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Safety Law News for January 28, 2020

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• In Kentucky, a bill filed in the current legislative session would require all school resource officers to carry firearms.  The proposal, Senate Bill 8, amends Senate Bill 1 which did not specify whether or not resource officers had to be armed.

• In Massachusetts, the Norfolk District Attorney’s office is implementing a canine component to the safe school’s programs.  Community Resource Dogs, in the form of puppies, are being deployed with school resource officers as they work with children in crisis.

• In New York, the Warren County Sheriff is contemplating changes to the school resource officer program that he now considers to be “unsustainable.”  The program uses recently retired police officers to serve in schools, but these officers want neither full-time work, nor after-school events work.

• In Indiana, South Bend schools’ suspension and expulsion rates for all students, including the disproportionate rates for black students, have continued to increase.  Next door, neighboring districts School City of Mishawaka and Penn-Harris-Madison have seen the opposite happen.  Officials in South Bend are examining how best to support restorative justice school discipline policies to change the upward trend.

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Safety Law News for January 21, 2020

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• In New York City, parents and other teachers in a Queens middle school say they are increasingly concerned over the lack of school discipline.  The problem rest in the implementation of restorative justice discipline policies.  Faculty and staff say that they are no longer respected and supported.  One teacher says, “a kid was on videotape beating up another child, and that wasn’t enough for an out of school suspension. You don’t think other kids see that?”

• In Maryland, the parents of a 16-year-old girl who was shot and killed at a school in St. Mary County have filed a lawsuit, claiming the educators failed to take proper steps to prevent violence.  The lawsuit claims that the shooter had a “significant history of violence,” including threats to shoot a gun inside the school, and that his behavior toward their daughter was reported.

• In Texas, the Frisco Independent School District is taking steps to prevent students from using vaping products.  One part involves an anonymous system that allows students to report when someone is vaping on campus.  Another part is the “CATCH My Breath” modules, which feature lessons meant to engage students in the vaping prevention conversation.

• In Indiana, after a state program made hand-held metal detectors available to every public school, incoming data show that the actual use of the wands has been minimal.  Some school officials declined because they perceive that the deployment of the wands involves too many rules and regulations.  Others make students aware that they have them and are willing to use them if necessary, but do not follow through.

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Safety Law News for January 17, 2020

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• In New York, the Schenectady City School District is struggling to implement its restorative justice school discipline policies.  The new policies aim to handle incidents with constructive rather than punitive measures.  The tide of parental concerns about student safety and school disruptions is spilling over into school board meetings.

• In Tennessee, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and the Hamilton County School Board have been struggling to find SROs. They are considering hiring and training private security officers to do the job. The stop-gap officers would patrol inside the school facilities and on the grounds but would not be involved in discipline or provide counseling to students, which is what their school resource officers do.

• In Illinois, an interagency agreement between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department is redefining the roles of school resource officers in the schools.  According to the provisions of the agreement, officers will no longer be allowed to intervene in student discipline. (Read agreement here)

• In Indiana, the Noblesville School District is installing vaping detectors in its efforts to stop teenagers from vaping in three of its buildings.  The sensors work similarly to a smoke alarm and will notify school leaders when vaping is detected.

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Safety Law News for January 15, 2020

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• In Kentucky, the legislature has introduced a bill that would require school resource officers in Kentucky to carry guns.  Senate Bill 8 would require that all schools have at least one armed SRO and one mental health counselor for every 250 students.  The bill would also order the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training to create an active shooter training video.

• In Florida, the legislature has introduced House Bill 1083 that would require school resource officers to go through additional mental health and de-escalation training, focused specifically on juveniles.

• In Kansas, the Wichita Schools Board of Education is joining the Valley Center School District, the Goddard School District, and the Olathe School District to pursue legal action against e-cigarette makers to combat against students’ use of e-cigarettes.

• In New York, the Willsboro Central School District is installing Stop-Arm cameras on all of its school buses.  Under a new law, cars illegally passing a bus when the Stop-Arm and flashing red lights are deployed will be caught on video and fined.

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Safety Law News for January 10, 2020

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• In Ohio, the Wooster City School District is collaborating with the Wooster Police Department to place its officers on district school buses. The goal of the new policy is to provide personal, positive interactions with students and enhance the safety/security of school buses.

• In Tennessee, officials in the Germantown Municipal School District are implementing a canine program at the Houston High School.  Dogs trained to sniff for drugs, pills, alcohol, and firearms will do random, unannounced inspections at the school.

• In Texas, the Round Rock Independent School District, after failing to negotiate a renewal of its agreement with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, is creating its own police force.  The sheriff’s reluctance to renew with the school district was the fear that recruiting and training officers for the job would be time-consuming and would strain county staff, particularly if other county school districts began seeking similar agreements for school resource officers.

• In Florida, a statewide grand jury has issued a report painting a dire picture of how Florida school districts are implementing security measures passed in response to the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The grand jury concluded that “any law the Legislature writes addressing school safety, statistical reporting or harm mitigation is meaningless unless someone is given a mandate to ensure compliance.”

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Safety Law News for December 10, 2019

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• In Indiana, school resource officers in Hancock County are giving tickets to students caught vaping. The fine is more than $130 and school administrators notify parents of the incident. School officials hope the policy will discourage students.

• In Georgia, officials in Marietta are creating two new positions called School Gang Officers (SGOs) in the Marietta Police Department to “prevent and combat gang activity” in the Marietta city schools.  The positions will be funded by the City of Marietta, the Marietta City School System (MCS) and the Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS).

• In Louisiana, the Lafayette Parish School System and the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office are launching an initiative to combat an increase in students directing threats at local schools.  School resource officers will teach a series of classes on the crime of terrorizing, what one can and cannot say that qualifies as terrorizing, and tips for safe social media use.  The goals is to help students understand that particular behaviors result in serious and harsh consequences.”

• Nationally, the National Council for Behavioral Health-Mental Aid First Aid USA is expanding its eight-hour Mental Health First Aid course.  The training, first developed in Australia in 2001, is offered by universities, school districts, public safety departments, and public health agencies, usually for free or a nominal fee.  It trains first responders, educators, school resource officers, mental health professionals and lay people on how to tell if somebody is experiencing a mental health crisis, and what steps can be taken to help.