— In Iowa, the United States District Court refused to issue an injunction requested by parents who oppose the policies of the Linn-Mar Community School District regarding the treatment of transgender and gender-nonconforming students. The parents argued that the policies, which include providing gender identity supports, record confidentiality, and name and pronoun acknowledgement, would deny their constitutional rights to child-rearing and their First Amendment rights to free speech. The court disagreed, finding that an injunction would “block students from any protection from harassment and bullying on the basis of gender identity and would prevent the school from disciplining such harassment and bullying,” as it is required to do under current state and federal civil rights laws. Parents Defending Education v Linn-Mar Community School District
— In West Virginia, the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security is beginning to implement the West Virginia School Safety Initiative. The funded program is designed to provide research-based resources for schools to create uniform crisis prevention and response protocols. The School Safety Initiative is organized into three broad categories: detection and prevention, response during a crisis, and post-crisis response.
— In Arkansas, the legislature approved a $50 million grant program during a special session to address school safety. The Arkansas School Safety Commission will issue a report, containing policy priorities that school districts will use when making requests for funding. So far, the commission has identified five issues: mental health and prevention; law enforcement and security; audits, emergency operations plans and drills; physical security; and intelligence and communication.
— In Virginia, a new grant is providing Greene County Public Schools with three new school resource officers. The superintendent says, “our resource officers are incredibly helpful.” Currently, only three schools in the district have school resource officers. The grant will provide SROs for the remaining schools.