— In West Virginia, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, reversed and reinstated a lawsuit brought by a student whose claims of bullying were dismiss by the lower courts. The lower courts granted the motion of the school board to dismiss for failure to state a claim. The Supreme Court, reversed, holding that the board was not entitled to immunity from the allegations of the student that educators were aware he was severely bullied by his classmates, but took no action to stop it. “(A) person does not generally owe a duty to protect another from the willful, malicious acts of a third party, but a duty may arise when the person’s affirmative actions or omissions have exposed another to a foreseeable high risk of harm from the intentional misconduct… (the Principal) owed (the student) a duty of protection and/or supervision …because it was or should have been foreseeable to him that his affirmative inaction would expose (the student) to the high risk of harm posed by the intentional misconduct of school bullies.” Jones v. Logan County Board of Education
— In Virginia, an advisory group urged the Alexandria School Board to permanently deploy school resource officers in its schools. The City of Alexandria stopped funding the SRO program in 2020 after Black Lives Matter protests and calls to defund the police. The School Law Enforcement Partnership, made up of community members, police officers, students and teachers, presented a 38 page Report to the Board supporting its belief that “SROs alone won’t solve safety concerns – but they belong in the mix.”
— In Florida, officials in the Flagler County School District are considering two proposals to arm its employees to help keep students safe. The first option would involve hiring “a civilian guardian force for just that purpose.” The second option would involve determining if any current employees “would be willing to volunteer to be armed on campus and respond in a crisis, in addition to their official job duties.” The Board is sending out surveys to all employees. — In Pennsylvania, the Altoona Area School Board approved AR-15 semi-automatic patrol rifles for “carry, deployment and use” by school resource officers. “Officers will not be walking around hallways or around campuses,” with the guns. The Board believes that the police should have access to them, “so that if there is a situation, heaven forbid, they will have access to what they need equipment-wise to deal with it.” School shooters at Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Sandy Hook used AR-15s.