— In Mississippi, the Supreme Court of Mississippi, affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the family “of a school resource officer, who was struck and killed by a vehicle while directing traffic in course of his employment.” The incident involved “a motorist, who was driving northbound and over the posted speed limit, who collided with the back of (the officer’s) car, which had been parked in the roadway to help direct traffic” at the end of the school day. The job description included this daily task. The collision resulted in (the officer) being struck by his vehicle and severely injured.” He “was taken to a hospital, where he died a few days later.” The family filed a negligence claim against the state, “alleging that it had failed to maintain, inspect, and repair the traffic signal and that it had failed to warn of a dangerous condition.” The appellate court affirmed the dismissal because of the long-standing rule of law that work-related injuries covered by workers compensation preempt negligence lawsuits. This form of immunity “applies to all state government entities … if the employee … of any state governmental entity … is injured in the course and scope of his employment and the state governmental entity for which the injured employee worked at the time of the injury provides worker’s compensation benefits for the injury.” The court reasoned that it was not unconstitutional for the legislature to make the workers’ compensation act the exclusive remedy of injured workers. Neither the Remedy Clause of State Constitution nor the Equal Protection Clause canceled the state policy. The court opined that “(the family is) only entitled to the remedy afforded to (the officer) if he had survived. Since (state law) provides him no remedy, so it also prevents a suit by his heirs.” Patterson v. State ex rel. Fitch
— In North Carolina, “Wake County high schoolers will be asked their opinions on school safety in a survey set for next month. The survey … will ask students about how schools can be safer, whether they feel safe now, and whether they’re likely to report concerns using existing reporting channels, such as the Say Something reporting app.”
— In Ohio, the legislature has earmarked “$9 million in grants for safety-related projects for the 2026-2027 academic year.” The funds may be used for “certification training for school resource officers, active-shooter response training or equipment…(and) training to identify and assist students with mental health issues.”
— In North Carolina, “every SRO in Nash County will have access to a breaching shotgun, a weapon designed to break through locks and reach students quickly in an emergency.” “The addition of breaching shotguns is part of a broader push in Nash County to give school resource officers more tools to protect students. All SROs in the district were recently trained on ballistic shields as well.”