— In Tennessee, the United States Court of Appeals ruled that a school is liable under Title IX for its deliberate indifference to threats made against a student after receiving notice from the family. This affirmed the result of a trial arising out of student-on-student harassment that the student suffered before and after her sexual assault. The appellate court held that where the harasser is under the school’s disciplinary authority it will be liable for deliberate indifference. The student successfully showed that (1) the school maintained policy of deliberate indifference to reports of sexual misconduct, (2) the indifference created heightened risk of sexual harassment that was known or obvious, (3) the risk of harassment was in context subject to school’s control, and (4) as result, the student suffered harassment “that was so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it can be said to have deprived plaintiff of access to educational opportunities or benefits provided by school.” The verdict was upheld because, the educators “were both aware of the continuing and severe threats made against (the student) and their disruption to her education. …[T]he school did nothing in response to the bullying and threats against (the student) beyond directing her to the police.” S.C. v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville
— In Florida, Duval County Public Schools records reveal that 510 fights occurred in the 2022-2023 school year on campus or on buses. The district recorded 58 such fights last school year at 14 schools. When compared data from the first 60 days of the 2023-2024 school year the district is on track to see roughly the same number of fights by the end of the year.
— In Michigan, “Michigan State University education experts partnered with the Michigan State Police Office of School Safety to develop a series of six asynchronous courses to improve school safety. The courses are designed for school resource officers and other school officials to use to promote school safety and address mental health.”
— The U.S. Department of Education reports show that during the 2020-2021 school year there were nearly 3,500 referrals to law enforcement and more than 100 arrests of elementary school students. The referrals data represents incidents in which a student is reported to police but not arrested. There were about 29.35 million students enrolled in public elementary schools in 2022. Therefore, referrals would be approximately 0.01206 percent of all elementary students. Arrests would be approximately 0.0003448 percent of all elementary students. According to the data, there were a total of 93 school shootings with casualties at public and private elementary and secondary schools in 2020–21—the highest number since 2000–01. “The year 2020–21 was the first since data collection began in which fewer than half of schools that had shootings were high schools.”