— In North Carolina, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina vacated the adjudication of a juvenile for violating state law that punishes students who “assault on a school employee and assault inflicting serious bodily injury for the same underlying conduct.” The incident arose when the student was fighting “in the hallway while the school’s assistant principal was standing between them…(during which) the assistant principal suffered a concussion and was knocked unconscious.” The facts include the testimony of the police officer on campus who said that, “he had to physically remove (the student) from the assistant principal and the other student and pin her to a nearby wall to deescalate the conflict.” The appellate court ruled that the adjudication applied the law incorrectly. “(North Carolina law) does not authorize her being held responsible for both assault on a school employee and assault inflicting serious bodily injury.” This because of a prefatory clause in the law that, “provides for liability under that provision “unless the conduct is covered under some other provision of law providing greater punishment.” The appellate court held that the phrase ““[u]nless the conduct is covered under some other provision of law providing greater punishment,” reveals an intent by our General Assembly to limit a trial court’s authority to impose punishment for assault on a female when punishment is also imposed for higher class offenses that apply to the same conduct. Here, because Defendant was also convicted and sentenced for assault inflicting serious bodily injury, a felony, (the student) should not be punished for committing an assault on a female.” The appellate court vacated the disposition order and remanded the case a new dispositional hearing. In Re S.C.
— In Utah, legislation has been introduced that would allow armed, trained persons called “school guardians” to respond to emergencies in Utah schools. House Bill 84 “would establish a “guardian program.” In the absence of a school resource officer, or SRO, or security guard, a school employee could volunteer to be an armed guard to respond during an emergency….The guardians would train twice a year inside of the school, and the county sheriff would oversee their duties…Guardians would undergo mental health evaluations and de-escalation training. Their training would also include firearms proficiency.”
— In Tennessee, legislation has been in traduced that would permit schools to hire retired officers and honorably discharged veterans as school resource officers. House Bill 1899 would “relieve SRO staffing issues that some school systems have faced.” Schools “were forced to provide officers with hours of overtime to patrol schools, meaning there were potentially not enough officers available to hire them for those positions full-time.”
— In West Virginia, officials in the Cabell County Schools are utilizing a cyber-security protocol to detect threats of violence against the school or students and staff at the school. Embedded within the county school system’s on-line network, the protocol, “allows us to monitor things that happen within our network, so the devices and connections that our students and teachers use in terms of interaction at school.” Recently, “a student at Cabell-Midland High School is the target of an investigation into an alleged threat of violence…detected (by the protocol).” “The student (was) detained by police.”