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Safety Law News for June 19, 2020

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— In Alaska,  the superintendent of the Anchorage School District plans to maintain its school resource officer program.  School officials believe that the police officers develop a professional but human connection with both the students and staff, connections which are critical to building a foundation of mutual trust.”

— In New Mexico, the City of Roswell is ending its school police program.  City officials say it is part of the effects of a $35 million budget shortfall and the need to save money or bring in new revenue.

— In Oregon, the board for the Eugene 4J School District has decided to eliminate school resource officers from their buildings next year.  The program will end in December 2020.  School officials promised to include with the community to identify alternatives to school resource officers.   

— In New York, officials in the City of Rochester is ending its school police program.   The city has not given a reason for the its decision.

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Safety Law News for June 17, 2020

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— In Florida, the Osceola County School Board renewed its SRO program with the Kissimmee Police Department, St. Cloud Police Department and the Osceola County School Board for School Resource Officers.  The cost to the school district is roughly $3 million, and it’s money the state mandates is spent after the 2018 school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School.

— In Illinois, three Chicago aldermen will introduce an ordinance to remove Chicago police officers from Chicago Public Schools. The proposed ordinance would also prohibit the city and the police superintendent from entering into any future school security agreements with CPS.

— In Canada, Waterloo Region District School Board, in southeastern Ontario is suspending the School Resource Officer Program for the foreseeable future.  The board will conduct a review of the program in the autumn of 2020.  Therefore, there will be no police in schools once they start back up.

— In Minnesota, the Minneapolis Public Schools have terminated the suspending the School Resource Officer Program with the Police Department over George Floyd’s death.

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Safety Law News for June 9th, 2020

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— In Wisconsin, the teachers union for the Madison Metropolitan School District is calling for school resource officers to be removed from schools.  The union released a statement that represents “a shift in our previous position regarding SROs.”  The new emphasis is on providing schools with counselors, psychologists, social workers, nurses and mental health specialists.

— In Oregon,  public school officials are planning to revise the resources dedicated to school safety.  The theme is to move away from deploying police officers to campuses.

— In Colorado, the school board for the Denver Public Schools has announced that they have the votes to approve a new school safety policy that emphasizes mental health supports, restorative justice school discipline, and counselors.  The new policy will mean the termination of the contract between the Denver Police Department and the school district.

— In Illinois, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is resisting public demands for removing Chicago police officers from the public schools.  The mayor says she has no plans to remove the police because “we need security in our schools…[and] we spent a lot of time a year ago working through the challenges that we have seen with police officers in schools.”

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Safety Law News for June 1st, 2020

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— In Florida, the District Court of Appeal of Florida held that parents of a student killed in the campus shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School could not sue the shooter’s mental health provider for negligence.  The court ruled that the parent’s theory of liability was undermined by Florida law that a criminal attack on third parties by an outpatient mental health patient is not within the foreseeable zone of risk created by the mental health provider.  Florida law does not recognize a duty of mental health providers to warn third parties that a patient may be dangerous. This is because of “the inherent unpredictability associated with mental illnesses and the near-impossibility of accurately or reliably predicting dangerousness.” (Pollack v. Cruz)

— In New York, the United States District Court, ruled that educators did not violate the law by suspending a student for making threatening posts on social media.  The court held that the student’s social media posts constituted a reasonable risk of a substantial disruption under the Tinker standard, where the student had previously been suspended for allegedly intimidating a teacher during class, made many social media posts indicating his opinion that the school was unfair, racist, or evil, one of student’s posts depicted an unknown woman handling a gun, many of the student’s classmates could view the posts, and in fact classmates and parents approached multiple school officials and expressed concern for student safety after viewing the posts.  (Spero v. Vestal Central School District)

— In New Jersey, the United States District Court, ruled that school officials’ search of a student’s sketchbook, person, and belongings was justified and did not violate Fourth Amendment.  The court said that educators had reasonable suspicion because (1) the student drew a weapon, (2) the student bought weapons to school in the past, and (3) the search was done in privacy of vice principal’s office.  (K.J. v. Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District Board of Education).

— In Indiana, Noblesville police officers will be equipped with upgraded body cameras that detect gunshots. 

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Safety Law News for May 27, 2020

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— In West Virginia, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that educators were not liable for injuries to a student.  The student, who injured his arm while wrestling with a classmate on the school soccer field, had left the high school building without authorization.  The court ruled that under the in loco parentis doctrine, schools have a special relationship with students entrusted to their care, which imposes upon them certain duties of reasonable supervision.  But, school officials did not owe a duty of supervision to the student once he left school building without authorization.  (Goodwin v. Board of Education of Fayette County).

— In South Carolina, the United States District Court, refused to dismiss an excessive force case brought against a school resource officer who, upon deciding to arrest a 16 year-old special needs student for disrupting the classroom, grabbed the student and the desk in which she was sitting, flipped them backward, and pulled her out of the desk.  The court ruled that using such force on a nonthreatening and nonviolent student to effect an arrest for a misdemeanor would be excessive.  The court ruled that clearly established law requires police to account for special considerations in school settings when conducting searches and seizures: the student’s age, sex, and nature of the infraction. (Murphy v. Fields)

— In Massachusetts,  school officials in Westford Public Schools, Lunenburg Public Schools, and Lowell Public Schools are focusing on social and emotional learning in the educational packets being distributed to students and families.  The curriculum includes a wide range of supports and programs that help students manage emotions, build relationships and face the challenges of the pandemic quarantine.

— In Missouri, school officials are voicing strong opinions to legislation affecting school safety.  Educators support Senate Bill 774 which would mandate the presence of armed “school protection officers” in every building during school hours.  However, a second proposal would extend the state’s concealed-carry law onto college and K-12 campuses as well as into bars, day care centers and courthouses.  A third new law would prohibit state and local law enforcement officers from assisting in the enforcement of federal gun laws.  See, Senate Bill 663, House Bill 1630, Senate Bill 700, Senate Bill 774, House Bill 1637, House Bill 575.

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Safety Law News for May 22, 2020

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— In Canada, the school resource officers in Guelph, Ontario are hosting interactive presentations on the Internet to the students that are isolated in their homes during the pandemic.  These presentations follow the same format as presentations the SROs give in schools on topics such as online and social media safety, drug awareness and mental health. Students receive community hours credit for participating.

— In Florida, School Resource Officers and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Unit worked together to protect children during the COVID-19 pandemic from child pornography crimes in Okaloosa County.  Several suspects were arrested because of their efforts.

— In South Carolina, a state task force of educators and administrators is providing recommendations on how schools and districts can safely restart schools in the fall.  The AccelerateED Task Force is recommending emphasizing the importance of having nurses ready for students in every school.

— In Georgia,  educators in Forsyth County want $1.6 million to hire unarmed campus security associates whose duties would combine campus safety with preventing the criminalization of some students at a young age.