– In Texas, the United States Court of Appeals affirmed the school discipline meted out to a student athlete, who was suspended from the school football team for an Internet posting containing a racially-charged term to a student from a rival high school from an off-campus location following a football game. In support of its affirmance, the appellate court, quoted from the U.S. Supreme Court case of Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. ex rel Levy. involving school punishment for off-campus speech. “(T)here are “three features of off-campus speech” which “diminish the strength of the unique educational characteristics that might call for special First Amendment leeway. These features are: (1) a school, in relation to off-campus speech, will rarely stand in loco parentis; (2) regulations of off-campus speech, when coupled with regulations of on-campus speech, include all the speech a student utters during the full 24-hour day; and (3) the school itself has an interest in protecting a student’s unpopular expression, especially when the expression takes place off campus.” The appellate court acknowledged that school discipline is usually upheld against off-campus student speech directed at the school community. Therefore, qualified immunity was appropriate for the school officials because, “(t)here is no clearly established rule that could have placed (school officials) on notice that disciplining McClelland for his off-campus speech was unconstitutional… a more defined rule will be left for another day.” McClelland v. Katy Indep. Sch. Dist
— In Maryland, state and local officials are looking at ways to more effectively provide mental health training to municipal police officers. Maryland law requires police departments to provide mental health training to their officers. Some county officials prefer to satisfy the mandatory training through an advanced training program known as Crisis Intervention Team, or C.I.T., which brings together law enforcement, health professionals and others when responding to mental health crises.
— In Colorado, the Governor signed into law Senate Bill 23-70, which will require school resource officers to complete ongoing training from the Attorney General’s office on how to better utilize the state-run Safe2Tell service. Safe2Tell is an anonymous tip line for students, parents and members of school communities.
— In Colorado, the Governor signed into Senate Bill 23-241, which creates a new state-level Office of School Safety. The new office will act as a hub for other school-related resources in the state government, with the bill tasking the office with overseeing the School Safety Resource Center and School Access for Emergency Response Grant Program. The Office of School Safety will also administer a new Youth Violence Prevention Grant Program, which will provide grants of up to $100,000 for schools, community organizations and local governments to address youth violence.