— In New York, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division reversed the dismissal of a case involving a student-on-student assault in which the parents alleged “negligent supervision due to (school’s) failure to protect (the injured student) from the assault.” The lawsuit arose when “(the injured student) was walking toward the cafeteria for lunch when she noticed (the assailant) glaring at her. (The injured student) continued into the cafeteria, at which point she was approached and assaulted by (the assailant), who started punching .. and slamming “(the injured student’s) head into a pillar…(the assailant’s) friend then joined in the attack.” Educators argued for dismissal and the lower court agreed because “the attack was not foreseeable, nor was (the school’s) alleged negligence a proximate cause of E.E.’s injuries.” The appellate court reversed citing the rule of law in which “(s)chools are under a duty to adequately supervise the students in their charge and… Evidence of the foreseeability of a student-perpetrated assault may include prior specific knowledge of the student’s propensity to engage in such conduct.” Liability depends on “whether, under all the circumstances, the chain of events that followed the negligent act or omission was a normal or foreseeable consequence of the situation created by the school’s negligence.” The appellate court ruled that what is important is “(t)he issue is not the speed of the punch, but the circumstances leading up to and surrounding that conduct.” Therefore, reversal was required due to the record that showed that “(the assailant) had a school disciplinary history of 18 incidents…which resulted in numerous detentions and suspensions. Of these 18 incidents, it appears that at least five involved acts of violence…One of the suspensions was for lighting a fellow student’s hair on fire, while another suspension was for her previous attack on (the injured student)…the evidence … was sufficient to raise triable issues of fact. T.E. v. South Glens Falls Central School District
— Nationally, “the U.S. Department of Education is calling on every state, district, and school to adopt policies that guide the use of student personal devices in schools, and today is issuing a new resource.” The resource, Planning Together: A Playbook for Student Personal Device Policies, “offers a model process that education leaders can use to design policies for use of cell phones and other personal devices in schools alongside educators, students, parents, and caregivers.”
— In Maryland, “Harford County Government and Harford County Public Schools announced a partnership on Tuesday to improve security measures and safety in the schools.” This comes after a fatal shooting in an area high school. The focus of the collaboration will be adding “advanced weapons detection systems, enhanced camera systems, door alarms and other security upgrades.” In addition, “the funding includes adding three new school resource officers to work at some of the county’s elementary schools. SRO’s are already working in each of the district’s high schools and middle schools.”
— In Illinois, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security is launching a school safety and prevention program designed to “empower students to take an active role in creating safer school environments.” The program is managed by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and EdVenture Partners. It “challenges high school students to design and implement peer-developed projects, tools, and strategies aimed at preventing targeted violence and hate within their schools and communities, using approaches that they believe will be most effective.”