— In Texas, the Court of Appeals of Texas, ruled that school districts in the state did not have to comply with the executive order of the Governor which prohibited local governmental entities and officials from requiring face coverings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The court acknowledged that the provisions of state law, e.g., The Texas Disaster Act, strengthened the role of the governor in the case of a disaster. But the court ruled that the provisions of the law did not includes the authority to prohibit local governmental entities and officials from implementing COVID-19 mitigation measures that the Governor views as more restrictive than necessary, such as face-covering requirements. Greg Abbott v. La Joya Independent School District
— In Kentucky, House Bill 63 is moving through the legislature to provide incentives for schools to create school resource officer programs. Under the provisions of the legislation, school districts would have authority to create their own campus police departments. The proposal also includes a reporting plan from schools to the Kentucky School Safety Center in Richmond.
— In New York, the Superintendent for the Buffalo Public Schools is implementing plans to improve safety in the wake of violence that has occurred in schools. The provisions of the plan include giving each building in the district its own emergency response plan, the use of metal detectors, and an increase in the number of school resource officers. “(T)he district only has 10 school resource officers. The district’s new safety plan includes hiring 40 school security officers, and interviews have begun.”
— In Kansas, the successful implementation of a school safety plan resulted in the prevention of a crisis. A police affidavit released by the Olathe, Kansas Police Department says that a student at Olathe East High School began shooting after an administrator and school resource officer demanded to search his backpack because of rumors the student had a gun. The student fired five shots toward the school resource before he was shot by the officer and subdued by the assistant principal.