— In the District of Columbia, the United States District Court held that parents of a student “have not met their burden to show that there are triable claims under Title IX” arising out of a sexual assault by a fellow student on campus. The assault, published widely by news outlets, involved behavior by the Principal that the court deemed “not just unprofessional but appalling… that resulted in real emotional consequences for a teenaged victim,” was reported to the police and the school in a timely fashion. The school district did investigate the Principal’s conduct, issuing a Notice of Written Reprimand for “endanger(ing) student safety.” The school district also implemented several corrective actions, including Title IX training for school employees, honoring the request of the student victim for a transfer to another school, counseling services for the student, and “the opportunity to participate in the SYEP Latin American Youth Center Georgetown Program in which (the student would) earn 100 community service hours and pay.” The court ruled that, “Title IX authorizes damage awards in private lawsuits against recipients of federal education funding only where they are deliberately indifferent to sexual harassment, of which they have actual knowledge, that is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it can be said to deprive the victims of access to the educational opportunities or benefits provided by the school.” The court concluded that, “the parents cannot show that the District’s response was clearly unreasonable in light of all of the known circumstances given all of the measures it took to investigate the sexual assault and the principal’s remarks, as well as the corrective actions the District took to support Jane Doe and improve its training and resources for students and faculty.” Jane Doe v. District of Columbia
— In the United States Congress, the Stop Overdose in Schools Act was introduced in the House of Representatives “to address the skyrocketing adolescent fentanyl overdose rate.” The provisions of the legislation would create funding “naloxone training and purchasing and increases naloxone access for school resource officers, security personnel, and school nurses.”
— In Ohio, officials in the South-Western City School District in Franklin County, have approved an agreement for police officers in the schools. Educators say that, “(s)chool Resource Officers (SRO’s) continue to be an invaluable resource to students and staff in our four high schools…When we are able to integrate law enforcement partners into our high school day, it helps to build positive connections with students they can rely on for life. Whether it be an emergency or sharing a success with an SRO at lunch, this vital school-community partnership helps students better know a friendly face in their community they can go to for support.”
— In Louisiana, officials in the Union Parish Schools are implementing additional safety measures for school-sponsored events after gun incidents. “At our sporting events, they implemented the clear bag policy and the potential of being searched either through metal detections or pat-downs. Our school-level administrators and school resource officer’s team have started meeting the week of an event to create a security operations plan that’s specific to that event.”