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Safety Law News for 10/31/12

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  • 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 the case to a lower court. The justices say that more facts are necessary to decide the case, including an understanding of who witnessed the search.
  • Students in New York City are paying for cell phone valets—van-based services that watch their phones for the day—rather than handing their phones over to their schools.
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Safety Law News for 10/29/12

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  • 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 searching the student, while the superintendent denies that any search occurred.
  • An African American student said that a noose was put around his neck by other students in Arkansas. The superintendent claimed that nothing criminal happened and the school board voted to suspend the offenders for one semester each, rather than the entire year recommended by the superintendent.
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Safety Law News for 10/23/12

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  • 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 rates have all decreased. Educators continue to debate whether the new state law, which expands the definition of bullying, is serving students well.
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Safety Law News for 10/18/12

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  • 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 missed a school day under the expulsion.
  • Educators and SROs are discussing how they respond to drugs, as the data suggests that 25% of middle and high school students in the Las Vegas area are involved in on-campus drug use.
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Safety Law News for 10/15/12

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  • 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 least 38 of its schools, because the district suspends black students at about six times the rate it suspends white students.
  • Missouri educators are disciplining several students for a planned prank—never carried out—against a special needs student.
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Safety Law News for 10/10/12

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  •  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 a student who refused to attend school.
  • Twenty Illinois football players will miss part of their season, under their school’s athletic code of conduct, due to Facebook photos of the underage students drinking. It appears that some athletes posted threats against the unknown “snitch” on Twitter.