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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.

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Safety Law News for October 22, 2021

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— In Louisiana, the Court of Appeal of Louisiana dismissed the liability lawsuit brought by parents of a student who experienced an asthma attack during class.  The student suffered an hypoxic ischemic brain injury resulting in permanent disability.  The court held that while the law imposes a duty on schools of reasonable competent supervision, the duty arises only when the school has actual custody of the students entrusted to its care.  The court ruled that the duty of the school to the student ended when she was placed in care and custody of aunt, who had been authorized by parents to care for her.  Raymond v. Iberia Parish School Board

— In Utah, the Davis School District has agreed to implement new systems for identifying and responding to discrimination complaints after the U.S. Department of Justice found that the school district allowed ‘serious and widespread racial harassment’ to victimize its students.  The federal findings included the fact that the school district failed to address pervasive and racist harassment of students of color, disciplined students of color more harshly than other students for comparable behavior, and denied the request by students of color students’ to form student groups while allowing other students to do so.

— In California, the Desert Hot Springs City Council approved the city’s 2021-22 school resource officer contract, paving the way for the resumption of the School Resource Officer program.  The decision by city officials was informed by a town hall forum with the city’s police department and the Palm Springs Unified School District in which multiple parents said their children were afraid to go to school because of concerns about gangs and bullying.  The school district had previously removed the police from its schools.

— In California, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District are implementing a novel school safety plan that will pair school resource officers (SROs) with mental health clinicians.  The program will begin in the high schools in an effort to coordinate the law enforcement and mental health services more efficiently.

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Safety Law News for October 19, 2021

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— In Georgia, the United States Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a case involving the use of a “leg sweep takedown” by a school resource officer in order to prevent a student from fleeing after a fight with another student.  The court affirmed the dismissal of the discrimination claim because the officer’s history of service did not establish a pattern of discriminatory enforcement at school.  The court also held that the facts did not support a claim of excessive force.  B.T. by & through Jackson v. Battle

— In Mississippi,  the Pearl River County School District’s Board of Trustees voted to not allow staff and teachers to carry firearms on school property.  In a close vote (3-2) the Board decided that allowing staff and teachers who have an enhanced concealed carry permit to bring firearms on campus would be unwise.  The primary concern before the Board was wait times when police are summoned to its campuses.  Wait times are often as long as 45 minutes.

— In New York, the superintendent for the Rochester City School District is meeting with the police chief to phase-in the return of school resource officers.  The school board voted to remove the officers in 2020.  Even so, the spate of fighting among students is causing the move back to a police presence, with the superintendent declaring that, “we are at a point where we are in great need of their assistance.”

— In Massachusetts, officials in the City of Lawrence are seeking policy solutions to the growing violence on campus.  The officials, including teachers, parents, students, clergy, and elected officials, including the mayor, are expressing outrage about how the Lawrence Alliance for Education, a nonprofit given receivership control over the school district by the State of Massachusetts, is managing the school district.