— In New York, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division ruled that schools can be liable when they fail to provide “an appropriate level of supervision.” This ruling reversed the lower court that dismissed the lawsuit of a student who was injured when “the tip of his left ring finger was closed in a metal door…for approximately three minutes.” A student lunch monitor, responsible for the opening and closing of the door, was unaware of the injury until “other students banged on the door for approximately three minutes before the student lunch monitor opened the door. At that point, the tip of the infant plaintiff’s finger was severed.” The appellate court held that “(s)chools are under a duty to adequately supervise the students in their charge and they will be held liable for foreseeable injuries proximately related to the absence of adequate supervision.” The appellate court noted that, “(a)lthough there are certain accidents that occur in such a short span of time that even the most intense supervision could not have prevented them and any lack of supervision is not the proximate cause of the injury… this is not one of those cases.” The case could not be dismissed because the schools own statements, “demonstrated that there was no adult monitoring the area where the accident took place and that, at the time of the accident, an assistant principal in the cafeteria was in the midst of calling for more assistance.” Fleming v. City of New York. — In Utah, policymakers are considering legislation that would require “(e)ach public, private and charter school …to have at least one of the following: a school resource officer, a contracted armed security guard or a volunteer school guardian.” The proposal is part of “a list of recommendations …(to) prevent school shootings and protect students if one does occur.” — In Minnesota “(t)he mayor of Windom and the city council sent a strong letter to the Red Rock Ridge alternative school in town recently saying that they do not believe that the school’s decision to remove the SRO is a wise one.” Alternative schools exist to provide educational services to students who are sent there for offenses involving drugs, alcohol, weapons, violence, or order of the court. Apparently, the decision to remove the police was “because of legal advice.” — In Alabama, the Calera City Council is implementing the Calera Accountability and Success through Education (CASE) program in response to “growing issues surrounding youth vaping.” The program seeks to educate students on the dangers of a great number of concerning behaviors including “illegal drug use, bullying, sexting and sex exhortation.”
Disposable Flavored E-Cigarettes Are Wreaking Havoc in American Schools
The e-cigarette epidemic consumes significant school resources, negatively affecting learning, social environments and safety.
Nov. 9, 2023, Stefan Bjes
Over the summer, the e-cigarette and vaping epidemic was a major topic of interest at School Resource Officer Associations' annual conferences. Each day a flood of illegal disposable vapes is infiltrating our schools. These dangerous products, marketed to children in candy flavors and bright colors, are not merely classroom distractions. This new face of the teen vaping epidemic is threatening students’ lives.
This marketing to children has worked. According to data from the CDC, youth usage of disposable e-cigarettes is up 2,188% since 2019. Dr. Brian King, the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, recently stated that “a sizeable portion of youth are still vaping flavored and disposable products.”
Delineated Roles for School Safety Managers: Encouraging More Focused Responsibilities
School safety managers require specialized security and emergency management knowledge. Adding unrelated responsibilities can dilute their expertise and compromise the effectiveness of safety measures.
The safety and security of students and staff within educational institutions, particularly within K-12 schools, have become a paramount concern in recent years. In response, the role of school safety management has gained prominence as staff are tasked with creating and maintaining a safe environment conducive to learning.
Finding people with specialized backgrounds, knowledge, training, and experience in school safety dramatically improves the overall safety process. However, there is an ongoing debate about whether those managing school safety should be burdened with additional responsibilities such as discipline, truancy, athletics, transportation, etc.
Because of the importance of delineated roles for school safety managers, these roles should focus solely on their core school safety responsibilities.
Sonoma Valley students left scared, forced to use buckets for restroom during lockdown
Four Sonoma schools were put on lockdown for almost five hours Thursday due to a threat of a shooting at Sonoma Valley High School.
CHASE HUNTER AND DAN JOHNSON
Nov. 9, 2023, 12:20 p.m.
Students were left confused, scared, and forced to use buckets as bathrooms on Thursday, November 9, after four Sonoma schools were put on lockdown for almost five hours.
Though it ultimately was proved to be unfounded, police said there was a “credible” threat of a shooting at Sonoma Valley High School, Sonoma Police Chief Brandon Cutting said.
Students at Sonoma Valley and Creekside high schools, along with Adele Harrison Middle School and Prestwood Elementary, were released without incident just before 3 p.m. They had been locked inside classrooms since 10 a.m. while law enforcement conducted a sweep of the high school to ensure no weapons were on campus, Cutting said.
Join us for this year's Law Enforcement Summit! We’ll share how Snapchat works to support law enforcement, best practices for communicating with us, key privacy and safety features, a Q&A session, and more.
Dec. 6, 2023 | 10-12 PM PT
The 16th Annual Gangs & Guns Training Symposium covers a variety of topics focused on prevention, intervention, and enforcement strategies that are applicable to all communities. This Symposium is for educators, law enforcement, multidisciplinary teams and community partners working with youth and gang prevention/intervention.
Resources
A comprehensive resource on what lockdown drills are, why they are necessary, and how best to conduct them.
The first book to offer a comprehensive examination of lockdown drills in K–12 schools, "Lockdown Drills" balances research findings with practical applications and implications. Schildkraut and Nickerson, school safety experts with complementary backgrounds in criminology and school psychology, review the historical precedents for lockdown drills, distinguish school lockdowns from other emergency procedures (such as active shooter drills), explain why they are conducted, present evidence-based research on their effectiveness, and describe how to conduct them according to best practices. Proponents of lockdown drills as a life-saving necessity, the authors help to bring much-needed standardization to how these drills are studied and conducted.
Help Center for Safe Schools Understand Your Bullying Prevention Needs
As we shared during Bullying Prevention Month in October, approximately 17% of Pennsylvania students are impacted by bullying. Center for Safe Schools has developed a short (less than two minutes) survey to better understand bullying prevention program needs. There is also an opportunity to request additional bullying prevention resources.
.png?upscale=true&width=586&upscale=true&name=MicrosoftTeams-image%20(7).png)
