School Safety Law Blog – Page 119 – News and Information for School Safety

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Safety Law News for 9/23/13

by Bernie James • September 23, 2013

The Texas Legislature has implemented Senate Bill 393 that prevents school police officers from issuing citations for misbehavior at school, excluding traffic violations. Officers can still submit complaints about students, but it will be up to a local prosecutor whether to charge the student with a Class C misdemeanor.

Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff’s Department High School Resource Officer Uses Chess to Teach Life Lessons.

All Randolph County, Alabama schools get school resource officers after a last minute meeting by the Randolph County Board of Education.

After shooting at an elementary school, the DeKalb County, Georgia Superintendent responds to security concerns due to fact that there is an SRO assigned to each high school and middle school and none at the district’s 77 elementary schools.

The Steuben County, New York Sheriff’s office has announced the return of the School Resource Officers Program after the program was cut after the 2010-2011 academic year because of a lack of state funding. Six districts in the county have picked up retired officers for $25,000 a year.

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Safety Law News for 9/19/13

by Bernie James • September 19, 2013

It appears that no South Dakota school districts will implement a new state law that allows teachers and volunteers to carry firearms in buildings.

Gadsden City, Alabama Schools will have school resource officers on every campus because of a long-term contract with the police department to use off-duty police officers.

Officials in Clayton County, Arkansas are implementing an interagency agreement to shift the school safety program from “zero tolerance” school policing to the Positive Student Engagement Model for School Policing.

School officials in Oak Ridge, Tennessee have signed an interagency agreement that provides clear roles for guaranteeing school safety. The agreement was reached in response to community concerns that school conditions had deteriorated to the extent that some children were afraid to go to school.

After spending the summer considering whether to hire armed guards to watch over some Costa Mesa, California schools, the school district has decided to stick with police officers for their school resource officer program.

A detailed, statistical report from Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Advocates for Children’s Services charges that the officials in the Wake County, North Carolina school system have fallen short on efforts to reduce both the length and number of student suspensions.

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Safety Law News for 9/13/13

by Bernie James • September 13, 2013

The Benton-Carroll-Salem, Ohio School District is implementing the ALICE program. The ALICE program — the acronym stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate— is a revamped perspective on how students should react if a shooter or dangerous intruder enters their school building.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announces the September 30 deadline for school safety grants. $10 million dollars is available to state public schools for employing a school resource officer or conducting a threat assessment, or purchasing equipment.

Policymakers in Marshall County, Alabama have reached a compromise that will pay for a school resource officer at every campus in the county system.

The Young Lawyers Division of the Okaloosa County, Florida Bar Association is hosting a benefit concert to raise funds to help negate the cost of keeping the resource officers in schools.

Pittston, Pennsylvania board member says school district not doing enough for school safety after proposal to implement school resource officer program is rejected.

The Spokane Public School system has decided to allow specially trained school resource officers to carry guns on school grounds.

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Safety Law News for 9/10/13

by Bernie James • September 10, 2013

The Indiana towns of St. John, Schererville and Dyer have all agreed to share the costs of providing a school resource officer for their schools.

Atlanta Police and Atlanta Public Schools launched a year-round partnership with the new school year. It puts officers in high school and middle schools five days a week.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee city officials and educators reach agreement on school resource officer MOU.

School resource officers from the Cary, N.C., Police Department spent the summer conducting “Camp Confidence,” a summer camp with the goal of building relationships with 20 to 30 young men who are getting ready to enter high school.

In Connecticut, the School Safety Infrastructure Council reports its findings on how to design safe schools without creating a prison-like atmosphere and statewide safety standards for individual school districts.

The Argyle, Texas School Board unanimously decided to establish its own establish school district police department instead of entering into an agreement with the Denton County Sheriff’s Office or the Argyle Police Department to hire a school resource officer.

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Safety Law News for 9/5/13

by Bernie James • September 5, 2013

The Clarksville, Arkansas school district is considering its legal options – and a possible appeal to state lawmakers — after the state’s attorney general shot down its plan to arm 20 trained high school teachers to protect students in case of a campus attack.

The Davidson County, North Carolina School Board agreed to clarify the interagency agreement policy on weapons. Under the new policy, school resource officers will immediately be contacted by principals when they have discovered any of the weapons or weapon-like items.

The Carroll, Texas Independent School District unanimously voted for armed school resource officers in every school. Funding will come from the city’s Crime Control and Prevention District, which oversees a sales tax that is set aside for public safety.

The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice is encouraging the expansion of a different kind of juvenile justice policy that imposes civil citations instead of criminal charges for some misdemeanors. Under this new policy school-based arrests have dropped by 28 percent and first-time misdemeanor arrests dropped by 29 percent statewide in the past two years from diverting juveniles charged with minor offenses away from juvenile detention. The focus instead is on treatment, mentoring, community programs and more family involvement.

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Safety Law News for 9/3/13

by Bernie James • September 3, 2013

The Clarksville, Arkansas School District plans to arm teachers and staff with concealed guns in classrooms.

The Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, issues in a legal opinion that the state board that licenses private security agencies does not have the authority to allow districts to employ their teachers and staff as security guards. If the legal opinion of the AG is given any weight, then the state law that allows armed school personnel will not be implemented.

Educators and law enforcement in Arkansas are working on a compromise to the controversy over arming teachers and staff. Under the proposal, only administrators would be armed after receiving sufficient training to become part of the reserve unit for the sheriff’s office.

In Florida, the Okaloosa County School Board will contribute just more than $1 million to help keep deputies at all schools in the district.

North Carolina begins implementing a new school safety policy that allows armed volunteers with firearms training into schools as safety officers.

Schools begin in Brooks County, Georgia without school resource officers. Over the summer, the School Board voted to cut them out in order to save the schools 50,000 dollars a year.