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Safety Law News for February 13, 2023

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— In Louisiana, the Court of Appeal of Louisiana upheld the conviction of a teacher for simple battery, occurring when the teacher retaliated against a nine-year old special needs student who swung his backpack into the air, striking the teacher in the face.  The teacher cornered the student in a hallway, fussing at the student while shoving his head.  The teacher, then “grab(bed) the student by the backpack strap, preventing him from fleeing.”  The court affirmed the conviction because, the retaliation occurred after class. “(T)here was a cooling off period. That was an intentional move to go over there and touch that child at that point. That child was out of her custody, out of her control and in the control of another teacher.”  The court agreed with the lower court that, “special needs teachers get attacked in the classroom all the time.  Unfortunately, that is a risk of the job because of the kids mental state.”  State v. Freeman

— In Texas, law enforcement authorities in Wichita Falls, have arrested seven former and current school officials from the City View Independent School District for failure to make child abuse reports as required by Texas law.  “Court documents state the investigation focuses on the persistent failures of the educators “to make the legally required reports of information they possessed about possible sexual misconduct (by a City View ISD teacher/coach that) enabled the teacher/coach to remain employed by the district and have continued access to students from 2014 to 2022.”

— In Illinois, officials from the Chicago Public Schools “say they are working on plans to address issues of violence” near the end of the school day and after school.  In 2022, “nine children 17 years old or younger were killed on a weekday between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.”  “The Chicago Teachers Union sent a letter…to the school district demanding to bargain over issues of violence, citing a contract provision that holds CPS responsible for safe and healthy working conditions. Among other things, the union wants “stronger and clear” protocols for the day of a shooting and the next day.”

— In North Carolina, the Iredell County Drug-Alcohol Coalition is implementing an array of prevention strategies to “combat illegal drugs as well as prescription drug misuse” by county residents and especially children.  The Coalition’s programs and interventions are designed to “help educate and build relationships with youths” to combat substance misuse disorder and overdoses.  The strategies include mentoring by school resource officers, use of drug-sniffing K-9s in schools and school sponsored events, programs at the Sheriff’s Teen Academy and dissemination of a drug prevention trailer on the Internet.

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Safety Law News for February 10, 2023

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— In Ohio, the United States District Court, dismissed the lawsuit of two students who claimed that school searches violated their Fourth Amendment rights.  School officials enforced a school rule that suspended students for ten days for, “coming to school with the smell of marijuana on his/her breath/person.”  The court held that the marijuana policy of the school – that resulted in the search of their backpack, pockets, pant legs, shoes and socks – was consistent with school authority announced in the case of New Jersey v. T. L. O., “permissible in scope when the measures adopted are reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction.”  The court added that, “it is beyond genuine dispute that by smelling strongly of marijuana while on school grounds, (the students) violated the School District’s rules… Normally, the smell of marijuana establishes probable cause to search for evidence of that drug… Considering the scent here would meet that heightened standard, (the) limited search …even if that search did not reveal marijuana—was reasonably related to … the School District’s goal of eliminating contraband from …(the) (s)chool.”  Stanford v. Northmont City School District

— Nationally, the National Association of School Resource Officers is offering a new program to prevent violence in schools.  The new initiative – called Project Unite – is designed to create a safer campus by training administrators, law enforcement, and local stakeholders to revise their school safety plans around strategies that deal with students in a more wholistic manner.

— In South Dakota, law enforcement officials in Pennington County and Meade County are cross-deputizing the school resource officers.  The Rapid City Area School District is spread across both counties.  Cross-deputizing the officers eliminates the prior practice of  “wait(ing) for a county deputy to take some action in certain situations.”

— In Florida, officials in Lee County are expanding the school threat assessment team.  The team “constantly monitors and scrubs social media, and local and national intelligence reports… to determine if a student poses a threat and intervene immediately before violence takes place.”  The team also works with parents and guardians to “find what resources are available in the community, (including) …diversion programs.”  The new team includes one captain, two sergeants, four detectives, two analysts, a licensed social worker, and three mental health focused professionals.

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Safety Law News for February 8, 2023

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— In Texas, the United States District Court ruled that school officials were not liable to a student whose injuries came at the hands of a sexually abusive teacher.  The court held that the legal standard for a Title IX claim requires, “evidence that (school officials) actually knew of the sexual abuse or of a substantial risk of sexual abuse.”  The court concluded that dismissal of the case of the student was proper because, “the evidence here does not support a finding that an official with authority to address the alleged discrimination and institute corrective measures had actual knowledge.”  Fallon Reagans v. Grapeland Independent School District.

— In Virginia, the Newport News Public School District conducted a school safety survey after a shooting at an elementary school.  The survey gathered input from faculty, staff, and community perspectives on desired safety measures. Based on the input, here are a few of the changes that have been made to address school safety related concerns: Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) training for all schools; increased monitoring of student Chromebooks; implementing the Raptor emergency management system; and increasing coverage of school resource officers and security officers.

— In Arkansas, the Bentonville School Board is weighing alternatives to the current zero tolerance policy for students caught with drugs on campus.  Under the proposed policy, “students caught with drugs at school could avoid expulsion if they complete a substance abuse program in addition to a 10-day suspension.”  The school district is experiencing “a sharp increase in the number of drug-related offenses among students.”

— In North Carolina, officials in the Surry County School District are asking the Surry County Board of commissioners to approve a plan to add additional school resource officers to float between their 11 elementary schools.  Some county commissioners expressed concern about securing funding to pay for the officers.  The district is also conducting a survey with the community on school climate to assess other needs.

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Safety Law News for February 3, 2023

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— In Indiana, the Court of Appeals of Indiana, affirmed the conviction of a parent for disrupting campus and failing to comply with the requests of school officials.  The court ruled that the felony of criminal trespass was appropriate because school officials had authority to request that the parent return to the front office instead of angrily continuing down a hallway toward classes in search of her child, shouting and using profanity.  “Simply because a school chooses to allow parents on the premises for limited purposes or to participate in certain activities on the premises does not mean that parents have a contractual interest in the premises…Without permission, (the parent) entered a prohibited area of the School that was locked and off-limits to the public…Even if (the parent) might have had a contractual interests in the School’s property, her behavior abandoned whatever contractual interest she had in the school property because she certainly had no contractual interest in remaining on school property to disrupt the education environment.”  Ebonie Craig v. State of Indiana

— In Connecticut, Senate Bill 119 has been introduced to change state policy on the roles of police in schools.  If enacted, statewide rules for the use of school resource officers, including “building on a 2015 law which required districts with SROs to enter a memorandum of understanding to document that officer’s role at the school …(by) flesh(ing) out what those MOUs should entail.”  Senate Bill 119 also calls for schools to make information on the roles and responsibilities of school resource officers readily available on their websites.

— In Ohio, the Governor’s 2024 budget plan sets aside money for districts to get help paying for school resource officers.  The funding would be available to every school in the state, public or private, to either start or expand their school resource officer program.  Poorer school districts would get more money towards an officer; affluent schools would get less.

— In Colorado, Senate Bill 23-070 has been introduced as a measure to place more rigorous training requirements on police in schools.  Under the legislation, an officer is required to complete school-specific training before being deployed to a school or as soon as is reasonably possible if there is not sufficient time to complete the training before the school resource officer assignment begins.

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Safety Law News for January 30, 2023

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— In New York, the Supreme Court, Appellate Division held that an educator’s homeowners’ policy triggered a duty on the insurer to defend a personal injury action stemming from an incident where the staff member, fighting with another student, inadvertently hit another staff member.  The insurer argued that it owed no duty to defend or indemnify the staff member in the personal injury action brought by her colleague.  The court held that, “(the insurance company) contends that no coverage exists under the insurance policy because (the staff member) intended to cause physical harm to another person (other than the injured colleague). An insured, however, may be indemnified for an intentional act that causes an unintended injury.” Vermont Mutual Insurance Group v LePore

— In Pennsylvania, the Duquesne City School Board unanimously passed a resolution aimed at preventing school violence and increasing mental health support for students and families.  The resolution acknowledges that, “the Duquesne City community has an unfortunate history of being a witness to gun violence, as such, the District understands the urgency and importance of school safety and security.”  The Board declares that, “Evidence Based Intervention Strategies in the area of social, emotional, and mental health are critical preventive measures to reduce school violence and create greater psychological safety for all staff and students.”

— Nationally, therapy dogs are being deployed in schools.  In Arkansas, Saline County school resource officers are bringing two K-9 therapy dogs to Saline schools.  The dogs completed 14 weeks of training to become a Nationally Registered Therapy Dog Team. This means they are recognized for their abilities to be deployed in all kinds of situations that might require the services of a therapy dog.  In Ohio, the North Canton Police Department approved its Community Canine Program and is beginning the search for a canine to be trained as a therapy dog for its schools.

— In Missouri, researchers at the University of Missouri are implementing an AI-based version of the Columbia Protocol to help identify and avert threats in schools.  Using a $2 million grant from the Department of Justice, the researchers are partnering “with up to 26 rural school districts throughout Missouri, connect(ing) to the schools’ Wi-Fi servers to monitor online activity for threatening language or images.

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Safety Law News for January 27, 2023

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— In North Carolina, the United States Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a teacher’s lawsuit against a school for injuries she received when she was physically attacked by a special education student when she was the only teacher in an inclusion class of 30 students.  The teacher specifically singled out the principal because the administrator was aware – as were others in the school – that the student was known to have been violent on prior occasions.  The court held that despite the Principal’s violation of school rules – school policy required that “when a class has ten of thirty students with (Individualized Education Plans (“IEPs”)), two teachers must be present,” – the teacher’s substantive due process claim failed as a matter of law.  The state-created danger doctrine…does not require governmental actors to affirmatively protect life, liberty, or property against intrusion by private third parties.”  The court held that, “the state-created danger exception applies only when the state affirmatively acts to create or increase the risk that resulted in the victim’s injury….[not] a failure to protect against a danger.”  Burns-Fisher v. Romero-Lehrer

— In West Virginia, the legislature is proposing a school safety policy that will allow teachers to serve as armed “School Protection Officers” in their buildings.  House Bill 2549, would permit each county to choose to decide it wants to place SPOs in its schools. Interested employees would have to obtain a concealed carry permit and undergo initial and then annual training and evaluations by the Department of Homeland Security.

— In Tennessee,  House Bill 127 would let school security officers restrain special education students.  The proposal is designed to protect students and teachers by “address[ing] an inconsistency in the law regarding who may use handcuffs, to secure special education students. As the law stands right now, school resource officers are allowed to use mechanical restraints but not school security officers.

— In Michigan, students in East Lansing High School students walked out of class to protest increasing incidents of violence in the school and inaction by the Board of Education.  The students specifically requests that school officials install safety enhancements on campus and improve communications between the district and the community.