Safety Law News for 1/16/13

• The Lafayette, Louisiana school system and Police Department have made adjustments to the use of school resource officers following the rape of a student on campus.

• Local New Hampshire citizens prepare to vote to bring back school resource officers removed by the school board.

• Winston-Salem schools report a major reduction in student suspensions using new disciplinary program that actively involves school resource officers and school administrators.

• Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is asking lawmakers to hold off on spending more than $32 million in unappropriated money until after his new school safety task force makes its initial recommendations.

Safety Law News for 1/14/13

•  Mississippi Lt. Governor is asking lawmakers to OK $7.5 million to create a grant program to increase the number of law enforcement officers in public schools across the state.

•  The Indiana Attorney General is putting his support behind a recently filed bill in the State Senate that would offer state funded grants to school districts hiring resource officers.

• In the wake of last month’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, a Tennessee County Board is making plans to hire 15 new SROs at an estimated cost of $725,000 per year.

• The Virginia legislature is considering legislation that would require school divisions and law enforcement agencies to work together to put a uniformed, full-time school resource officer in every school.

Safety Law News for 12/17/12

•  Drug detection dogs that have routinely been used in Michigan high schools are being brought into middle schools by administrators who say they want to send a message to the younger students.

• District of Columbia schools are being asked to begin reporting campus safety data to parents.

• Virginia high school students vow to take “Rachel’s Challenge” and, through small acts of kindness, create an atmosphere of kindness and compassion inside their schools.

Safety Law News for 12/12/12

  • Swift action taken by a Maryland high school student, a teacher and School Resource Officer prevent two adults from committing robbery on campus.
  • CASAColumbia’s 2012 teen survey reveals that 86 percent of American high school students say that some classmates are drugging, drinking and smoking during the school day and almost half know a student who sells drugs at their school. The survey also reveals that 52 percent of high school students say that there is a place on or near school grounds where students go to get high during the school day.  Thirty-six percent say it is easy for students to use drugs, drink or smoke during the school day without getting caught.