— In Ohio, the United States District Court refused to dismiss a liability lawsuit brought by parents whose child suffered from anxiety and panic attacks due to sexual harassment by fellow students. The court upheld claims based on negligence, gross negligence, and Intentional infliction of emotional distress. The court found that, “defendants knew the full extent of the harassment, and the extreme risk of emotional damage to (the victim), but consciously disregarded it when they failed to discipline the boys or take other specific actions to end the harassment.” The court noted that the restorative justice plans of the educators – to have the victim “talk it out” with the boys – was nonsense: “(g)iven that (the victim) could not even pass the boys in a grocery aisle without suffering a panic attack, (the principal’s) suggestion was to effectively induce more emotional distress.” T.W. & K.W. v. Finneytown Local School District
— In Oregon, disciplinary data released by the Salem-Keizer Public School District shows that while suspensions and expulsions have been drastically reduced – through restorative justice reforms – fighting has increased. Expulsions decreased by almost 90%. Suspensions decreased by 55%. Campus disruptions and fighting increased 42%. The school district contends that it expected the increase. The school district voted in 2021 to discontinue its school resource officer program.
— In North Carolina, school officials in Wake County released an executive summary of a report from its School Safety Advocacy Council. Hired by the school board to assess school safety, the Council recommended increased oversight of the school resource officer program, cancelation of student off-campus dining privileges, and a more effective district-wide emergency communications network.
— In Ohio, the Ohio House has passed legislation that changes the law requiring more than 700 hours of training for teachers and staff who want to be armed in schools. The new policy lowers the requirement to 20 hours of gun training. The sponsors of the legislation contend that the change is needed by rural districts with longer response times from law enforcement, and by poor districts that can’t afford school resource officers.