at a Houston high school, talks about the drug culture. Elementary students in Arkansas are undergoing training to become young emergency responders in the event of a crisis.…