— In Ohio, the Court of Appeals of Ohio, affirmed the lower court ruling that a school was not immune from liability for injuries to students when an experiment in science class caught fire and exploded. The appellate court reasoned that a school is not immune when it “fails to exercise any care toward those to whom a duty of care is owed in circumstances in which there is a great probability that harm will result.” The court concluded that while the lawsuit of the students did not detail precisely how educators acted recklessly or wantonly, it was reasonable and obvious to infer that an experiment involving intense heat and a risk that flammable liquid might catch fire in the presence of open flame. Doe v. Greenville City Schools
— In New York, the teachers’ union in the Rochester City School District are demanding the presence of police in the schools after five teachers were injured breaking up a fight between students. School resource officers were removed from the school district in 2020. The teachers’ union is concerned about an increase in violence on campuses, gang activity, and students carrying weapons.
— In Florida, the District Court of Appeal held that a school was not liable for injuries to a citizen while attending a school-sponsored basketball game. The citizen argued that the school failed to provide adequate security and crowd control. The court held that under Florida law, policy-making and planning are discretionary functions that cannot be the subject of traditional tort liability, (but that) “…decisions or actions implementing policy… do not enjoy sovereign immunity.” Based on this finding, the court held that “the number and placement of supervisory personnel constitutes a discretionary decision protected by sovereign immunity.”
School Board of Broward County v. McCall
— Nationally, inspired by a viral TikTok challenge, students are pilfering and vandalizing items at their schools – damaging bathroom toilets, soap dispensers, science lab microscopes, parking signs and desks. The social networking platform has agreed to remove messages in connection with the trend and redirect related hashtags.