– In Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania reversed the trial court’s decision to allow a school district to remove an employee after he went public with criticism of how educators were falling down on their legal obligations to special needs students. The appellate court agreed with the former an emotional support supervisor that the “causation evidence…(of) the School District’s wrongdoings and its retaliatory employment acts…is enough to get the question of causation to a jury.” The appellate court found that the employee “did not have a history of unsatisfactory work performance prior to making his reports.” And the appellate court found that he was dismissed, “days after his most recent report of wrongdoing.” The court list the following failures as “(t)he facts of record, as developed in discovery.” (1) educators had not hired the social workers and mental health professionals needed to provide the counseling services set forth in the IEPs of special education students; (2) did not provide special education students the necessary materials and services; (3) did not properly train the special education and emotional support teachers; (4) did not repair the time-out room located in one school that had exposed electrical outlets and a sharp object until a student suffered an injury; (5) submitted incomplete IEPs to the Pennsylvania Department of Education; (6) requested reimbursement for therapy services when no therapist were available to students; (7) permitted a student who had sexually assaulted other students to attend classes without notification to parents and teachers. Carpenter v. William Penn School District
— In Virginia, a new agreement was created to return police to the Alexandria City Public Schools. The Alexandria City Public Schools and the Alexandria Police Department say that, “a lot of the MOU remains unchanged (from its earlier version), …it places school resource officers (SROs) at the city’s high school and middle schools.” “The areas where substantial updates and additions were added include the addition of the use of shared technology resources section, which speaks to the ways in which this partnership may transcend into the joint use of technology resources to support safety.” SROs were defunded by the City Council last year.
— In Tennessee, teachers are going on record to share their experiences on campus safety after a campus shooting that left three adults and three 9-year-olds dead. One teacher says, “I’ve gone from scared and terrified, to … so mad that I could kinda just punch anybody.” Another teacher says, “nothing has changed…. the profession won’t protect me…It’s the guns. It’s always been the guns..” A third teacher says, “(I)t’s just concerning to me that the priorities of those in power don’t seem to have educators’ best interest at heart. It seems like there’s a political agenda that puts other priorities in front of the safety of children.”
— In Ohio, officials in the Logan-Hocking School District are seeking assistance from a Texas-based nonprofit to improve campus safety and deter bullying after the suicide of a 15-year-old boy who attended Logan High School. The Uvalde Foundation for Kids will be taking an independent look at educators policies on student bullying.