— In Colorado, the Colorado Supreme Court affirmed a student’s adjudication of delinquency for possession of a handgun as second-time juvenile offender and possession of a weapon on school grounds.  The court held that the search of the student conducted on school grounds in accordance with an individualized, weapons-related safety plan by a Behavioral Assessment Team was reasonable under Fourth Amendment.  The appellate court reasoned that because of the nature of the multi-agency threat assessment process, implementation of the safety plan was complete in itself.  “Additional ..read more

— In Washington State, the Supreme Court of Washington affirmed that school officials violated the statutory procedural rights of a student by indefinitely suspending him.  Administrators expelled the high school student on an emergency basis for violating its “gang contract,” e.g., wearing clothing affiliated with a gang.  The student also was cited for fighting another student on campus.  Later, officials “converted (the) emergency expulsion into a long-term suspension.”  The notice of this shift stated, “(d)ue to this situation and the involvement in others, aka victim o ..read more

— In Kentucky, the Court of Appeals of Kentucky affirmed the application of qualified immunity in a case involving a student who while “in his fifth-period civics class, drank an alcoholic beverage from a water bottle” and when being taken to the administrative office attempted to leave campus, causing the SRO to take the student down to the floor in a restraint hold.  The appellate court noted that dismissal of the case base upon  qualified immunity was appropriate because, “(p)roviding a safe school environment is “a general and continuing supervisory duty … which depends upon cons ..read more

— In Florida, the District Court of Appeal of Florida upheld the adjudication of a juvenile for “written threats to kill or do bodily harm,” in a case involving a social media message.  The juvenile posted a violent image on Snapchat and sent it to a friend with text at the bottom that said, “Don’t go to school tomorrow.”  The appellate court agreed with the lower court that the juvenile “intended the Snapchat as a threat, and the recipient would have understood it to be a threat based on the information revealed at trial.”  Significantly, the appellate court ruled that the stat ..read more

— In New Mexico, the Court of Appeals of New Mexico held that the actions of school officials leading up to the physical injury a student who returned to school after post-hip surgery fell within the waiver of immunity under state law.  The parent, “provided the school two separate doctor’s notes prohibiting his son from participating in any sports or physical education.”  Even so, “on (the student’s) first day back, his homeroom teacher allowed him to go outside during the recess break,” where he fell, sustaining “a serious injury to his recently operated-on hip.”   The ap ..read more

— In Michigan, the United States District Court held that school officials did not violate the rights of a student who was expelled after lying to her parents about bathroom searches that were conducted to deter vaping in schools.  The school policy required officials to conduct “a brief look underneath the bathroom stall partitions (while standing outside the stall in the) public areas in the bathroom to see if multiple students were (vaping) in the same stall together.  The student told her parents that “the assistant principal had approached (her) stall and looked into it while (s ..read more

— In North Carolina, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina vacated the adjudication of a juvenile for violating state law that punishes students who “assault on a school employee and assault inflicting serious bodily injury for the same underlying conduct.”  The incident arose when the student was fighting “in the hallway while the school’s assistant principal was standing between them…(during which) the assistant principal suffered a concussion and was knocked unconscious.”  The facts include the testimony of the police officer on campus who said that, “he had to physically remove ..read more

— In New Mexico, the Court of Appeals of New Mexico, reversed the lower court’s grant of immunity to school officials who allowed a student who returned to school after orthopedic surgery to participate in recess activities, contrary both to school policy and the physician’s orders for the rehabilitation and safety of the student.  A total breakdown of communication from school nurse, homeroom teacher, class teachers, and recess duty teachers resulted in the student suffering serious injury.  The appellate court held that educators had “the responsibility to ensure that all school fa ..read more

— In Alabama, the Supreme Court of Alabama ruled that a school district was protected from liability by state-agent immunity after a substitute teacher was attacked by students while she was working in the classroom used for students in the alternative-learning program, students in the in-school-suspension program, and students whose possible disciplinary violations school officials had not yet had the opportunity to address discipline.  The court noted that a state agent “shall be immune if his or her conduct involved… exercising his or her judgment in the discharge of duties imposed by ..read more

— In Tennessee, the United States Court of Appeals affirmed the liability of  a school district under Title IX for its deliberate indifference to threats made against a student and her family after she reported student-on-student threats and harassment.  The case arose when a fellow-student coerced the victim into a classroom where a sexual assault took place.  Another fellow-student recorded the incident and placed it upon social media.  School officials initially worked with the parent of the victim and the police department. However, later telling the student that in the ..read more