— In Missouri, the Missouri Court of Appeals refused to grant immunity to school teachers and nurses in a lawsuit brought by parents of a special needs child who died as a result of obstruction of her tracheostomy. The court ruled that official immunity would not protect the school officials from liability arising from their failure to comply with the directives set forth in student’s individualized education program. The court ruled that the malpractice was not protected under the Paul D. Coverdell Teacher Protection Act of 2001 because it was not properly included on the face of the educators’ petition to support their motion to dismiss. Kemp v. McReynolds
— In North Carolina, officials in the Wake County Public School District are continuing its school resource officers program after two community surveys revealed support for continuing the program if revisions in the role of the police officers are made. The district’s latest community survey of the program shows that three-quarters of respondents still favor the collaboration.
— In North Carolina, Beaufort County Schools have reorganized their school safety plan around a new partnership with a private security company. Allied Universal Security will provide the district with school resource officers. Its personnel is comprised of sworn and armed law enforcement officers, “dressed as a sworn police officer, uniformed similar to what a state trooper would look like.” The private police force will work before, during, and after the school day ends.
— In New Hampshire, the Senate passed a bill that establishes committees to study the role and scope of authority of school resource officers. Senate Bill 96, which also requires that the memorandum of understanding between a school district and a school resource officer be made public, was sent on to the House of Representatives.