— In Pennsylvania, the United States District Court denied motions to dismiss a case brought by an administrator who spoke out about the school’s “failure to adopt and/or enforce adequate safety policies related to students bringing weapons and drugs onto school grounds.” The court concluded that “a jury will have to resolve the dispute” about whether the school district “retaliated against him for filing a lawsuit by transferring him from a position as an Assistant Principal at a middle school to a position as an Assistant Principal at an elementary school.” The administrator spoke “as a citizen on matters of public interest” and not as an employee when he told school resource officers, city police, parents, journalists, and other teachers and administrators about the unsafe conditions at his school. As to the law, the court noted that “as of at least 1982,” retaliatory transfers were illegal because, “retaliatory transfers could deter a person of ordinary firmness from exercising his constitutional rights.” LiCausi v. Allentown School District
— In New York, the Pine Bush Central School District has published for comment and criticism from the community the “proposed intermunicipal agreements with the Town of Wallkill and the Town of Crawford for the provision of school resource officers.”
— In Tennessee, the Nashville Police Department has no plans to apply for $5.25 million in new funding available from the state to place school resource officers in each Nashville elementary school, saying the agency does not have capacity to staff the 70 public schools. The department does plan to apply for state grant funding to support its existing positions at middle and high schools.
— In Oregon, the Beaverton school board unanimously approved an agreement between the city and the school district to staff police in schools. With modifications, the agreement will change the designation of the police from “school resource officer” to “youth services officer,” and outline specific training required of the officers. “In 2021, the Beaverton School District authorized a $156,000 contract with local consultant … to review the district’s school resource officer program. The 121-page report found that … 71% of parents and 66% of staff supported the presence of police in schools.”