— In New York, the United States Court of Appeals, held that a school bus driver’s ongoing debate with his colleagues about the best way to report maintenance issues involving school buses involved internal communications rather than citizen speech, and thus his statements were not protected by First Amendment. The court upheld the termination of his employment, stating that, “reporting policies, even when discussed in the context of union negotiations, generally fall into the category of workplace and union operations, which we have declined to treat as matters of public concern.” The bus driver preferred a daily reporting procedure until safety issues were corrected. The mechanics and other officials favored the existing procedure that required safety issues to be reported one time, a practice that the bus driver believed permitted unsafe buses to be out on the road. Shara v. Maine-Endwell Central School District
— In Wisconsin, the Wauwatosa School Board reaffirmed its commitment to its school resource officers after a rise of violent incidents, mainly at after school activities. In a note to the parents school officials gave notice that “given the intensity and frequency of recent incidents, we will immediately implement the most significant penalties available to us…for students that choose to engage in fights.”
— In Nebraska, officials in the Beatrice Public Schools are conducting training on what parents should do during school emergencies. The training focused on emergencies such as school shootings, providing the parents with a summary of the problems schools experienced in incidents in other states. Topics included communication, safety drills, as well as answering parents’ questions on school crisis response policies.
— In Kentucky, public schools districts are experiencing difficulty complying with the requirement to deploy a police officer on each campus. The mandate, enacted in 2022, provides no funding. Schools are having difficulty finding, paying, and training officers in sufficient number to comply with the mandate. The Kentucky State School Security Marshal is helping educators find school resource officers.