Safety Law News for November 27, 2017 – School Safety Law Blog

In North Carolina, students in middle school and high school across the North Carolina Piedmont region are addicted to powerful drugs. School resource officers say that they see students getting high in class with their teacher in the room.

In Tennessee, the Grundy County Sheriff and the County Director of Schools are in conflict over law enforcement access to the security cameras on campus. School officials appear to be in confusion about the application of FERPA to law enforcement on campus. The U.S. Department of Education has repeatedly stated that, “[i]mages of students captured on security videotapes that are maintained by the school’s law enforcement unit are not considered education records under FERPA.”

In Texas, the Athens Independent School District has terminated its own school police department. School officials approached the city with the idea of the Athens Police Department implementing a school resource officer program. “The district said they want to get out of the law-enforcement business so that they could focus on the education business.”

In Oregon, the Hillsboro School District is using a new state law to launch its own school police department. According to school officials, forming its own police agency will save the district about $150,000 a year in expenses.