— In Alabama, the United States District Court dismissed a case brought by a parent who accused school officials of being deliberately indifferent to sexual harassment and assault which their child was experiencing at school. The case arose out of a complaint that during the school year the assailant “repeatedly” sexually assaulted their child, including “on a school bus.” The parent was nonplussed that school officials decided that “homebound services sufficiently disciplined (the assailant) for his actions, protected other students, and deterred future harm.” The parent alleged that school officials were violating Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The trial court disagreed, setting forth the rules, holding that “Title IX funding recipients do not have to ‘remedy’ peer harassment. A Title IX 12 recipient must respond to known peer harassment in a manner that is not clearly unreasonable … a school district (is) not deliberately indifferent to reports of sexual harassment when its officials timely responded to complaints and perform an internal investigation by interviewing the involved parties despite those efforts ultimately being ineffective at remedying the harassment… an official decision by (school officials) not to remedy the violation amounts to deliberate indifference.” The case was dismissed because, “the evidence … does not present a genuine issue of material fact as to (school official’s) handling of (the) assault … There is no evidence that school administrators had knowledge of (the assailant’s) conduct before (the reports of the behavior) … When they learned of the assault, school administrators immediately investigated, followed established disciplinary procedures, and disciplined (the assailant).” Mary Doe v. City of Madison Board of Education
— In Georgia, the legislature is proposing a school safety policy that will require schools “to implement plans for assessing students’ behavior for the risk of threats or violence, but it no longer directs those schools to work with so-called threat management teams. House Bill 268 also will require “schools to draft detailed maps of their facilities to help first responders navigate buildings in an emergency; share disciplinary records of transfer students within five days; and hire behavioral specialists tasked with coordinating intervention and treatment methods for students with mental health issues.”
— In Colorado, officials in the Denver Public Schools are delaying the plan to install an upgrade to increase security “after a student shot two administrators at Denver’s East High School” in 2023.” The plan, to install “a secure vestibule just inside” the school entrance triggered disagreement by some in the community. School officials will wait “to allow for valuable time to better engage (the) community.”
— In Virginia, the Charlottesville City School Board is returning police officers to its schools. Removed five years ago, the shift comes as a result of the belief that “(o)ne challenge school administrators have observed over the years is that without police in schools, educators are often forced to manage responsibilities typically handled by law enforcement … Schools end up relying on whichever officer is available that day, instead of having officers they’ve built relationships with.”