Safety Law News for March 7, 2024

— In Kentucky, the Court of Appeals of Kentucky affirmed the application of qualified immunity in a case involving a student who while “in his fifth-period civics class, drank an alcoholic beverage from a water bottle” and when being taken to the administrative office attempted to leave campus, causing the SRO to take the student down to the floor in a restraint hold.  The appellate court noted that dismissal of the case base upon  qualified immunity was appropriate because, “(p)roviding a safe school environment is “a general and continuing supervisory duty … which depends upon constantly changing circumstances.”  In this case “two breathalyzer tests…showed a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.126% and the second a BAC of 0.132%. Both exceeded the minimum standard for intoxication.”  Furthermore, “school officials reasonably believed they could not allow (the student) to leave the school while intoxicated.”  The appellate court also applied the state policy that “(p)hysical restraint may only be implemented in a public school or educational program if … the student’s behavior poses an imminent danger of physical harm to self or others.”  Carpenter v. Goodall

— In Colorado, officials in Spring Boat Springs are concerned about dangerous driving during school pickup and drop-off of children at school. They are issuing tickets for moving traffic violations. “(P)eople are rolling through the stop signs. They’re not stopping fully at the stop sign. Also, they need to listen to the crossing guards.”

— In Iowa, the legislature is “proposing a $3 million grant program schools could use to pay for firearms and training for their staff.”  House Study Bill 692, would create a grant program that “schools could use to purchase guns, add infrastructure, pay for training and provide stipends to staff who participate in training to receive a permit to carry weapons on school grounds.”

— In Texas, the Friendswood ISD trustees have approved a school safety policy providing multiple armed and school resource officers for all its schools. The policy is required “to meet the requirements for House Bill 3, which, among a number of safety requirements, calls for districts to have armed officers at all campuses during school hours.”