• In Missouri, the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld the search of a student’s backpack by school officials. A firearm was found in his backpack during a routine search where all students are required to walk through a metal detector and have their bags hand-searched by either a school safety officer or a teacher. The court ruled that the search of the backpack was reasonable given the student’s lessened expectation of privacy in the public school setting and the “extremely compelling” interest of educators to ensure safety in public schools. (Interest of L.E.)
• In Florida, the Broward County School District approved a $3.4 million school security contract with Broward Sheriff’s Office that will place at least one armed school resource officer in every school. The policy will bring the school district into compliance with state law. The agreement also raises the wages of the officers from $46,000 to $54,700.
• In Indiana, many public schools are not using the hand-held metal detectors provided by the governor’s office in the 2018-19 budget. Schools do not wish to search all students upon entry to the school. They are content to rely on trained administrators and school resource officers for reasonable suspicion searches of individual students.
• In Texas, officials for the Manor ISD are creating a school-run police department consisting of 10 officers and one police chief. The startup cost will be around $700,000. The goal is to save money, create more safety positions, and “have a police force of employees that work for the district.”