— In Maryland, the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland affirmed the dismissal of a negligence action brought by parents against teachers and administrators at their daughter’s middle school for injuries she received from fellow students. The court found that any negligence by school officials in response to the physical and verbal altercations were entitled to statutory immunity under the Paul D. Coverdell Teacher Protection Act of 2001. It was significant that there was “an absence of evidence to support the allegations that the (educators) failed to adequately respond to, investigate, and prevent reasonably foreseeable harm…(and that) the evidence show(ed) that the (school officials) responded and took action.” Gambrill v. Board of Education of Dorchester County
— In Indiana, most local school districts will use money from an Indiana Department of Homeland Security school safety grant to bolster their school resource officer programs. The awards, which are for fiscal year 2022, requires school districts with more than 1,000 students to match the amount of money they received dollar-for-dollar.
— In California, after the Aug. 31 death of a student on a high school campus, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District board swiftly voted to reinstate student resource officers on campuses and embark on a new pilot program pairing them with mental health clinicians in an attempt to put community safety concerns.
— In Missouri, officials in Washington City are implementing a body camera program in the schools. Each school resource officer will receive training in its use. The body cameras archive video footage digitally on the cloud. The new cameras are also interoperable, meaning they interact with one another to allow officers to see footage from different cameras that were recording at the same time.