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Safety Law News for May 9, 2023

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–  In Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania reversed the trial court’s decision to allow a school district to remove an employee after he went public with criticism of how educators were falling down on their legal obligations to special needs students.  The appellate court agreed with the former an emotional support supervisor that the “causation evidence…(of) the School District’s wrongdoings and its retaliatory employment acts…is enough to get the question of causation to a jury.”  The appellate court found that the employee “did not have a history of unsatisfactory work performance prior to making his reports.”  And the appellate court found that he was dismissed, “days after his most recent report of wrongdoing.”  The court list the following failures as “(t)he facts of record, as developed in discovery.”  (1) educators had not hired the social workers and mental health professionals needed to provide the counseling services set forth in the IEPs of special education students; (2) did not provide special education students the necessary materials and services; (3) did not properly train the special education and emotional support teachers; (4) did not repair the time-out room located in one school that had exposed electrical outlets and a sharp object until a student suffered an injury; (5) submitted incomplete IEPs to the Pennsylvania Department of Education; (6) requested reimbursement for therapy services when no therapist were available to students; (7) permitted a student who had sexually assaulted other students to attend classes without notification to parents and teachers.  Carpenter v. William Penn School District

— In Virginia, a new agreement was created to return police to the Alexandria City Public Schools.  The Alexandria City Public Schools and the Alexandria Police Department say that, “a lot of the MOU remains unchanged (from its earlier version), …it places school resource officers (SROs) at the city’s high school and middle schools.”  “The areas where substantial updates and additions were added include the addition of the use of shared technology resources section, which speaks to the ways in which this partnership may transcend into the joint use of technology resources to support safety.”   SROs were defunded by the City Council last year.

— In Tennessee, teachers are going on record to share their experiences on campus safety after a campus shooting that left three adults and three 9-year-olds dead.  One teacher says, “I’ve gone from scared and terrified, to … so mad that I could kinda just punch anybody.”  Another teacher says, “nothing has changed…. the profession won’t protect me…It’s the guns. It’s always been the guns..”  A third teacher says, “(I)t’s just concerning to me that the priorities of those in power don’t seem to have educators’ best interest at heart. It seems like there’s a political agenda that puts other priorities in front of the safety of children.”

— In Ohio, officials in the Logan-Hocking School District are seeking assistance from a Texas-based nonprofit to improve campus safety and deter bullying after the suicide of a 15-year-old boy who attended Logan High School.  The Uvalde Foundation for Kids will be taking an independent look at educators policies on student bullying.

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Safety Law News for May 2, 2023

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–  In Texas, the United States Court of Appeals affirmed the school discipline meted out to a student athlete, who was suspended from the school football team for an Internet posting containing a racially-charged term to a student from a rival high school from an off-campus location following a football game.  In support of its affirmance, the appellate court, quoted from the U.S. Supreme Court case of Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. ex rel Levy. involving school punishment for off-campus speech.  “(T)here are “three features of off-campus speech” which “diminish the strength of the unique educational characteristics that might call for special First Amendment leeway. These features are: (1) a school, in relation to off-campus speech, will rarely stand in loco parentis; (2) regulations of off-campus speech, when coupled with regulations of on-campus speech, include all the speech a student utters during the full 24-hour day; and (3) the school itself has an interest in protecting a student’s unpopular expression, especially when the expression takes place off campus.”  The appellate court acknowledged that school discipline is usually upheld against off-campus student speech directed at the school community.  Therefore, qualified immunity was appropriate for the school officials because, “(t)here is no clearly established rule that could have placed (school officials) on notice that disciplining McClelland for his off-campus speech was unconstitutional… a more defined rule will be left for another day.”  McClelland v. Katy Indep. Sch. Dist

— In Maryland, state and local officials are looking at ways to more effectively provide mental health training to municipal police officers.  Maryland law requires police departments to provide mental health training to their officers.  Some county officials prefer to satisfy the mandatory training through an advanced training program known as Crisis Intervention Team, or C.I.T., which brings together law enforcement, health professionals and others when responding to mental health crises.

— In Colorado, the Governor signed into law Senate Bill 23-70, which will require school resource officers to complete ongoing training from the Attorney General’s office on how to better utilize the state-run Safe2Tell service.  Safe2Tell is an anonymous tip line for students, parents and members of school communities.

— In Colorado, the Governor signed into Senate Bill 23-241, which creates a new state-level Office of School Safety. The new office will act as a hub for other school-related resources in the state government, with the bill tasking the office with overseeing the School Safety Resource Center and School Access for Emergency Response Grant Program. The Office of School Safety will also administer a new Youth Violence Prevention Grant Program, which will provide grants of up to $100,000 for schools, community organizations and local governments to address youth violence.

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Safety Law News for April 21, 2023

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–  In the Virgin Islands, the United States District Court, ruled that “the area within 1,000 feet of the school grounds is within the scope of sensitive places;…the presence of large numbers of children either at school or traveling to and from it [are such that] possession of firearms within some distance around such locations similarly presents the risk of danger and disruption.”  The ruling upheld the conviction of a man who was found carrying a firearm on a public school campus.  The court acknowledged that “the Second Amendment protects conduct by law-abiding citizens. Even so, the court applied one of the exceptions to this right found in the U.S. Supreme Court case of District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) e.g., “this Nations historical tradition of lawfully disarming citizens in “sensitive places” … is constitutionally sound.”  United States v. Walker, No. 3:20-CR-0039, 2023 WL 3020321 (D.V.I. Apr. 20, 2023)

— In Indiana, officials in Warren Township district wants voters to approve an $88 million operating referendum that would increase property taxes to provide funding for 11 school resource officers, 14 school safety officers and equipment and supplies. 

— In Michigan, Port Huron police and school officials are working on a way to safely and calmly reunite students with family members in the event of a campus crisis incident.  Under the proposal, students will be brought to a reunification point away from the school. Reunification officials will then work to successfully connect students with their parents or guardians.

— In South Carolina, biometric gun safes are being installed in the Oconee County schools.  The goal is to provide officers with a place to store their patrol rifles in the safe during the school day instead of their patrol car. The school’s SRO is the only person who will be able to access the rifle in the safe using their fingerprint. SROs will also be able to access the safe in their school or another school in the district using a code if there is an emergency.

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Safety Law News for April 14, 2023

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–  In Massachusetts, the United States District Court, held that school officials “have broad discretion in restricting visitors,” and refused the lawsuit of a parent who argued that he had a constitutional interest to access the school during school hours.  The school barred the parent “from entering on or remaining in or upon (campus) buildings or surrounding grounds while school is in session …to the end of the …school year,” after the parent obtained a student’s phone number on while on campus and solicited her participation in his volunteer program without parental consent.  The court reasoned that, “the First Amendment does not guarantee the right to communicate one’s views at all times and places or in any manner that may be desired… (a) school during school hours is typically a nonpublic forum.”  The court concluded that the school policy was “narrowly tailored to serve (the school’s) significant government interest in ensuring student safety.”  Worthley v. School Committee of Gloucester

— In Arizona, the Governing Board of the Phoenix Union School District is being urged by the District’s student safety committee to bring back school police.  A student who served on the student safety committee stated, “We are not gun experts. We are not drug experts.  We can’t even handle human trafficking, That is why we need them there. The response time is extremely important.”  The state superintendent has announced a grant to fund the officers if the safety program is reinstated.  The grants allow schools in Arizona to get funding for counselors, social workers or school resource officers.  Polling shows Arizona residents in support of armed resource officers on school campuses.

— In Texas, the legislature is considering a proposal to increase school safety through providing additional mental health training for school resource officers.  House Bill 4777, will educate the officers in different mental health conditions that students experience, so they can direct the students to the right resources.

— In Florida, the Broward County School Board has voted to hire and pay 200 school resource officers at a salary of $103,000 annually, as part of a three-year plan.  The officers will be assigned to individual schools.

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Safety Law News for April 5, 2023

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–  In Texas, United States Court of Appeals, affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a student who was suspended from the school’s football team for off-campus speech and transferred to an alternative school for the marijuana found in his vehicle during a subsequent on-campus search.  The appellate court agreed with the lower court that qualified immunity was appropriately given to the educators.  The student used the Internet to “send a message containing a racially-charged term to a student from a rival high school from an off-campus location following a football game.”  The speech fell within the range of school-discipline speech after the U.S. Supreme Court case on the First Amendment — Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. ex rel Levy, because it was off-campus speech directed at the school community.  The appellate court also agreed that before Mahanoy no case placed educators “on notice that it would be unconstitutional to discipline (the student) for his off-campus speech…for a threat of violence apparently stated in jest.”  The appellate court affirmed the dismissal of the student’s claims based on the Due Process Clause, holding that he did not have a protected property or liberty interest in being on the school’s football team, nor was the student deprived of a protected property or liberty interest when placed in an alternative education program after marijuana was found in his car.  McClelland v. Katy Independent School District

— In Colorado, officials in the Denver Public Schools are continuing their resumption of collaboration with the Denver Police Department to provide school resource officers at more than a dozen campuses as soon as possible. The resumption of the school resource officers’ program comes following two campus shootings in February and March.

— In Arizona,  the safety committee for the Phoenix Public Schools is recommending the return of school resource officers.  The committee, after receiving feedback from “from students, parents, and staff,”  is asking the school board to vote on deploying “officers at all 23 campuses”  two years after the District removed the police.

— In Texas, school resource officers for the City of Irving are bonding with students while conducting a Safety Patrol Camp.  The students, called “Jr. Officers,” learn how to properly fold flags, how to assist with traffic control in their school parking lots, and how to problem solve.

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Safety Law News for March 31, 2023

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–  In North Carolina, the United States District Court rejected the Title VI claim of a parent that racial discrimination was the motivation behind a search of her vehicle, which her daughter parked in the school lot. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in schools that receive federal educational funds.  The court dismissed the lawsuit because the school used a canine to conduct random sniffs of a row of cars in the parking lot.  The animal, trained to detect the odors of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin, alerted on parent’s car.  The car was searched over the objection of the parent, who was called to the campus.  The court held that the parent, “failed, after having been afforded full discovery, to produce any evidence of discrimination, and her own naked opinion, without more, is not enough to establish a prima facie case of discrimination.”  The court also held that, “the evidence is that the car was flagged after a random dog sniff in the student parking lot…(the dog) did not know who the car belonged to.”  Humphries v. Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education

— In Arizona, the Phoenix Union High School District’s safety committee recommended bringing back school resource officers at its schools.  “The committee also passed a potential intergovernmental agreement between Phoenix PD and the district that provides guidelines, including that officers should not participate in school discipline and confirming the authority of the schools in hiring, training, and supervising the officers.”

— In Colorado, the school safety program in the Thompson School District is finding success in sending mental health clinicians to campus calls with police officers.  So far, the partnering of a school resource officer with a mental health clinician to calls has occurred in “nearly 150 calls involving students in crisis or with mental health needs… Once people start to understand what our role is in the district and how we can be utilized, our calls have started to pick up. We went from averaging two to three calls a day and now we’re upwards of five contacts in a day between the two of us…We’re not writing tickets…We’re not taking students to jail. We are getting them connected with services on the spot.”

— In Colorado, the City of Denver will pay for police officers returning to schools.  The Denver Police Department has agreed to provide school resource officers to the schools.  The school resource officers were phased out beginning in 2020.  Violence in the schools is making a priority the return of police to campuses.