- In Washington D.C., the U.S. Department of Education and the Trump Administration has decided to discontinue the prior policy of investigating civil rights complaints from transgender students barred from school bathrooms that match their gender identity.
- In Maryland, the United States Court of Appeals, ruled that a school resource officer’s decision to handcuff a calm, compliant elementary school student for fighting with another student three days earlier constituted an excessive use of force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. [E.W. by and through T.W. v. Dolgos]
- In Indiana, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that a school teacher did not violate the rights of a student by spanking or smacking the student’s butt to induce the student to sit back down in her seat in an effort to manage and maintain order over her classroom. The court reasoned that Indiana’s Education Code had authorized the use of moderate corporal punishment by teachers in schools. [Fort Wayne Community Schools v. Haney].
- In Pennsylvania, following the thwarted attempt of a school shooting in Uniontown School District last month, local superintendents in Fayette County have stressed that the most important tool to ensure student safety is communication.