— In New York, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a student who alleged that the school failed to notify law enforcement and other appropriate local agencies of sexual abuse by a teacher. The court ruled that the lower court properly refused to dismiss the case because of the actions of school officials who acknowledged the student’s complaints against the teacher, investigated the claims, and still failed to report as required by law. BL Doe 4 v. Fleming
— In New York, the New York City Schools Chancellor is implementing new policies in reaction to data that 120,000 families have left the NYC public school system over the past five years. The Chancellor declared that the district had “broken the trust for our families. We gotta build that trust back,” emphasizing “completely dysfunctional” results and “dismal proficiency rates for black and brown students.” One policy shift is to place more emphasis on school safety, rehiring over 1,000 school safety officers to deal with a dramatic increase in weapons brought to class.
— In Virginia, the Virginia House of Delegates agreed to a Senate amendment on school safety legislation. House Bill 4 would require schools to report misdemeanor sexual battery, stalking and oral threats to school personnel and threats against the school. Prior law gave schools discretion in reporting misdemeanor offenses. As amended, educators retain discretion in reporting misdemeanor threats from special needs students.
— In Nebraska, the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center is partnering with Boys Town to evaluate and expand the Safe2HelpNE school reporting system. Safe2HelpNE is a centralized reporting system for students, teachers and others to report school safety concerns. The Safe2HelpNE reports is administered by Boys Town, who communicate with a school’s threat assessment team for validation and response. The goal of Safe2HelpNE is de-escalating crises, stopping threats before action and minimizing interaction with law enforcement.