— In Wisconsin, the Court of Appeals of Wisconsin rejected the claim of a student that he was “bored with being stuck in school suspension all day” so he created a hit list and a plan. The list “identified multiple first names” and various other details. The appellate court affirmed the adjudication, ruling that the written notes constituted “a “true threat” for purposes of the First Amendment.” The appellate court agreed with the lower court that after the U.S. Supreme Court case of Counterman v. Colorado, the elements of a true threat include (1) a threat to “cause the death of or bodily harm to any person or to a person’s property;” (2) creates “an unreasonable and substantial risk of causing panic or fear” given its content; and (3) “consciously disregardes a substantial risk that the communications would be viewed as threatening violence.” The appellate court explained that “the existence of a threat depends not on the mental state of the author, but on what the statement conveys to the person on the other end.” Therefore, the court affirmed the adjudication, noting that “there is also no question that a reasonable listener would construe these as being a serious expression of intent to do harm. (The student) was serving an in-school suspension at the time these notes were drafted and discovered. In today’s society, where mass shootings and gun violence are far too common—particularly in our schools—a note stating it is a “hit list” identifying the names of students currently attending the school and known to the writer would certainly cause grave concern, particularly when discovered in the school itself.” State of Wisconsin v. I.T.S.
— In the District of Columbia (D.C.) officials “have launched a new School Safety Office to coordinate safety supports across District schools.” According to the launch announcement it is “the District’s first centralized hub for coordinating school safety supports across DC Public Schools (DCPS), Public Charter schools, private and parochial schools.” The School Safety Office will bring together “agencies from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice (DMPSJ) and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) to help schools prevent crises, respond more effectively when concerns arise, and connect students and families to support before issues escalate.”
— In Arkansas, the company Campus Guardian Angel, presented their drones to hundreds of school resource officers and administrators at the 22nd annual Arkansas Safe Schools Conference in “their efforts to build non-lethal drones that could be on the frontlines of school shooting threats.”
— In Colorado, a public charter school in Douglas County “will be the first in Colorado to install a drone active shooter suppression system.” Officials say that the campus will “use drones to protect students from active threats.” According to their policy the drones will “launch within seconds of a confirmed threat. They’re flown remotely and give responders a live look. They can even spray pepper gel or fly at and pummel an attacker.”