— In Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia denied immunity for school officials after a ten year old student, getting off his school bus, was hit by a car as he was crossing the street. The student alleged negligence on the part of the school board, claiming that the school board was “directly liable because they negligently failed to use reasonable care in the selection of bus drop off sites and procedures to keep students safe.” Citing the changes in the underlying state laws on immunity, the appellate court reversed the lower court. State law now “abrogates sovereign immunity for school boards when they directly own and operate school buses” or are under contract with any person to provide bus services. Sending the case back to trial, the appellate court ruled that “whether the accident occurred as part of using the school bus is a fact-intensive inquiry.” The appellate court also noted that “the mere fact that (the school board) may be the insured under a policy involving the school bus in question does not answer the next question of whether (the student’s) injury was due to the “ownership, maintenance, or use or operation of a vehicle.” Hamilton v. Jackson
— In Kentucky, the Kentucky Office of the State Schools Security “released its yearly report indicating which schools across Kentucky are following statutory safety standards that were passed in 2022” in House Bill 63. The Report documents a 99.81% compliance rate.” Included in the policy is the requirement that every public school employ a school resource officer.
— In Washington D.C., the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has released its 2023 School Crime and Safety Report. “The report highlights findings from 23 indicators on various school crime and safety topics.” One key finding is that “schools reported higher incident rates of firearm possessions.” Also, “public school students from kindergarten to 12th grade were reported to have possessed firearms at schools (at a rate) higher than in any other school year over the previous decade.”
— In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Public Schools are “still working on plan for school resource officers 9 months after (a) state deadline.” State policymakers increased sales taxes as part of an agreement for school officials to “have 25 school resource officers in place by January 1 (2024).” The campus safety issue in Milwaukee is a big deal. Data show that “from August 2022 to December 2022, there were almost 1,700 calls for police to MPS schools. And those calls aren’t slowing down.”