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Safety Law News for January 18, 2017

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  • In Rhode Island, the Pawtucket School and Police Departments have signed a new school safety interagency agreement.   Under the agreement, the principal will remain the primary administrator and disciplinarian and will not rely on the school resource officer for enforcement of minor disciplinary infractions.
  • In New York, state leaders are encouraging educators to develop district-wide overdose prevention policies.  The New York Department of Health has an overdose prevention training program that allows school personnel to administer the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone.  But just 55 school districts out of more than 700 statewide have signed up.
  • In New York, school officials in the Westchester and Putnam are schools are implementing an Anti-Bullying/Safety Reporting App.  The program allows students to let an adult know when they are being bullied or harassed online.
  • In Washington State, policymakers in the Yakima Valley have launched the School Safety Operations & Coordination Center. Sixteen school districts are linked to the Center.  Center staff have the capacity to remotely access and control school security cameras at certain buildings, lock and unlock doors and even control water and gas utility lines.
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Safety Law News for January 9, 2017

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  • In Tennessee, the Court of Appeals held that educators were not liable for the injuries of a 13–year-old special education student who was assaulted by another 13–year-old special education student in a school bathroom. The court reasoned that liability follows foreseeability, but that under the Tennessee rule there can be no foreseeability “absent proof of prior misconduct.” [K.G.R. v. Union City School District].
  • In Wyoming, the “Safe2Tell Wyoming” tip-line has received more than 100 tips since it was launched a few weeks ago, exceeding officials’ expectations.  The majority of the reports received were to report suicide threats.
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Safety Law News for December 20, 2016

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  • In Colorado, the Municipal Court in Longmont was given funding to expand restorative justice programs into the schools.  School resource officers will send cases to a prosecutor, who will determine if the case is eligible for the mediation process rather than traditional adjudication.
  • In South Carolina, officials in Florence School District One say school administrators and school resource officers work together to determine how to respond to threats against the schools.
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School Safety News for December 16, 2016

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  • In Pennsylvania, the Gateway School District has received judicial approval to allow the school district’s new campus police force to carry guns and issue citations on school property.
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Safety Law News for December 12, 2016

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  • In Pennsylvania, the federal district court has ruled that school officials can be liable for violating student rights under Title IX when student-on-student harassment is ignored. The court ruled that educators have a duty to intervene when they possess “actual notice” – enough knowledge of the harassment that they reasonably could have responded with remedial measures. [T.B. v. New Kensington-Arnold School District].

 

  • In Louisiana, the state court of appeals ruled that personal injury claims against a school brought by a pregnant teacher who was assaulted by a student, did not fall within the intentional act exclusion from workers’ compensation coverage, and thus the teacher could not sue for damages for injuries and was limited to remedies under the workers’ compensation statute, even though student had an extensive history of disciplinary issues. [Field v. Lafayette Parish School Board]

 

 

  • In Ohio, the Lima City Schools have created a new position called the Director of Safety and Security.  The Director will oversee the SROs and handle all of the safety and security procedures in all of the Lima City Schools.
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Safety Law News for December 5, 2016

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• In Kentucky, the Children’s Law Center of Kentucky released a report regarding school based restraint and seclusion. It concludes that restraint and seclusion on students in Kentucky schools is often unnecessary and that the use of such techniques should be better documented.

• In Pennsylvania, eight Dauphin County police departments along with several school districts are coming together in an initiative to reform school discipline. The goal is to stop the “school to prison” pipeline in the county.

• In Utah, school officials and police are praising a mother and father who disarmed and detained their son after he fired a shotgun inside of a Utah middle school.

• In Oregon, school officials in Silverton are taking steps to add rigor to their bullying policies after suspending ten students who were involved in a pro-Trump rally in the parking lot of a high school on Nov. 8 after election results were announced.