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Safety Law News for November 29, 2021

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— In Rhode Island, the Supreme Court of  Rhode Island affirmed the liability verdict against a school whose disciplinary policy failed to provide students with a safe and secure school.  The victimized student was assaulted by another student at school.  The lower court and the appellate court held that the school breached the duty to maintain a safe and secure school by failing to act on an aggressive student’s lengthy history of disciplinary issues.  The restorative justice reforms of the school were rejected by the courts because the school did nothing “to supervise (the) aggressive student (despite the) aggressive student’s progressively more serious disciplinary problems, of which school was well aware.”  Dextraze v. Bernard

— In California,  officials in the Mountain View Whisman School District are assessing a Report submitted by Mountain View Public Safety Advisory Board.  The Advisory Board, after months of surveys and interviews with parents, students and school staff, recommended that, “school resource officers have a place on campus;…(that there be) greater transparency on what law enforcement activities can take place on campus, and suggest that disciplinary actions be handled discreetly and out of sight of other students.”

— Nationally, the Governmental Accountability Office released new data on bullying in schools. The Report reviews “hostile behaviors in K-12 schools,…the prevalence and nature of hostile behaviors in K-12 public schools; the presence of K-12 school programs and practices to address hostile behaviors; and how Education has addressed complaints related to these issues in school years 2010-11 through 2019-20.”  Statistically, “(a)bout one in five students aged 12 to 18 were bullied annually in school years 2014-15, 2016-17, and 2018-19….Hate crimes—which most commonly targeted students because of their race and national origin—and physical attacks with a weapon nearly doubled. Sexual assaults also increased during the same period.”  FULL REPORT

— In Colorado, officials in the Denver Public Schools have replaced the school resource officer program with an in-house deployment of security personnel.  The safety patrol officers wear uniforms, are armed with guns, and have authority to ticket students for certain offenses.  Parents who succeeded in persuading the Board of Education to remove school resource officers view the new policy as “a slap in the face to our community.”

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Safety Law News for November 19, 2021

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— In Ohio, the United States District Court refused to dismiss a liability lawsuit brought by parents whose child suffered from anxiety and panic attacks due to sexual harassment by fellow students.  The court upheld claims based on negligence, gross negligence, and Intentional infliction of emotional distress.  The court found that, “defendants knew the full extent of the harassment, and the extreme risk of emotional damage to (the victim), but consciously disregarded it when they failed to discipline the boys or take other specific actions to end the harassment.”  The court noted that the restorative justice plans of the educators – to have the victim “talk it out” with the boys – was nonsense: “(g)iven that (the victim) could not even pass the boys in a grocery aisle without suffering a panic attack, (the principal’s) suggestion was to effectively induce more emotional distress.”  T.W. & K.W. v. Finneytown Local School District

— In Oregon,  disciplinary data released by the Salem-Keizer Public School District shows that while suspensions and expulsions have been drastically reduced – through restorative justice reforms – fighting has increased.  Expulsions decreased by almost 90%.  Suspensions decreased by 55%. Campus disruptions and fighting increased 42%.   The school district contends that it expected the increase.  The school district voted in 2021 to discontinue its school resource officer program.

— In North Carolina, school officials in Wake County released an executive summary of a report from its School Safety Advocacy Council.  Hired by the school board to assess school safety, the Council recommended increased oversight of the school resource officer program, cancelation of student off-campus dining privileges, and a more effective district-wide emergency communications network.

— In Ohio, the Ohio House has passed legislation that changes the law requiring more than 700 hours of training for teachers and staff who want to be armed in schools.  The new policy lowers the requirement to 20 hours of gun training.  The sponsors of the legislation contend that the change is needed by rural districts with longer response times from law enforcement, and by poor districts that can’t afford school resource officers.

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Safety Law News for November 17, 2021

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— In Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals upheld the conviction on multiple counts of an adult who was arrested on school grounds by a school resource officer.  A school administrator reported that “a sleeping or unconscious unidentified man (who was plainly a non-student) was parked erratically in the school parking lot.”  The court ruled that under the search and seizure rules of the Fourth Amendment, “an officer may stop and briefly detain a person when the officer has reasonable, articulable suspicion that the person has been, is, or is about to be engaged in criminal activity.”  The court concluded that, reasonable suspicion for the parking lot investigatory stop existed, “because a reasonable officer could suspect that Coleman was trespassing on school grounds, in violation of the school board policy…(and) circumstances of (the adult’s) presence on the school campus suggested other illegal activity.”  United States v. Coleman

— In Indiana, parents in the Monroe County Community School Corporation are asking school officials to allow school resource officers to carry weapons again.  The requests follow incidents in the schools in which students were found carrying guns.  The school board voted in 2020 to disarm the school resource officers.

— In Nebraska, officials in the Lincoln Public School District released data related to SRO referrals and discipline practices within their schools.  Calls for service and referrals dropped about 43% below the four-year average.  The school administrators initiated referrals most often. Police officers were in the lowest group to initiate discipline at 1%.  Notably, serious incidents, like assaults, narcotics, and disturbances make up a majority of referral data.

— In New Mexico, school officials in the Rio Rancho Public Schools are hosting a gun safety class for parents.  The focus of the class is on making sure firearms are secured as a means of keeping guns out of kids’ hands.  The class is in response to a 2019 incident in which a student discharged a gun in the high school.

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Safety Law News for November 12, 2021

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— In California, the United States District Court ruled that a school resource officer is not necessarily obligated to “follow all requests or directions by (a school administrator).”  The court dismissed a case involving a student who was brought to the office of the principal after disrupting class.  The administrator requested the presence of the SRO, who upon arriving to the office, handcuffed the student.  The court ruled that the principal would not be responsible for any excessive force by the SRO simply based on their daily collaboration because, “(the SRO’s) law enforcement status and apparent obligation to address crime and maintain security and safety would seem inconsistent with (the principal), a non-law enforcement official, having the ability to direct and supervise (the SRO). That (the SRO) followed a request by (the principal) does not mean that (the SRO) was obligated to follow all requests or directions by (the principal).”  The court noted that it was “unaware of any cases that have discussed a principal or other school official’s ability or authority to supervise a school resource officer employed by a city police department.”  The court concluded that, “a resource officer …remains a police officer, irrespective of his status as being assigned to a school as a school resource officer.”  J.M. v. Parlier Unified School District

—  In Virginia, the Alexandria City School Board and Alexandria Police Department are planning to deploy school resource officers back into schools.   The school board removed SROs from schools earlier, but a spate of campus incidents led to demands by students and parents to reinstate the school resource officer program.

— In Wisconsin,  officials in the Milwaukee Public Schools say that students walked out of a high school in protest to what they call a dangerous learning environment.  The students want to see more security and police in the school.  The student who organized the walk-out said, “I’m seeing it for myself. People are walking around the school carrying. People are walking around the school with pocket knives, brass knuckles, pepper spray, everything.” We’re telling (the administration) this and they’re just blowing it off.”

— In California, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees voted to reinstate Student Resource Officers on school campuses.  The school district had eliminated the school policing program for the 2021-22 school year, but concerns about campus safety grew after a 17-year-old student at Aptos High was stabbed to death on campus in August.

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Safety Law News for November 9, 2021

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— In California, the California Court of Appeal upheld the search of a student by a school administrator in which a knife was found.  The student was brought to the administrator after teachers reported that he “was possibly under the influence.”  The administrator stated to the student if there was “anything on (you) that (you) should not have” that the school “would try to work with (you) as much as possible to give (you) as few consequences as possible if it was something that they could work with.”  The student “produced a knife that was in his pocket that was inside of his pants.” The court ruled that a report from a teacher provides reasonable suspicion for school officials to investigate further.   The court also held that “school officials have more leeway than do law enforcement officials when questioning students about possible illegal activities.”  In re D.W.

— In Wisconsin, the Madison Metropolitan School District is looking for student safety policy solutions after an increase in student-on-student violence on its high schools campuses.  The fights are causing school staff to intervene.  A Madison police officer was assaulted when called to respond to a school casing other officers to use pepper spray on students.  An administrator stated that 90% of the incidents were happening during the open lunch period.  Last year, the school resource officers were removed from campuses.  

— In New York, the Rochester Teacher’s Association, the union representing Rochester City School District teachers, has published an open letter asking the school district to enact measures that would reduce disruption and violence in the schools.  Teachers have been attacked, football games have been canceled because of threats and the City of Rochester had Rochester Police Department officers stationed outside of all 11 secondary schools in the district during arrival and dismissal times.  Last year, the school resource officers were removed from campuses.

— In Ohio, House Bill 99 has been introduced to allow authorized teachers and school staff to carry guns on school property, inside buildings, or at school events. The legislation would require the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission to recommend rules for the initial training to the Ohio Attorney General, and they must include rules governing 18 hours of general training, and includes two hours of handgun training. It also requires additional training two hours of annual training.

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Safety Law News for November 5, 2021

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— In California, the California Court of Appeal held that a school was not liable for the death by suicide of a high school student.  The parents argued that liability should be the direct result of persistent bullying by fellow students.  The court ruled that the California Education Code prevents courts from “imposing liability on schools districts for a student’s off-campus injury (except) when the student is involved in activities supervised or undertaken by the school.”  Therefore, because the death of the student occurred while off-campus during summer break the case was dismissed.  Leroy v. Yarboi

— In Virginia, the Harrisonburg City School Board received the Report and the PowerPoint Presentation from its SRO Task Force on school safety and police on campus.  The conclusion of the task force, after collecting data on both its SRO program and other SRO programs, was to keep police on its campuses.

— In New York, officials in the Schenectady City School District are implementing a pilot program that will station veteran police officers in schools to serve as a resource for students, staff, parents and the community.  The officers, who will receive special training on harm reduction, community health, de-escalation, homelessness, and anti-racism, will not enforce the code of conduct nor intercede in campus disruptions unless students become violent.  Instead, the officers will address matters that are criminal in nature.

— In Indiana, the private security company, hired by the South Bend School District to promote campus safety after the cancellation of the SRO program, has ended its relationship with the district.  The private firm based its decision on  negative media coverage, confusing statements by educators, and difficulty finding police officers interested in the off-duty security work.