— In Maryland, the Appellate Court of Maryland affirmed the judgment of the circuit court finding that a student made “a threat of mass violence in violation of Maryland law.” The case arose “from the opening paragraph of a book that appellant wrote and sent via electronic messaging to two friends. … The opening lines of the 129-page book stated: “I want to shoot up my school. I’ve been preparing for it for the past few months.” The next couple of lines discussed an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle and then stated: “This gun is going to change lives tomorrow.” The student was arrested when “one of the people to whom he sent the book … who had engaged in prior conversations with appellant about appellant’s homicidal ideations regarding a school shooting, called the police.” The lower court ruled that “after observing the witnesses, determining their credibility, and measuring the weight of all of the evidence, appellant’s “words in his book were not jokes, were not jest or just talk, nor were his words protected speech.” The court reasoned that under Maryland law “a threat is not idle or careless talk, exaggeration, or something said in a joking manner. A statement is a threat, if it was made under such circumstances that a reasonable person, hearing or reading the statement, would understand it as a serious expression of an intent to kill, physically injure, or kidnap. Whether a particular statement −− whether a particular communication constitutes a true threat, depends on both its language and its context.” The appellate court affirmed, noting that “because a true threat is not constitutionally protected speech, and it involves … only ‘ordinary principles of logic and common experience’ rather than legal judgment, de novo review by this Court is not necessary. Based on the case law, we hold that the appropriate standard of review to apply in assessing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a finding that appellant made a true threat is the traditional sufficiency of the evidence standard, giving deference to the findings of the circuit court judge as the fact finder.” Andrea Ye v. State of Maryland
— In Florida, officials in Boca Raton are deploying RedSpeed cameras as part of the “expanding its School Zone Safety Program to three additional school zones, bringing the total to six. The new zones serve Calusa Elementary School, Blue Lake Elementary School, and Omni Middle School/Spanish River High School. The cameras are scheduled to become operational Nov. 9, 2026. Each school zone will have a 30-day warning period after its cameras are activated. RedSpeed cameras will record violations only while school zone lights are flashing during arrival and dismissal times.
— In Nebraska, recent official reports and surveys disclose the success of the reforms implemented in the Lincoln Public Schools School Resource Officer Program. “Lincoln Police crime analyst Tricia Todd reported 1,061 calls for service involving LPS schools during the 2025-26 school year, compared with a pre-pandemic annual average of 1,310. Of those calls, 151 resulted in referrals to juvenile authorities, compared with a historical average of 402 — a decrease of approximately 62%. Administrators initiated 58% of calls that resulted in referrals, while law enforcement officers initiated 7%. District officials say the findings indicate the program is succeeding in distinguishing routine school discipline from matters requiring law enforcement involvement. Students who responded to a question about whether their schools were safer because of an SRO’s presence, 92% agreed or strongly agreed.
— In Washington State, officials in the Seattle Public Schools are implementing a policy to cap elementary students’ screen time while more aggressively blocking unapproved AI tools. “Students in grades three through five will face new limits on daily screen time and will no longer have one-to-one access to devices… Kindergarten through second grade students are (limited) to 30 minutes each day … Beginning in January 2027, third through fifth grade students will use devices for no more than 60 minutes per day.”