— In Washington State, the Court of Appeals of Washington reversed the lower court and reinstated the lawsuit of a student who was indefinitely suspended from high school for gang-related activity on campus. The appellate court held that the educators could not indefinitely suspend the student informally because of a provision of the state education code governing procedures for short-term suspensions. The appellate court held that this invalid form of school discipline called “blue-slipping” – when schools adopt informal procedures to govern suspensions – “effectively expell(ed) him from school” while ignoring state policy and longstanding rules. The court rejected the defense of the school that campus safety concerns justified their decision. “A school district’s policy cannot conflict with state statutes.” M.G. v. Yakima School District No. 7
— In Michigan, officials in East Lansing will hire three unarmed security officers to patrol its high school, and are seriously considering hiring a police officer to work as a school resource officer following recent violent acts at the high school, the shooting on the campus of near-by Michigan State University and a community survey in which 72% of “students, staff, community members and others… supported hiring a school resource officer.”
— In Alabama, officials in the Jefferson County School District are receiving Narcan kits. Data show that fentanyl is increasingly showing up in recreational drugs and students are not always aware that they’re getting drugs laced with fentanyl. Across the state, schools are adding Narcan on campuses and training school personnel. “According to the Alabama Department of Education, 75% of Alabama public high schools stock Narcan while 53% of middle schools have it on campus and 32% of elementary schools keep Narcan if needed.”
— In North Carolina, Stanly County Schools will soon administer safety checks in the high schools and middle schools using metal detectors. The security checks will be random. Officials say that “we (will) not maintain an advanced calendar for the checks nor (will) we share any times for security reasons.”