— In California, the United States District Court refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by parents of a student whose suicide attempt was in response to school bullying. The court ruled that the bullying incidents involved “a duty to (the student)…and a reasonable jury could conceivably find (the student) was severely bullied for an extended period of time at her school, with the full knowledge of administrators who had the power to discipline (the) bully, offer mental health support to (the student), and change the two students’ class schedules so no longer had class together—and instead these administrators chose to do nothing.” Jane Roe v. Rialto Unified School District et al; No. EDCV19863JGBSPX, 2021 WL 4571994 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 12, 2021)
— Nationally, according to data reported by Everytown for Gun Safety, the school year 2021 has been one of the deadliest for students across the nation as counts of gun violence in schools exceeds figures from prior years. From Aug. 1 to Sept. 15, there have been 30 instances of gunfire on school grounds, killing five and wounding 23.
— In Virginia, parents, city council members, and the school superintendent of the Alexandria City schools are pushing to restore the school resource officer program. The city council ended the school resource officer program in 2020, reallocating the funds to student mental health programs. So far this school year, there have been numerous fights, two gun incidents, including a student arrested with a gun at a high school.
— In Tennessee, school officials in Memphis are planning to replace their school resource officer agreement with the Memphis Police with the creation of a district-based law enforcement team of school resource officers.