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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.

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Safety Law News for November 2, 2021

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— In Ohio,  the Court of Appeals of Ohio, affirmed the lower court ruling that a school was not immune from liability for injuries to students when an experiment in science class caught fire and exploded.  The appellate court reasoned that a school is not immune when it “fails to exercise any care toward those to whom a duty of care is owed in circumstances in which there is a great probability that harm will result.”  The court concluded that while the lawsuit of the students did not detail precisely how educators acted recklessly or wantonly, it was reasonable and obvious to infer that an experiment involving intense heat and a risk that flammable liquid might catch fire in the presence of open flame.  Doe v. Greenville City Schools

— In New York, the teachers’ union in the Rochester City School District are demanding the presence of police in the schools after five teachers were injured breaking up a fight between students.  School resource officers were removed from the  school district in 2020.  The teachers’ union is concerned about an increase in violence on campuses, gang activity, and students carrying weapons.

— In Florida,  the District Court of Appeal held that a school was not liable for injuries to a citizen while attending a school-sponsored basketball game.  The citizen argued that the school failed to provide adequate security and crowd control.  The court held that under Florida law,  policy-making and planning are discretionary functions that cannot be the subject of traditional tort liability, (but that) “…decisions or actions implementing policy… do not enjoy sovereign immunity.”  Based on this finding, the court held that “the number and placement of supervisory personnel constitutes a discretionary decision protected by sovereign immunity.”

School Board of Broward County v. McCall

— Nationally, inspired by a viral TikTok challenge, students are pilfering and vandalizing items at their schools – damaging bathroom toilets, soap dispensers, science lab microscopes, parking signs and desks.  The social networking platform has agreed to remove messages in connection with the trend and redirect related hashtags.

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Safety Law News for October 28, 2021

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— In New York, the Supreme Court, Appellate Division reversed a lower court ruling that a school was liable for injuries a student sustained when she was sexually assaulted by another student in a classroom.  The appellate court ruled that the offending student’s disciplinary history did not sufficiently put school authorities on notice so as to breach school’s duty to provide adequate supervision.  Knaszak v. Hamburg Central School District

— In California, the Palm Springs Unified School District is redeploying school resource officers to its campuses after the completion of a five-day training program.  The training covers topics such as developing relationships with students, understanding special needs students, social media and cybersecurity, crime prevention and sex trafficking.

— In Indiana, officials for the South Bend Community School Corporation is working with a private company to keep its schools safe after removing police officers from its schools.  Oddly, South Bend school officials have specifically requested that the security company recruit off-duty police officers.  The private firm is reaching out to local law enforcement agencies to procure officers.

— Nationally, Education Week’s 2021 School Shooting Tracker is reporting 24 school shootings, 16 of which occurred after August 1. There have been 82 school shootings since 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have interrupted the trend line. The 2020 figure, with 10 shootings, was significantly lower than 2019 and 2018, which each had 24.