— In Missouri, the Federal District Court ruled that school officials did not violate the First Amendment rights of a student by suspending her from the volleyball team. The suspension followed evidence that the student recorded a video of herself drinking alcohol and shared the video with a Snapchat group. The court ruled that the suspension was for the misconduct of the student not the speech. In so doing, the court distinguished this valid school discipline from the Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., where the U.S. Supreme Court held that a student’s profanity towards cheerleading in the Snapchat instant messaging app was protected speech. Therefore, in this case the school could properly consider the messages as evidence of the student’s illegal conduct. Cheadle v. North Platte R-1 School District
— In California, officials from the Palm Springs Unified School District approved negotiations that would allow for school resource officers to return to campus. The return of the officers still depends on the approval of each city council and final approval from the Palm Springs School Board.
— In Kentucky, a Report by the Kentucky Office of the State School Security Marshal found 57% of Kentucky’s school districts do not have SROs, despite a state law requiring them. The legislation did not provide funding for SROs.
— In Illinois, the U-46 School Board for students in Elgin and the villages of Bartlett, South Elgin and Streamwood is requiring that law enforcement officers be trained on nonviolent crisis intervention techniques and special needs awareness.