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Safety Law News for November 3, 2022

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— In Oklahoma, the United States District Court held that because of the special relationship between a school and its students, a lawsuit against a school district could proceed.  The students alleged that school officials failed to properly investigate and report a pattern of sexually inappropriate behavior by an employee.  Traditional immunity from suit did not apply because under Oklahoma law, “policy level or planning decisions are considered discretionary and hence immune, whereas operational level decisions made in the performance of the policy are considered ministerial and not exempt from liability.”  Based on these immunity reforms the court concluded that, “(t)he choices inherent in hiring, retaining, and supervising a particular [employee] are not policy choices our legislature intended to immunize…government employees have a duty to execute the policy on the operational level without negligence.”  When applying this to the school environment, the court stated, “(t)he highest duty of a public education entity is to ensure the safety and well-being of students attending school.”  Doe v. Oologah-Talala Independent Sch. District No. 4 of Rogers County

— In North Carolina, the North Carolina legislature has earmarked additional funding in the budget for schools to hire and pay school resource officers.  North Carolina will receive more than $74.1 million in school safety grants.  Low-income districts can apply for a grant that gives it $4 for every $1 spent in non-state funds for a police officer.

— In Missouri, parents in St. Louis are asking questions about the efficiency of the school safety plan after a deadly school shooting at a high school.  Security officers assigned to schools in the St. Louis Public School District are not armed.  The shooter, who killed two people and wounded several others, was flagged by an FBI background check but was still able to purchase the AR-15-style rifle he used in the attack.

— In Texas, the Marble Falls ISD Board of Trustees have approved an expanded interlocal school safety MOU to add the city of Granite Shoals to the school resource officer program.  There are currently two SRO officers in the program. The approval expands the number to five.

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Safety Law News for November 1, 2022

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— In Colorado, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the search of the backpack of a student after the school’s Threat Appraisal Team implemented a Safety Plan that included a search requirement in response to his prior felony adjudications.  The search found a fully loaded handgun.  The court affirmed the search and the adjudication as a second-time juvenile offender and for possessing a weapon on school grounds, noting that, “(a) search may be justified at its inception without reasonable suspicion where the record shows that the student had a substantially diminished expectation of privacy in his or her person or property.”  People In Interest of J.G.

— In Tennessee, the Governor is implementing Executive Order 97 which directs state agencies to “equip and engage parents, increase transparency and collaborate with local law enforcement and school districts.”  The School Safety Toolkit for Tennessee Families includes the SafeTN app, school-based behavioral health liaisons, mobile crisis providers through dialing 988, and frequent, unannounced checks to see that school doors latch and precautions are in place.

— In West Virginia, schools are on track to implement a statewide school safety plan in all 55 counties by the beginning of 2023.  The Department Education is providing $2 million dollars in grants to prevent shootings and other violent acts in schools.  The goal is to have a police officer in every school building in West Virginia.

— In Oregon, the parent of a high school student has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the Portland Public Schools after school bullies assaulted her daughter on campus as a staff member strolled by and did nothing.  The Portland Public Schools removed police officers in 2020.

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Safety Law News for October 28, 2022

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— In New Mexico, the United States District Court ruled that an injured student, who obtains more details in discovery about school indifference in protecting students, is entitled to amend her allegations.  The court ruled that the additional information – e.g., the school did not impose any discipline on the perpetrator despite knowing previously instances of rape, assaults, and inappropriate behavior – “connect(ed) the dots” to “facilitate a better resolution of the issues.”  The court held that “(the student’s) proposed additions merely provide more detail about existing allegations.”  Doe v Taos Municipal Schools

— In Kentucky, schools are struggling to hire police officers after a Kentucky law went into effect requiring officers in every school building.  According to a report from the State School Security Marshall’s office, nearly 55% of schools didn’t have an officer on campus.

— In Texas, the Marfa Independent School District received its first exterior door safety audit, a random security check performed by the Texas School Safety Center at the behest of Governor Greg Abbott as part of a statewide effort to assess school security in the wake of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde last May. The initiative to ensure the proper locking of exterior doors is a result of authorities discovering that the Robb Elementary shooter entered through a door with an automatic lock that failed.

— In Michigan, the Grand Island Public Schools and the Grand Island Police Department are partnering on a new program for elementary students: Lunch with a LEO (law enforcement officer).  The officers will adopt an elementary school where they would visit with students.  The goal of the program is to help familiarize students with law enforcement while also allowing the officers to familiarize themselves with the school and administration.

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Safety Law News for October 25, 2022

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— In California, the California Court of Appeal reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by parents whose child was abused by a teacher, holding that school liability does not require proving that the school had actual knowledge of the abuse.  The court ruled that the standard in education law is more rigorous than the standard applied in lawsuits involving other government officials.  In schools, a constructive knowledge standard controls, in which “a public school district may be vicariously liable …for the negligence of administrators or supervisors in hiring, supervising and retaining a school employee who sexually harasses and abuses a student.”  Because of its rigor, “constructive knowledge is knowledge that may be shown by circumstantial evidence which is nothing more than one or more inferences which may be said to arise reasonably from a series of proven facts.”  Roe v Hesperia Unified School District

— In Illinois, officials in the Macomb School District are seeing a noticeable difference in student behavior after deploying a second school resource officer.  Instances of bullying, students insubordination (entering and leaving classrooms without permission) have ceased.  No arrests have been made this school year.  The new officer also teaches Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) classes in the schools.

— In Indiana, more school districts are creating police departments as a means to ensure school safety.  The  school district police department is overseen by the school board and the superintendent rather than being overseen by a municipal body of government.   Also, the sole focus of the officer in a school police department is the school campus rather than the community at-large.

— In Virginia, the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors are requiring an eight-hour course on crisis management for school-based emergency incidents. The course is designed for school administrators, law enforcement, school resource officers and emergency management professionals.  It goal is to enhance student safety and emergency response preparedness.

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Safety Law News for October 20, 2022

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— In Maryland, the Court of Appeals of Maryland ruled that the Federal Coverdell Act did not preempt a lawsuit brought by parents against a school in response to bullying and physical attacks on their child.  The court held that the Coverdell Act, which “provides teachers with protection from being liable for money damages for the harm they cause through negligent acts,” does not prevent Maryland from enforcing its policy that makes the county school board liable “for the acts or omissions of its employees.”  Gambrill v Board of Education of Dorchester County.

— In Michigan,  school resource officers across the state are shifting from DARE to TEAM.  In more than 250 school districts the officers are receiving the four-day TEAM training, a school-based, law-related curriculum, from the Michigan State Police.  The Teaching, Educating and Mentoring School Liaison Program (TEAM) differs from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program by reaching students in grades K-12 on topics like personal safety, how to reach emergency services, bullying, social media use, vaping, and dating violence.

— In Georgia, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office is assigning three deputies to mobile patrols that will primarily focus on safety at the county’s 20 elementary schools. Unlike the middle school and high school, police have not been deployed on elementary campuses on a full-time basis.  The roving SROs will conduct routine patrols.

— In Florida, an audit of the Santa Rosa County School District found several failures by the board and superintendent affecting school safety.  School resource officers were not trained properly on mental health crisis intervention. Students were not getting specialized training in mental health as required by a special grant.  Student records privacy issues, previously cited, were not yet resolved.

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Safety Law News for October 12, 2022

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— In Iowa, the United States District Court refused to issue an injunction requested by parents who oppose the policies of the Linn-Mar Community School District regarding the treatment of transgender and gender-nonconforming students.  The parents argued that the policies, which include providing gender identity supports, record confidentiality, and name and pronoun acknowledgement, would deny their constitutional rights to child-rearing and their First Amendment rights to free speech.  The court disagreed, finding that an injunction would “block students from any protection from harassment and bullying on the basis of gender identity and would prevent the school from disciplining such harassment and bullying,” as it is required to do under current state and federal civil rights laws.  Parents Defending Education v Linn-Mar Community School District

— In West Virginia, the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security is beginning to implement the West Virginia School Safety Initiative.  The funded program is designed to provide research-based resources for schools to create uniform crisis prevention and response protocols.  The School Safety Initiative is organized into three broad categories: detection and prevention, response during a crisis, and post-crisis response.

— In Arkansas, the legislature approved a $50 million grant program during a special session to address school safety.  The Arkansas School Safety Commission will issue a report, containing policy priorities that school districts will use when making requests for funding.  So far, the commission has identified five issues: mental health and prevention; law enforcement and security; audits, emergency operations plans and drills; physical security; and intelligence and communication.

— In Virginia, a new grant is providing Greene County Public Schools with three new school resource officers. The superintendent says, “our resource officers are incredibly helpful.”  Currently, only three schools in the district have school resource officers.  The grant will provide SROs for the remaining schools.