— In Kentucky, the Supreme Court of Kentucky applied sovereign immunity from liability to a county board of education for allegations of assault and battery while its employees were intervening and separating students who were fighting in a hallway. One of the students, who filed the lawsuit, was placed in an administrator’s office, “but sought to get back into the hallway to continue the fight,” forcing staff members and the administrator to physically restrain him on the floor. Reversing the lower court and dismissing the case as to the county school board, the court held that “a County Board of Education is an arm of state government, and as such enjoys immunity against liability and tort.” However, the court refused to dismiss the case as to the administrator, whom the student accused of using his foot to “repeatedly kick() him while he was already subdued.” The county school board’s sovereign immunity had “no effect” on the liability of the administrator whom the Court of Appeals of Kentucky below had held was not entitled to qualified immunity because, “the disputed testimony as to whether (the administrator) was merely pushing down on (the student’s) backside (as he contends) or whether (the administrator) repeatedly kicked (the student) — as Mother contends and as (the SRO) alleged in her criminal complaint and deposition testimony– presents a clear question of fact which can only be resolved by a jury.” Jefferson County Public Schools v. Tudor
— In Virginia, the City of Alexandria, which just a few years ago removed funding for School Resource Officers after Black Lives Matter protests and calls to defund the police, is being asked by the Alexandria School Board to keep school resource officers in public schools. The request comes after newly released data on school safety reveals “concerning” numbers on school safety. The data show “of the 188 incidents… 78 of them took place at Alexandria City high school campuses, and 71 incidents at middle schools with a total of 74 calls to the Alexandria Police Department.” This is only a slight decrease from the 194 incidents in 2022. “The board voted unanimously … to add more help by moving forward with several recommendations including funding for school resource officers.”
— In Washington State, the Seattle School Board, which suspended its school resource officer program in 2020, is responding to campus violence, a deadly shooting at a high school in 2022, and student walkouts by creating “community action teams” to conduct safety reviews of its campuses. “The measures comes as some officials have called for the return of Seattle Police school resource officers to Seattle’s public school campuses.” The team will consist of school officials, the Seattle Police Department, City of Seattle, and community groups and partners that provide enrichment opportunities before and after school.
— In Georgia, the DeKalb County Board of Education approved the $3.9 million purchase of a crisis alert system for all of its schools. Using, Centegix crisis alert badges, school officials can press a button “in the event of an emergency — anything from a medical event or a fight to an intruder on campus. Administrators and first responders will be immediately notified. The badges can trigger lockdowns as well as campus wide alerts that include strobe lights, intercom messages and notifications on desktop computers. The system does not need to be connected to Wi-Fi to work.”