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Safety Law News for 5/1/13

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  • Ridgefield, Connecticut school board considers funding initiatives to improve campus security.  One school board member recalls 1983 school shooting when she was a student.
  • Emergency management experts say most schools are ill-prepared for an active shooter scenario and should examine their emergency plans and how they would respond, not only during a shooting but also during various foreseeable hazards.
  • Florida legislation SB 1374 is being called the anti-“school to prison pipeline” policy.  The proposal will link state funding given to schools for campus safety to the number of students arrested at each school.
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Safety Law News for 4/24/13

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• Farmington, New Mexico community debates policy on when parents have the right to know details of incidents that place students at risk.

• The Board of Supervisors for Plainfield Township, Pennsylvania have implemented a controversial policy calling for all Plainfield Township police officers to visit area school  only during bus arrival and departure, as well as emergency calls.

• ALICE training (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate), is being implemented in the Cape Girardeau, Missouri School District in order to proactively address crisis incidents.

• A national coalition of educators and law enforcement organizations issue a joint recommendation for improving school safety and access to mental health services for students.  The recommendations are contained in a document called; “A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools.

 

 

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Safety Law News for 4/22/13

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• More than 200 teachers from Pinellas County, Florida have expressed interest in a free class to learn about carrying a concealed weapon.

• The town of Little Ferry, New Jersey, volunteered to reassign school resource officers to the school district free of charge.  The officers were taken away from the schools in 2009 in the wake of budget cuts.

•  Limestone County, Alabama will begin hiring retired peace officers for duty at elementary schools.  The 12 retired officers will work part-time and share duties at the county’s feeder schools.

•  Indiana legislature considering radical school safety policy that would require an employee in every public or charter school to carry a loaded gun during school hours.

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Safety Law News for 4/16/13

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•  The Mississippi legislature is considering Senate Bill 2659 which would provide funding for School Resource Officers. The House inserted language into the bill to allow local school boards to develop safety policies to arm teachers and other school employees.

•  North Carolina lawmakers have unveiled bipartisan school safety legislation designed to add more law enforcement officers in elementary and middle schools, more school psychologists and social workers, and install panic alarms in every classroom.

• The Des Moines, Iowa newspaper publishes, then deletes a map of guarded and unguarded schools.

•  The Missouri House of Representatives has two competing school safety proposals. House Bill 70 would allow any teacher or school administrator to possess firearms on school grounds.  House Bill 276, would create a volunteer “school protection officer” program.

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Safety Law News for 4/10/13

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• NC legislative committee approves school safety bill that sets aside $30 million over two years for matching grants so local school districts can hire more school police officers, counselors and psychologists.

• In the details of a survey of Iowa schools, only 16% of the public school districts (54 out of 348) have a police officer or private security guard stationed at one or more of their schools.

• Des Moines, Iowa Police Chief Judy Bradshaw believes that students, staff and parents know that school resource officers help resolve conflicts before they escalate. SROs also help build positive relationships between students and the police force.

• North Carolina’s legislature has introduced H452, a bill that provides funding for local school districts to add School Resource Officers (SROs) and support staff, including school counselors, social workers and psychologists. The bill also requires school districts to take specific steps to respond effectively to a future crisis.

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Safety Law News for 4/8/13

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  •  The Ohio legislature is considering Senate Bill 42, which will amend the existing law to allow school districts to ask for property tax levies specifically to pay for safety and security.
  • The family of a Martinsburg, West Virginia, high school freshman who nearly died after his heart stopped during an ROTC class is crediting the school’s resource officer and nurse with helping save the young teen’s life.
  • The North Brunswick, New Jersey Board of Education has decided to hire retired police officers, one for each of the township’s six schools.