— In Ohio, the United States District Court, dismissed the lawsuit of two students who claimed that school searches violated their Fourth Amendment rights. School officials enforced a school rule that suspended students for ten days for, “coming to school with the smell of marijuana on his/her breath/person.” The court held that the marijuana policy of the school – that resulted in the search of their backpack, pockets, pant legs, shoes and socks – was consistent with school authority announced in the case of New Jersey v. T. L. O., “permissible in scope when the measures adopted are reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction.” The court added that, “it is beyond genuine dispute that by smelling strongly of marijuana while on school grounds, (the students) violated the School District’s rules… Normally, the smell of marijuana establishes probable cause to search for evidence of that drug… Considering the scent here would meet that heightened standard, (the) limited search …even if that search did not reveal marijuana—was reasonably related to … the School District’s goal of eliminating contraband from …(the) (s)chool.” Stanford v. Northmont City School District
— Nationally, the National Association of School Resource Officers is offering a new program to prevent violence in schools. The new initiative – called Project Unite – is designed to create a safer campus by training administrators, law enforcement, and local stakeholders to revise their school safety plans around strategies that deal with students in a more wholistic manner.
— In South Dakota, law enforcement officials in Pennington County and Meade County are cross-deputizing the school resource officers. The Rapid City Area School District is spread across both counties. Cross-deputizing the officers eliminates the prior practice of “wait(ing) for a county deputy to take some action in certain situations.”
— In Florida, officials in Lee County are expanding the school threat assessment team. The team “constantly monitors and scrubs social media, and local and national intelligence reports… to determine if a student poses a threat and intervene immediately before violence takes place.” The team also works with parents and guardians to “find what resources are available in the community, (including) …diversion programs.” The new team includes one captain, two sergeants, four detectives, two analysts, a licensed social worker, and three mental health focused professionals.