— In Massachusetts, the United States Court of Appeals upheld the validity of hate speech provisions in a public school dress code. The issue arose when school district officials enforced the dress code to prevent students in two middle schools from wearing shirts which read “There Are Only Two Genders,” then from wearing shirts with words “Only Two” covered by tape on which was written “CENSORED.” The lower court applied the case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, ruling that educators had authority to enforce the dress code “to protect against the invasion of the rights of other students to a safe and secure educational environment.” The appellate court affirmed because of “an extensive body of federal court caselaw that applies Tinker in circumstances — akin to those present in this case — involving passive and silently expressed messages by students that do not target specific students but that assertedly demean other students’ personal characteristics, like race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation.” The rule going forward is that educators, “must have some margin to make high-stakes assessments in conditions of inevitable uncertainty.” The court went on to hold that, “we don’t think a school is required to prove that unless the speech at issue is forbidden serious consequences will in fact ensue… It is enough for the school to present facts which might reasonably lead school officials to forecast substantial disruption.” The appellate court concluded that, “the message in this school context would so negatively affect the psychology of young students with the demeaned gender identities that it would poison the educational atmosphere.” L.M. v. Town of Middleborough
— In North Carolina, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office will no longer provide school resource officers to several public schools in the county. “This step was necessary because the sheriff’s office is short-staffed and had to eliminate certain assignments so they can have enough deputies to cover calls for service.”
— In Texas, the former Uvalde police chief has been indicted over the tactical response to the Robb Elementary shooting in January 2024. The incident left 9 children and two teachers dead. The Chief was indicted by a grand jury on 10 counts of felony child endangerment.
— In Iowa, a new school safety law increases the penalties for swatting. “Swatting” is the act of making a prank call to 911 in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a school. Under SF 2161, “charges for swatting are bumped from a misdemeanor to a Class D Felony, which could come with up to five years in prison. If somebody is injured or even killed as a result of a swatting call, then that becomes a Class C Felony with a prison sentence of up to 10 years.”