School Safety Law Blog – Page 85 – News and Information for School Safety

Safety Law News for April 10, 2017

by Bernie James • April 10, 2017

In Tennessee, the director of Murfreesboro City Schools has asked the Murfreesboro City Council to expand the school resource officer program. Dr. Linda Gilbert says, “we would love to have one in every school…we have found them absolutely invaluable to our students. They develop relationships with our teachers and with our children that just can’t be replaced.”

In New Jersey, the Bloomfield School District will participate in New Jersey Safe Routes to School Program (SRTS). SRTS authorizes the creation of safer routes to and from school by identifying problem areas and proposing solutions. It serves as a basis for funding SRTS projects with Federal Highway Administration funding.

In Ohio, officials in the West Liberty-Salem Local School District are installing a fully opening escape window in each classroom, switching door locks and considering implementing a SRO program in the wake of a shooting that injured a student there.

In Louisiana, the Pointe Coupee Parish School District is reassessing its policy on cellphone restrictions for students. Almost 20 percent of the disciplinary referrals teachers have written this year at the parish’s lone high school had to do with cellphone violations.

by Bernie James • April 5, 2017

In North Carolina, the Durham school board is considering changing rules for sharing information with law enforcement officers to avoid deportations of students who may be in the country illegally.

In Maryland, the sexual assault in Rockville of a 14-year-old high school student on campus, is raising questions about illegal immigration and school safety. The two students who allegedly committed the assaulted entered the country illegally.

In Arkansas, school resource officers for the City of Cabot, are implementing a two week-long Junior Police Academy for middle school and junior high students in the Cabot School District this summer. The programs aim to build healthy relationships with the youth of the community.

In South Carolina, Horry County school officials say that the 20 year-long SRO program plays a key role in their schools, building relationships and providing a safe environment.

by Bernie James • March 29, 2017

In North Dakota, the Senate rejected a proposal that would allow trained staff members to carry concealed firearms in schools.

In Missouri, educators and police are discussing a more proactive approach to combat the escalating number of threats against campuses that juveniles post to social media apps like Facebook and Snapchat.

In Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed into law a new policy that allows former law enforcement officers to carry firearms while working as security guards for public schools. The law, which takes effect July 1, says the ex-officers must have been employed in Virginia and retired or resigned in “good standing” within the last 10 years.

In North Carolina, officials in Polk County are evaluating a response to statistics that sexting cases with middle and high school students are on the rise.

by Bernie James • March 24, 2017

In Minnesota, Ramsey County officials continue to wrestle with its efforts to implement a restorative justice policy in the schools. A task force convened to study school safety and issued a report with two conflicting trends. Students of color continue to be disciplined in disproportionate numbers. Student-on-staff violence has doubled in just one year – between 2014 and 2015.

In South Carolina, Horry County officials say they want to make the School Board pay more for school resource officers. Right now, the county and the school board split the cost of putting officers in the schools – each entity paying an equal 50% of the school resource officer’s salary. The County now wants the school board to foot 90% of the bill.

In Washington, the Spokane Public Schools Board approved a campus safety policy that creates stricter use-of-force guidelines and requires quarterly data reporting. The new use-of-force policy would limit when and how school resource officers can make arrests and put an emphasis on deescalating situations before making an arrest. In the new policy parents and students have 10 business days to file a complaint against a school resource officer.

In Alabama, the School Security and Student Safety Task Force released its final report and findings, which included a number of recommendations. One recommendation was to amend Section 12-15-217, Code of Alabama 1975, to provide for the sharing of information between juvenile probation officers and school districts relating to delinquent students that may pose a threat to safety.

by Bernie James • March 14, 2017

In California, the California Court of Appeal ruled that new state law allows juvenile courts to seal all juvenile court records, including school records, when the child completes a diversion program. The new restorative justice policy, [Welfare and Institutions Code §786] is designed the give the court discretion to determine whether sealing a child’s school records that refer to a juvenile court proceedings will promote the child’s reentry and rehabilitation. [In re A.S.]

In Florida, the District Court of Appeal ruled that the trial court should have granted a student’s motion for dismissal because the State failed to prove that a BB gun found in his book-bag was a deadly weapon within the meaning of state law. The gun was not loaded and no BBs were found. [C.W. v. State].

In Louisiana, the State Court of Appeals rejected personal injury claims against the school board brought by a high school teacher who was assaulted by a student when she was six weeks pregnant. The court ruled that she could not pursue tort recovery for injuries and was limited to workers’ compensation, even though the student had an extensive history of disciplinary issues. [Field v. Lafayette Parish School Board].

In New Jersey, the United States District Court ruled that school officials did not violate a student’s First Amendment rights when it suspended him for his out-of-school Internet postings on social media outlets. The court upheld New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Act. The new law allows educators to suspend for any speech that is directed at the school. [Dunkley v. Board of Education of the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District].

by Bernie James • March 9, 2017

In Alabama, the Colbert County Schools Superintendent is working with the sheriff to get school resource officers in the schools. “It’s imperative that we move quickly and swiftly to get these resource officers in place so that our kids as well as the faculty and staff will feel safe,” said Gale Satchel, Colbert County Schools Superintendent.

In Massachusetts, the Fitchburg School Committee unanimously approved a policy that will allow dogs to sniff for drugs in the district’s middle and high schools.

In North Carolina, school officials in Guilford County are exploring how faith communities and other groups can be partners with schools in building the character of students. Local pastors want to bring the “National Church Adopt-A-School Initiative” to the school district.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California dismissed claims against the City of Bakersfield and two of its school resource officers who arrested a junior high school vice principal for having a loaded gun on campus with a concealed carry permit. [Kent Williams v. City of Bakersfield]