— In Louisiana, the Court of Appeal of Louisiana affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by parents of a child who fell on the playground during recess and broke his leg. The court agreed that educators “owe a duty of reasonable supervision over students. The supervision required is reasonable, competent supervision appropriate to the age of the children and the attendant circumstances.” But the court ruled that the parents’ allegation that educators were negligent in their supervision of students during recess must fail because the injury to their child “was neither foreseeable nor preventable absent constant supervision….(and) constant supervision of all students is not possible nor required for educators to discharge their duty to provide adequate supervision.” Hernandez v Livingston Parish School Board
— In California, officials in the Shasta County School District are increasing safety this upcoming school year in the light of the Uvalde, Texas incident. Working closely with local law enforcement, educators are looking to improve perimeter safety and threat assessments. They plan to install a new text notification system and bring juvenile probation officers on campus.
— In Texas, as schools begin the fall semester, superintendents say they haven’t seen the $100 million in funding for school safety promised by the state. Half of the funding is earmarked for providing bullet-resistant shields. Another portion is designated for silent panic alert technology, while smaller portions are to go toward increasing mental health resources for students.
— In Michigan, the Office of School Safety is reporting that more students reached out to a confidential tip line in 2021 to report threats, violent behavior or mental health crises. Up 67% from 2020, the five main categories were “Planned School Attack,” Threats, Bullying, Suicides threats, and “Other” (e.g., anxiety, stress, depression, harassment).