— In Louisiana, the Court of Appeal of Louisiana dismissed the liability lawsuit brought by parents of a student who experienced an asthma attack during class. The student suffered an hypoxic ischemic brain injury resulting in permanent disability. The court held that while the law imposes a duty on schools of reasonable competent supervision, the duty arises only when the school has actual custody of the students entrusted to its care. The court ruled that the duty of the school to the student ended when she was placed in care and custody of aunt, who had been authorized by parents to care for her. Raymond v. Iberia Parish School Board
— In Utah, the Davis School District has agreed to implement new systems for identifying and responding to discrimination complaints after the U.S. Department of Justice found that the school district allowed ‘serious and widespread racial harassment’ to victimize its students. The federal findings included the fact that the school district failed to address pervasive and racist harassment of students of color, disciplined students of color more harshly than other students for comparable behavior, and denied the request by students of color students’ to form student groups while allowing other students to do so.
— In California, the Desert Hot Springs City Council approved the city’s 2021-22 school resource officer contract, paving the way for the resumption of the School Resource Officer program. The decision by city officials was informed by a town hall forum with the city’s police department and the Palm Springs Unified School District in which multiple parents said their children were afraid to go to school because of concerns about gangs and bullying. The school district had previously removed the police from its schools.
— In California, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District are implementing a novel school safety plan that will pair school resource officers (SROs) with mental health clinicians. The program will begin in the high schools in an effort to coordinate the law enforcement and mental health services more efficiently.