— In Michigan, the United States District Court upheld the authority of a school official to have “students take off…sweatshirts because the official interpreted the phrase as having a profane meaning.” The students wore shirts that displayed the message “Let’s Go Brandon.” In the context of the sporting event from which the phrase was taken, both the students and the school official “understood that the phrase referenced the profane chant at the NASCAR event…“F*** Joe Biden.” The court ruled that “speech that is vulgar or profane is not entitled to absolute constitutional protection.” The court concluded that school officials had “established that a reasonable interpretation of the phrase Let’s Go Brandon is that it conveys a profane and vulgar message with reference to President Joe Biden.” Therefore, “if schools can prohibit students from wearing apparel that contains profanity, schools can also prohibit students from wearing apparel that can reasonably be interpreted as profane.” D.A. v. Tri County Area Schools
— In Pennsylvania, the Boyertown Area School District is announcing its decisions to allocate a $525,607 school safety grant. The grant, the award by of the School Safety and Security Committee, will earmark “just under $45,000 to fund equipment that will further enhance security monitoring systems,” “$297,000 will be used to fund two police officers,” and “$182,000 is to be used for school mental health programming for students.”
— In Florida, St. Lucie Public School officials are implementing “higher security measures for football games.” “The changes included random metal detector scans, banning large backpacks and not allowing entry after the first half of the game.” The changes are in response to a gun-related incident that disrupted a high school football game last month.
— In North Carolina, Nash County Schools “will begin selecting elementary school students at random to walk through metal detectors.” Officials said that “administrators will also begin randomly screening elementary students with handheld wands.” “The announcement said that the random screenings will be done to keep the schools free of weapons.”