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School Safety Law News for 5/9/12

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  • A federal court ruled that educators can punish a student for an online rap video that harassed and possibly threatened teachers. The video was created off campus, during non-school hours, without school computers.
  • Minnesota educators are crafting policies on online student conduct, in response to a student who wrote on Facebook that she hated a hall monitor.
  • An April Fool’s Day prank left 2,500 students without bus rides, as five seniors flattened the tires of 38 school buses, and it led to five felony charges. Many students, who knew the seniors, reported their conduct.
  • After a North Carolina student received threats from an unknown text messager, educators notified both parents and police. The increased police presence on campus was a precautionary measure.
  • One student’s emotional meltdown lead to the lockdown of an entire high school in Iowa. Educators wanted to keep the hallways clear as the girl’s parents brought her home.
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School Safety Law News for 5/8/12

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  • An Indiana high school student faces possible expulsion from school after police say he brought a stun gun on campus. The teen and his mother claim he was being bullied and the school wouldn’t step in to stop the problem.
  • In California public schools, more than 40 percent of suspensions are for willful defiance or for disruptive behavior. Some critics, including at least one state legislator, say the bar for suspensions should be higher.
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School Safety Law News for 5/7/12

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  • Parents discipline their children, too: a student’s mother required him to stand outside his school with a sign, after he was suspended for planning to bully another child. His mother says the community is supporting her.
  • A New Jersey school is officially on Facebook, with a webpage that announces student accomplishments and school events. The social media website is replacing mailed school newsletters.
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School Safety Law News for 5/1/12

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  • California educators once fought cell phones at school. Now they are using cell phones in the classroom, as a way to solicit comments and feedback from every student in attendance.
  • Wisconsin students will face random Breathalyzer tests when they enter school-sponsored dances, a change that parents and students widely support. Their school has a history of strict-on-substances policies.
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School Safety Law News for 4/30/12

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  •  A Texas student was arrested after rumors spread that he had a gun in his waistband, even though police found no weapon on him. The student refused to cooperate when questioned, and now faces a misdemeanor charge and a third degree felony charge, all starting with apparently empty rumors.
  • Synthetic marijuana is no longer for sale in Abington, Massachusetts, where a group of students, parents, educators, law enforcement, and church leaders worked together to make “legal weed” unavailable to students.
  •  North Dakota Supreme Court announces a law on SRO student searches.  The rule adopts the current national standard.  SRO searches are allowed under the law that applies to educators when the SRO is acting as a collaborator in maintaining safe schools.  State v. Alaniz, 2012 ND 76 (April 10, 2012).

 

 

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School Safety Law News for 4/27/12

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  • As educators increasingly grapple with legal-but-dangerous synthetic marijuana use, a Florida school board has amended its code of conduct to outlaw Spice within 1,000 feet of school property.
  • Massachusetts students are upset by campus-wide discipline problems, particularly when it comes to smoking in bathrooms. Educators discuss their response.
  • ABC News profiles the California police officer who went undercover at a high school, leading to the drug-related arrests of 12 students.
  • Trained drug dogs are increasingly used by schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, even when the purpose is more deterrence than detection.