Uncategorized

Safety Law News for February 17, 2023

by  • 

— In Kentucky, the Supreme Court of Kentucky applied sovereign immunity from liability to a county board of education for allegations of assault and battery while its employees were intervening and separating students who were fighting in a hallway.  One of the students, who filed the lawsuit, was placed in an administrator’s office, “but sought to get back into the hallway to continue the fight,” forcing staff members and the administrator to physically restrain him on the floor. Reversing the lower court and dismissing the case as to the county school board, the court held that “a County Board of Education is an arm of state government, and as such enjoys immunity against liability and tort.”  However, the court refused to dismiss the case as to the administrator, whom the student accused of using his foot to “repeatedly kick() him while he was already subdued.”  The county school board’s sovereign immunity had “no effect” on the liability of the administrator whom the Court of Appeals of Kentucky below had held was not entitled to qualified immunity because, “the disputed testimony as to whether (the administrator) was merely pushing down on (the student’s) backside (as he contends) or whether (the administrator) repeatedly kicked (the student) — as Mother contends and as (the SRO) alleged in her criminal complaint and deposition testimony– presents a clear question of fact which can only be resolved by a jury.”  Jefferson County Public Schools v. Tudor

— In Virginia, the City of Alexandria, which just a few years ago removed funding for School Resource Officers after Black Lives Matter protests and calls to defund the police, is being asked by the Alexandria School Board to keep school resource officers in public schools.  The request comes after newly released data on school safety reveals “concerning” numbers on school safety.  The data show “of the 188 incidents… 78 of them took place at Alexandria City high school campuses, and 71 incidents at middle schools with a total of 74 calls to the Alexandria Police Department.”  This is only a slight decrease from the 194 incidents in 2022.  “The board voted unanimously … to add more help by moving forward with several recommendations including funding for school resource officers.”

— In Washington State, the Seattle School Board, which suspended its school resource officer program in 2020, is responding to campus violence, a deadly shooting at a high school in 2022, and student walkouts by creating “community action teams” to conduct safety reviews of its campuses.  “The measures comes as some officials have called for the return of Seattle Police school resource officers to Seattle’s public school campuses.”  The team will consist of school officials, the Seattle Police Department, City of Seattle, and community groups and partners that provide enrichment opportunities before and after school.

— In Georgia, the DeKalb County Board of Education approved the $3.9 million purchase of a crisis alert system for all of its schools.  Using, Centegix crisis alert badges, school officials can press a button “in the event of an emergency — anything from a medical event or a fight to an intruder on campus. Administrators and first responders will be immediately notified. The badges can trigger lockdowns as well as campus wide alerts that include strobe lights, intercom messages and notifications on desktop computers. The system does not need to be connected to Wi-Fi to work.”

Uncategorized

Safety Law News for February 13, 2023

by  • 

— 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.

Uncategorized

Safety Law News for February 10, 2023

by  • 

— 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.

Uncategorized

Safety Law News for February 8, 2023

by  • 

— 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.

Uncategorized

Safety Law News for February 3, 2023

by  • 

— 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.