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Safety Law News for June 20, 2023

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–  In Missouri, the Missouri Court of Appeals applied immunity to dismiss a lawsuit against a school district brought by a former student who was sexually assaulted on school grounds by a classmate while attending the school.  Applying state law, the court held that “a school district is generally protected from liability for negligent acts under the doctrine of sovereign immunity unless an exception to sovereign immunity applies or the public entity waives its immunity through the procurement of liability insurance covering tort claims.”  In the latter scenario, “immunity is waived only to the extent of and for the specific purposes covered by the insurance purchased.”  The court ruled that, “whether an insurance policy waives sovereign immunity is expressly dictated, and limited, by the terms of the insurance policy.”  Here, immunity applied in the lawsuit because the school district was covered by two insurance policies, but “both policies expressly disclaimed any waiver of sovereign immunity.”  State ex rel. Sch. Dist. of Kansas City 33 v. Zhang

— In Texas, collaboration between City of Nederland and the Nederland Independent School District will deploy a school resource officer for all schools in the district.  There is a cost-sharing component to the agreement. The city would provide 100 percent of the cost of the officers for Aug. 1, 2023. to July 31, 2024, and again from Aug. 1, 2024, to July 31, 2025.  After that the cost is split.

— In California, a Report by the Orange County Grand Jury found Orange County schools are “doing a good job” in maintaining safe campuses for students in case of a school shooting, though had numerous recommendations for improvement.  Recommendations include assessing the need for additional school resource officers, reaching out to appropriate community partners to facilitate funding for more officers, and improving building and equipment infrastructure.

— In Colorado, school resource officers will return to Denver Public Schools after the school board voted to reverse a decision it made in 2020.  The board’s decision on followed months of intense debate about how to best protect schools from violence.  Educators found that “since the board removed school resource officers, there has been a significant rise in real and fake guns found in schools.”

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Safety Law News for June 15, 2023

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–  In New York, the Supreme Court, Appellate Division affirmed the refusal by the lower court  to dismiss a case brought by parents of a child who was injured during the school recess period.  The court, ruled that “(s)chools are under a duty to adequately supervise the students in their charge and they will be held liable for foreseeable injuries proximately related to the absence of adequate supervision.” The affirmance reflects a continuing judicial shift toward fuller discovery and trial of student injury claims and away from presumptive dismissals.  Under prior case law, schools were the beneficiary of an element of the duty to supervise that supported dismissals, e.g., “schools are not to be held liable ‘for every thoughtless or careless act by which one pupil may injure another.”  Here, the court ruled that the deposition testimony of two teachers who supervised the students during recess, “failed to establish its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law.”  L. S. v. Massapequa Union Free Sch. District

— In Tennessee, the Nashville Police Department is working to fill its school resource officer positions for Nashville schools after roughly 30% of them remained unfilled at the end of the school year.  In Nashville, the SROs will be in addition to the existing safety and security department and campus support staff that helps during drills, and also aids teachers and staff who need help in emergency situations that pose a safety risk.

— In Texas, Decatur School District officials plan to continue its school resource officer program, even as it implements a program to allow teachers to carry guns in school.  The Guardian Plan, authorized by state law, allows certain authorized employees to carry a gun on campus.

— In Virginia, the Loudoun County School Board approved a new Memorandum of Understanding with the county’s sheriff’s office and the Leesburg Police Department.  The revised MOU changes how its school resource officers will assist educators in responding to campus sexual assault and domestic abuse investigations.

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Safety Law News for June 12, 2023

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–  In New York, the Supreme Court, Appellate Division affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by former students of a former teacher who sexually abused them over a period of years.  The teacher took only male students with him on fishing trips and teacher was seen driving in his car only with male students. The court ruled that the school district did not know nor should it have known of former teacher’s propensity to sexually abuse children.  Educators deemed him to have an excellent reputation and did not have any complaints about his behavior.  He received positive reviews from other school districts as part of his employment application.  And many teachers interacted with students outside of school because of the small community.  No rumors about the teacher involved instances of sexual abuse.  Dolgas v. Wales

— In Florida, the former Parkland High School principal calls for mental health wellness centers in every school.  Five years after the shooting at his former school, the administrator says that, “(t)hat’s just the state that we’re in and we need to keep tabs on what’s happening with our youth to make sure that if there are problems, we can catch them early.”

— In Oklahoma, the Governor signed Senate Bill 100, which will require each school district to undergo a risk and vulnerability assessment by the Oklahoma School Security Institute.  The new law goes into effect July 1.  Legislators found that, “we need to create a uniform system of safety standards and protocols to ensure all our students and staff are fully protected.”

— In Ohio, officers for the West Chester Township Police Department are training students in the school district on self-defense tactics.  The defensive tactics class has been taught to high schoolers for the past 10 years.  Police said students are put in some of the most uncomfortable situations in hopes they’ll be able to carry it with them far beyond high school.

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Safety Law News for June 2, 2023

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–  In Missouri, the Missouri Court of Appeals rejected a First Amendment defense by a student who told his middle school classmates that he would shoot up girls’ basketball game, “cut the cameras,” and “kill people.”  In affirming the adjudication of the student for making terrorist threats, the appellate court ruled that the protections afforded speech by the First Amendment are not absolute.  ““True threats” – statements where a speaker means to communicate a serious expression of intent to commit act of unlawful violence to particular individual or group of individuals – are unprotected under the First Amendment.”  The court held that even if the student intended his remarks to be a joke, the crime is proven when the statement places others in fear that the threat will be carried out.  More than one classmate believed the threat and reported it to school officials.  D.J.T.S. v. Juvenile Officer, 665 S.W.3d 408 (Mo. Ct. App. 2023)

— In Ohio, officials from the Danville schools are collaborating with the Danville Police Department and the Ohio Dept. of Public Safety and Dept. of Public Education to provide instruction for students school safety.  Students in grades nine through 12 are required to take a special curriculum crafted by the state’s Dept. of Public Safety and Dept. of Public Education.  Elementary students receive the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program as well as Internet online safety.

— In Michigan, state officials and the University of Michigan are launching the Michigan School Safety Initiative.  The statewide initiative, designed to enhance school safety and prevent school violence, will provide training and assistance to local schools regarding evidence-based best practices.  “State support will allow U-M teams to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment of Michigan schools, evaluate the effectiveness of existing school safety actions and convene a Michigan-specific school safety advisory board.”

— In Ohio, school safety is one of the top three crime concerns for residents in Kettering.  A survey taken by the Kettering Police Department revealed that protecting children in schools was one of the three crimes residents worry most about, trailing only burglary and drug problems.

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Safety Law News for May 30, 2023

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–  In New Jersey, the United States District Court dismissed the lawsuit of a student who, “continued to go to school without a clear backpack” in violation of school policy.  In upholding the school policy, the court stated that the preference of the student to carry his own canvas backpack, “is not in and of itself protected,” and that the decision of school officials to enforce its policy, seizing and searching his backpack with each violation, was not a violation of any federal or state rights. Quoting from the U.S. Supreme Court case of New Jersey v. T.L.O., the court ruled that, “(t)he school setting, however, requires some easing of the restrictions to which searches by public authorities are ordinarily subject.”  Krasil v. Betze.

— In Texas, the legislature has approved a school safety bill that would require an armed person at every Texas campus.  Under the provisions of House Bill 3, the armed person can be either a peace officer, a school resource officer, a school marshal or a school district employee.  HB 3 also requires an updated emergency preparedness plan with audits at least once every three years, a regional education service center to help develop those plans and address campus security needs for local schools, mental health training for district employees who regularly interact with students, and the development of a notification system for parents and guardians about possible violent incidents on school grounds.

— In Connecticut, the legislature has approved a school safety bill that states, “(e)ach local or regional board of education that assigns a school resource officer to any school under the jurisdiction of such board shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with a local law enforcement agency regarding the role and responsibility of such school resource officer.”  The provisions of Bill No. 1095 also require that the MOU “shall be maintained in a central location in the school district and posted on the Internet web site of the school district.”  The key provision of the MOU must, “include provisions addressing daily interactions between students and school personnel with school resource officers, and shall include a graduated response model for student discipline.”

— In Delaware, the legislature has introduced a school safety bill that would allocate 10 million dollars to pay for school resource officers.  “If (Bill 167) is approved, this would mean at least one school resource officer for every 1,000 students if the school chooses to have one at all. The resource officers would derive from local police stations or state troopers.”

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Safety Law News for May 12, 2023

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–  In California, the California Court of Appeal reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a student who was shot in the head by a gun brought to his seventh grade science class by a fellow student.  The lawsuit of the student argued that the school breached its duty to properly supervise its students on the day of the shooting.  The appellate court agreed, holding that “even if the science teacher could not have foreseen that (the shooter) would bring a loaded gun to class, she had at a minimum a duty to observe what was happening in the classroom to discover and prevent aggressive, disorderly and dangerous behavior by students, which behavior was foreseeable.”  The appellate court ruled that, “(v)iewing the evidence in the light most favorable to (the injured student)…supports an inference that (the shooter) was discussing and displaying the gun for more than a few fleeting seconds, and for enough time for others in the classroom, potentially including the teacher, to have seen and heard her.  (W)e cannot agree with the trial court that as a matter of law events in the classroom unfolded so rapidly that supervisory personnel had no time to discover that (the student) had a gun and/or to respond.”  On this claim the court concluded that, “(w)e reject LAUSD’s contention that we should affirm the trial court’s order on the alternate basis that LAUSD is immune from liability.”  I.A. v. Los Angeles Unified School District

— In New York, officials for the Oswego City School District are switching back to the Oswego Police Department for its school resource officers after a short stint with the Oswego County Sheriff’s Office.  Oswego city police had previously provided resource officers for the district and educators believe that, “long term, it probably won’t hurt that a local department is handling the local district.”

— In Arizona, the Arizona Department of Education is entering the fray over the issue of safe school in Phoenix.  It announced that it will approve grants for armed school resource officers at six schools in the Phoenix Union High School District.  The Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction also supports the return of police in the schools, saying that the reluctance of the local school board to keep schools safe is a concern.  “The decision of the Phoenix Union governing board against armed law enforcement officers not only goes against the recommendation of their own safety committee, but is a slap to the leadership of those schools and to the classroom teachers association who called for SROs because safety is needed.”

— In Tennessee, the Governor has approved a new law that allocates $230 million for enhanced school safety, including $30 million to place school resource officers in every public school, $54 million toward security upgrades for public and private schools, $140 million to place Homeland Security agents in every county to coordinate school security responses, and $8 million to provide new school-based behavioral help staff.