— In Arizona, the Court of Appeals of Arizona held that a special relationship existed between the school district and a middle-school student who was assaulted by another student on campus. The court refused to dismiss a case because, “the special relationship between a school and its students imposes an affirmative duty on schools to protect students from unreasonable risks of harm when they are at school or under its control.” Evidence showed that the district was aware of many disciplinary incidents at the school, knew that security guards were assigned to the school, but knew that the guards were not present on campus at the time of the assault. Hale v. Window Rock Unified School District
— In Kentucky, the passage of House Bill 63, requiring a school resource officer in every school, is placing local school districts in crisis. The mandate is unfunded. Schools are pondering how to pay for the officers.
— In Colorado, an amendment has been submitted to the state budget to increase the amount of an annual grant program created last year to improve school bus safety. Under the provisions of SB 22-085, funding would increase for a parental notification app to alert when a school bus is arriving or is late to pick up students. In addition the legislation provides for silent alarms and crash detectors on school buses to alert first responders to its exact location.
— In Maryland, the Baltimore City Public Schools has cut ties with one of its bus contractors over safety concerns. The district said that the contractor failed to meet several standards that would protect student safety, including insuring that buses are state approved and registered, drivers certified, and that buses consistently arrive and pick up on time.