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Safety Law News for July 12, 2022

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— In Pennsylvania, the United States District Court refused to dismiss the lawsuit of a student who experienced a sexually hostile and racially hostile educational environment that was known to educators but ignored.  The Title IX claim (prohibiting a sexually hostile educational environment), the Title VI claim (prohibiting intentional discrimination based on race in any program that receives federal funding), the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act claim (prohibiting discrimination based on race and gender), were appropriate in light of a pattern of conduct by educators who, “failed to adequately respond to the reports of race and gender-based harassment …which resulted in (the student) being further victimized by her peers.”  Stosic v. West Jefferson Hills School District

— In Colorado, community awareness is growing that officials in the Denver Public Schools are recreating its school safety plan around police officers.  In 2020, the Denver Public Schools ended its contract with the Denver Police Department to provide the school resource officers.  Student safety is the primary reason school officials are bringing back the police.  Incidents requiring police reporting (required under state law) and intervention have increased, “nearly 25 percent from the fall of 2019 to the same period this year, including seizures of several loaded firearms, plus a machete and multiple other weapons…(O)ne student had been stabbed by a knife, and marijuana possession was up by almost 40 percent.  In California, the Fresno Unified School Board members recently voted to fund the placement of school resource officers in local middle schools for the same reason of student safety.

— In Arkansas, the Arkansas School Safety Commission is recommending a unified law enforcement response protocol to prevent confusion during a school shooter incident on a school campus.  The elements of the protocol include a unified training regimen for law enforcement as well as minimum standards for collaborating with schools during an incident.

— In Indiana, police and educators are fine-tuning active threat training, trying to place personnel in situations that resemble previous school attacks.  Officers take turns simulating different scenarios during which they might have to confront a school shooter and firing rounds of non-lethal ammunition, if the shooter attacked an officer.

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Safety Law News for June 29, 2022

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— In Kentucky, the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, affirmed the denial of immunity to a teacher who failed to report bullying in her class.  The appellate court said that “(t)he application of qualified immunity rests not on the status or title of the officer or employee, but on the function performed. …Specifically, the analysis depends upon classifying the particular acts or functions in question in one of two ways: discretionary or ministerial.”   In other words, “qualified immunity does not protect one who negligently performs, or fails to perform, a ministerial duty (which) is absolute, certain, and imperative, involving merely execution of a specific act arising from fixed and designated facts.” Immunity was denied to the teacher because under Kentucky law, “a special relationship is formed between a Kentucky school district and its students compelled to attend school such that there is an affirmative duty on the district, its faculty, and its administrators to take all reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm to its students.” Newman v. J.A.

— In Missouri, the St. Charles County Council is planning to add school resource officers to elementary schools for the 2022-23 school year.  Officers are already in the high schools and most middle schools.  Using funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the officials will provide 14 additional officers at no cost to the districts.

— In Oklahoma, the Governor has issued an executive order focusing on boosting security in schools.  In the executive order, a six-point plan directs schools to assess safety. The directive includes training for law enforcement and behavioral training for teachers.

— In Oklahoma, an investigation by the Norman Public Schools Superintendent and Norman Police Department revealed the failure of educators at a local high school to protect students who were victims of graffiti inside a bathroom containing their names.  Along with the names were racial slurs, homophobic slurs, and the declaration, “Shooting up this damn place 2/28/2022.”  The graffiti drew public attention after a teacher leaked photos of the graffiti to a parent.  The whistle-blowing teacher was fired.  According to the investigation, educators began cleaning up the graffiti before the school could document the writings and before the police had a chance to look at it.  Police didn’t know about the racial slurs or shooting threat until a reporter reached out to the department with the photos.

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Safety Law News for June 24, 2022

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— In New York, the United States Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of an educator for making a series of inquiries concerning a potentially dangerous student at the high school.  The educator was concerned about the potential for physical harm to her child who was also enrolled at the school.  Administrators viewed the inquiries and statements as inappropriate.  Both the lower court and the appellate court rejected the First Amendment retaliation claim because (as an employee) her speech, “does not qualify for First Amendment protection.”  The courts explained that, “[t]o establish that her speech was protected, Henderson must demonstrate that it addressed a matter of public concern… (S)peech that principally focuses on an issue that is personal in nature (e.g., the safety of her son) and generally related to the speaker’s own situation —even if touching on a matter of general importance—does not qualify for First Amendment protection.” Henderson v. Greenville Central School District

— In Virginia, the Department of Criminal Justices Services Board will give $5 million to local governments across the state for school resource and security officer positions in the next fiscal year.  A school resource officer is a certified law enforcement official employed by a police department, while a school security officer is employed by the school.  The funding is part of a broader package of public safety grants — more than $37 million — going to local criminal justice programs, including gun violence prevention, victim witness, and substance abuse treatment programs.

— In California, the Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an expansion of the school resource officer program to include an officer at each school.  The recent school shooting in Texas influenced that decision to increase campus safety.

— In Oklahoma, the Bartlesville Public Schools Board of Education unanimously approved the hiring of six additional school resource officers which will place one officer in each of the district’s schools.  School officials said that the recent shootings at a school in Texas and at a medical facility in Tulsa hastened the move.

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Safety Law News for June 22, 2022

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— In Alabama, the Supreme Court of Alabama, refused to dismiss a case brought against a county school board for “negligence, wantonness, and negligent or wanton hiring” of a high school principal who assaulted a student.  The court ruled that as an agency of the State, a county board of education has Eleventh Amendment immunity from the damages claims insofar as the board was sued in their official capacities.  However, the suit could be continued insofar as the board members were sued in their individual capacities.  On remand, evidence suggests that the board knew about a pattern of sexual assaults as far back as 1992.  Ex Parte Wilcox County Board of Education

— In Delaware, the state legislature is considering a new policy that would make it illegal for police to lie to children during interrogations.   House Bill 419 has been approved by the House of Delegates.  The state Senate now takes up the proposal that is based on evidence that childrens’ brains are not equipped to handle the stress of police interrogations.  If enacted, the new policy will ban the use of deceptive tactics, such as making misleading statements about evidence or offering false promises of leniency to extract a confession or other incriminating evidence from a minor.

— In New York, the officials in the City of Rochester have agreed to an extension of the school resource officer program for the safety of the Rochester Public Schools.  The new contract includes revisions designed to “decriminalize normal student behavior” by removing the officers from participation in the school discipline of students.

— In Washington State, the Bellevue School District is launching a new version of the school resource officer program.  The revisions change the name, mission and role of the officers who will deploy on the schools.  The Community Engagement Officer Program will select and train officers to “to cultivate trusting relationships between students and officers to provide a safe environment with shared problem solving, according to the district.”

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Safety Law News for June 17, 2022

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— In Colorado, the Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed the adjudication of a student for possessing a handgun as a second-time juvenile offender and possessing a weapon on school grounds.  The court rejected the argument of the student that the search of his backpack violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment.  The court agreed with the student that the test of New Jersey v. T.L.O., (469 U.S. 325, 341 (1985)), requires that a search be “justified at its inception” with reasonable suspicion.  However, the court ruled 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.”  The School Threat Appraisal Team’s “Action and Intervention Plan,” which allowed the student to return to school after his first offense, “unequivocally contained a search requirement.”  In the Interest of J.G.

— In Tennessee, the Metro Nashville School Board is considering expanding its school resource officer program to include elementary schools.  Concerned was expressed that there were 40 SROs in the middle and high schools but none in elementary schools.  The Nashville Mayor stated that it should be “safety first, security first, (because) you can’t educate in anything less than a secure environment.”

— In Mississippi, the DeSoto County school board voted to approve $2 million in funding for school resource officers.  DeSoto County Schools’ superintendent said the additional funding will allow them to have an officer at all 39 campuses.  The superintendent said the tragic Texas school shooting in May 2022 served to “reaffirm (my) belief about the importance of having law enforcement at schools.”

— In Kentucky, the Christian County School Board approved contracts with the local sheriff and police departments to provide school resource officers for the 2022-2023 school year.  The goal is to have an officer on each of its 13 campuses.

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Safety Law News for June 14, 2022

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— In Tennessee, the Court of Appeals of Tennessee reversed and dismissed a personal injury case brought by a student who was struck in the eye by a mechanical pencil while attending a sponsored after- school program.  A classmate was flicking a pencil back and forth when it flew into the air, injuring the student.  The court stated that, in negligence lawsuits, students injured by schools “must establish (1) a duty of care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff; (2) conduct by the defendant falling below the standard of care amounting to a breach of that duty; (3) an injury or loss; (4) causation in fact; and (5) proximate or legal cause.”  The court dismissed the lawsuit because “the law, (does) not require (schools) to anticipate the countless unexpected student acts that take place each day in our schools.  Rather, we hold (schools) to the duty of protecting students from reasonably foreseeable dangerous conditions, including the dangerous acts of fellow students.” This was not a reasonably foreseeable dangerous condition.  Therefore, there was no duty of care. Hopper v. Obion County School System

— In Ohio, House Bill 99 has been enacted, reducing the hours school officials need to train to carry a gun in school.  The law reduces the training to 24 hours for initial approval.  Educators are then required to receive eight additional training hours every year afterward. They must also submit to an annual criminal records check.

— In Minnesota, the Forest Lake Area School District plans to install interior and exterior security cameras on all school buses.  The goal is to document drivers who ignore the stop-sign-arm on buses.  The cameras also will record misconduct by students.

— In Iowa, surveys showed students in the Cedar Rapids Schools felt safer after changes in the School Resource Officer program.  The most visible policy change was having the officers wear “soft” uniforms.  The most substantive change was to shift the job duties of officers away from disciplinary actions.  All data shows the positive effects of the changes.  Arrests of students dropped dramatically.  90% of High School students responded feeling “Somewhat or Very Safe” because of an SRO in the building last school year. More students also reported feeling “Very Comfortable” around an SRO, going from 23% to 45%.  And a greater percentage of students, 45% versus 22%, reported having “Very Positive Interactions” with the SRO.  Staff and family surveys showed more than 90% felt safe and positive about the SRO program.