WAVE 09-26-16

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September 6, 2016 Christie says he wants to make
NJ Governor Vetoes sure the officers complete school
resource officer training before-
Cops-In-Schools, hand, according to the NJ Star
Signs Education Bills Ledger.

In total, the governor signed six “The safety of our children in
education bills into law and ve- schools is of paramount concern,
toed one. especially in the wake of sense-
less violent attacks in the very
Governor Chris Christie signed places that our children should
several bills into law that affect feel safest,” Christie said.
school security and vetoed a bill
regarding police officers in In total, Christie signed six bills
schools Sept. 6. during his signing at Grover
Cleveland Middle School in Cald-
Christie signed bills that will es- well, New Jersey.
tablish a security standard at pri-
vate schools and improve Other bills the governor signed
behavioral intervention efforts at included one that attempts to in-
all schools in the state. corporate the newest research
on substance abuse into student
The Secure Schools for All Chil- drug education efforts and a bill
dren Act, or A2689, creates an that will allow colleges to save
aid program for nonpublic money by using cooperative pur-
schools that sets aside $75 per chasing agreements.
student to go toward security
services, equipment or technol-
ogy.

Christie also signed S2081,
which requires schools to de-
velop programs to detect chil-
dren with behavioral issues in
kindergarten through second
grade and prevent their behavior
from escalating.

The governor vetoed S86, which
aimed to establish a special cat-
egory of police officers that patrol
school and college campuses.

What was S86? trained full-time police officers 3
stationed at some schools, ac-
It was a proposal to station cording to the text of the bill. The reer law enforcement officer with
armed, retired police officers as position would be open to police sworn authority, who is deployed
security in New Jersey’s schools. officers under the age of 65 who by an employing police depart-
The bill (S86) established a have retired in good standing ment or agency in a community-
“Class Three” special police offi- from local or county departments oriented policing assignment to
cers designated to provide secu- or the State Police. work in collaboration with one or
rity at both public and private more schools.
schools. In addition to elementary and
high schools, an amended ver- What are appropriate roles of
Supporters of the bill, which in- sion would also allow the officers school resource officers? The
cluded state education organiza- to patrol the state's community goals of well-founded SRO pro-
tions, law enforcement and colleges. grams include providing safe
bipartisan group of sponsors in learning environments in our na-
the legislature, say the measure The measure, first proposed in tion’s schools, providing valuable
is a safer alternative to putting the wake of the school shooting resources to school staff mem-
armed guards from private secu- in Newtown, Connecticut, was bers, fostering positive relation-
rity firms in schools. They also advanced unanimously by the ships with
claimed it would save money be- committee. youth, de-
cause Class Three officers would veloping
not be eligible for health benefits In the bill it stipulated Class strategies
or pensions. Three officers would work during to resolve
regular school hours and their ju- problems
"Placing a fully-equipped, armed risdiction would be limited to affecting
and -- most importantly, trained - school grounds. They also would youth and
- uniformed police officer in our not be eligible for the same ben- protecting all students, so they
schools" would make students efits as regular police officers. can reach their fullest potentials.
and staff safer, Denville Police NASRO considers it a best prac-
Chief Christopher Wagner, the The designation would be open tice to use a “triad concept” to de-
president of the New Jersey to retired officers under the age fine the three main roles of
State Association of Chiefs of of 65 who left a police depart- school resource officers: educa-
Police, told the committee. "We ment in good standing. They tor (i.e. guest lecturer),informal
know that uniformed police offi- would be required to meet the counselor/mentor, and law en-
cers definitely act as a deterrent same firearm qualifications as forcement officer.
(to school shootings)." active-duty police officers.
How many school resource offi-
The newly-designated police What is an SRO? cers are there in the United
would not replace school re- States? Nobody knows how
source officers, who are specially A school resource many SROs there are in the
officer, by federal U.S., because SROs are not re-
definition, is a ca- quired to register with any na-
tional database, nor are police
departments required to report
how many of their officers work
as SROs, nor are school sys-
tems required to report how
many SROs they use.

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In 2007 the U.S. Department of ing sad or hopeless
Justice (DOJ) found that there
were more than 17,000 SROs 6. percentages of high school
deployed in public schools na- students who attempted suicide
tionwide, but the DOJ has not re- number of psychologists per
peated that survey since. capita

The National Association of 7. cost of truancy for schools as
School Resource Officers a result of bullying, and
(NASRO), estimates that be-
tween 14,000 and 20,000 SROs 8. state anti-bullying laws and
are in service nationwide, based policies.
on DOJ data and the number of
SROs that NASRO has trained. Top 10 states overall

A similar, but slightly different Top 10 best — and worst — According to WalletHub’s calcu-
question is, “How many schools states for bullying prevention lations, the top 10 states that
use SROs?” The most recent most effectively handle bullying
available data on that comes When it comes to keeping bully- are:
from a 2015 report by the Na- ing issues contained to a man-
tional Center for Education Sta- ageable level, how do you stack 1. Massachusetts
tistics (a part of the U.S. up against your peers? 2. North Carolina
Department of Education). It sur- 3. Vermont
veyed public schools in the To determine areas where wide- 4. the District of Columbia
spring of 2014. The Center re- spread bullying was most preva- 5. Rhode Island
ported that 30 percent of U.S. lent over the last year, WalletHub 6. Florida
public schools who participated analyzed 45 states* and the Dis- 7. Delaware
in the survey indicated that they trict of Columbia. 8. Connecticut
had at least one full-time or part- 9 Hawaii
time school resource officer dur- WalletHub looked at several met- 10. California
ing the 2013-2014 academic rics, including:
year. Bottom 5 States

There were approximately 1. bullying incident rates 1. Michigan
98,500 public schools in the U.S. 2. Louisiana
that year, which means that ap- 2. cyberbullying incident rates 3. West Virginia
proximately 29,550 schools had 4. Montana
at least one school resource offi- 3. percentages of high school 5. Arkansas.
cer. Many SROs serve more students who were involved in
than one school and some physical fights on school campus Researchers broke data down
schools have more than one offi- into the following categories to
cer. One therefore cannot reliably 4. percentages of high school find specific information on types
extrapolate the number of SROs students who were absent be- of problems in each state.
from the percentage of schools in cause they felt unsafe at school
the 2014 survey. Continued on next page
5. percentages of high school
students who experienced feel-

Bullying on campus The lowest percentage of high 5
school students who get into
The lowest percentage of high physical fights at school live in: school students who attempted
school students bullied on school suicide live in:
property live in: 1. Maine
2. North Dakota 1. Vermont
1. the District of Columbia 3. Indiana 2. Wisconsin
2. Florida 4. Nebraska 3. Ohio
3. Rhode Island 5. Massachusetts 4. Virginia
4. North Carolina 5. New Hampshire
5. Massachusetts These states have the highest
percentage of high school stu- And these locations have the
On the flip side, these states dents who get into fights at highest percentage of high
have the highest percentage of school: school students who attempted
high school students who are suicide:
bullied on school property: 1. the District of Columbia
2. Maryland 1. Louisiana
1. Nebraska 3. Louisiana 2. the District of Columbia
2. Idaho 4. Arkansas 3. Mississippi
3. Michigan 5. Tennessee 4. Arkansas
4. Montana 5. Alabama
5. West Virginia. Missing school due to fear of
bullies Due to data limitation issues, the
Cyberbullying following states were not in-
The lowest percentage of high cluded in the research: Colorado,
The lowest percentage of high school students who skip school Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon and
school students who are bullied because of bullies live in: Washington.
online live in:
1. Kansas To view the entire report copy
1. the District of Columbia 2. Oklahoma and paste this link:
2. Florida 3. South Dakota
3. Delaware 4. Massachusetts https://wallethub.com/edu/bes
4. North Carolina 5. Montana t-worst-states-at-controlling-
5. Rhode Island bullying/9920/
And these states have the high-
And these states have the high- est percentage of high school
est percentage of high school students who miss classes be-
students who are bullied online: cause they don’t feel safe:

1. Idaho 1. Louisiana, South Carolina (tie)
2. West Virginia 2. Tennessee
3. Nebraska 3. Hawaii,
4. Maine 4. Mississippi
5. Michigan
Suicide attempts
Fights at school
The lowest percentage of high

6

7

As a general rule, school officials
are entitled to immunity in such
suits. But exceptions do apply.
One is the “state-created danger
theory.”

Teacher’s not off the hook: Per school policy, Littlejohn To succeed on this claim, Jane’s
5-year-old was abducted, asked Reguster for a valid ID to mother had to show – among
show she was Jane’s mother and other things – that Littlejohn “af-
abused, abandoned had authority to leave with the firmatively used his … authority
child. in a way that created a danger”
A Philadelphia teacher botched to Jane.
his responsibilities, so he’s not She said she didn’t have one. In
entitled to immunity in this horrific spite of this, Littlejohn let Jane Littlejohn argued he did not act
case. Here’s where he went leave with Reguster. affirmatively, as he failed to fol-
wrong. low policy and failed to obtain a
According to prosecutors, Re- valid ID.
In 2013, a kindergarten student guster put Jane in a laundry bag,
was abducted from school, sex- took her to her house, raped her But the court was not swayed by
ually assaulted and abandoned with a sharp instrument and his “attempt to reframe [his] al-
overnight in a nearby park until abandoned her in a neighbor- leged actions as inaction or fail-
she was found by a sanitation hood park. ures.”
worker.

The Third Circuit has recently af- Jane was rescued by a sanitation It pointed out that Jane was safe
firmed a ruling that held the worker who heard her crying the in the classroom – until Littlejohn
child’s teacher is not entitled to following morning. The ordeal permitted her to leave.
immunity. Here’s what hap- lasted 19 hours.
pened. “By allowing Jane to leave his
Jane was severely injured in the classroom with an unidentified
‘Mom’ can’t produce ID card attack, and doctors had to give adult, Littlejohn created or in-
her a temporary colostomy to let creased the risk of harm itself,”
On Jan. 14, 2013, Christina Re- her body heal. Regusters was the court explained.
gusters walked into Bryant Ele- sentenced to 40 years in prison
mentary School in Philadelphia. for the crimes. As such, Littlejohn was not enti-
She was dressed in Muslim garb tled to immunity, so the appellate
and walked to teacher Reginald Jane’s mother sued, alleging Lit- court affirmed the trial court’s de-
Littlejohn’s classroom. tlejohn created the danger that cision.
resulted in Jane’s physical and
The victim – identified as “Jane” emotional harm. L.R. v. School Dist. of Philadel-
in court documents – was a stu- phia, No. 14-4640, (3d Cir.
dent When the court refused to dis- 9/6/16).
in Littlejohn’s class. miss the claim, Littlejohn ap-
pealed, saying the case had to
Reguster claimed to be Jane’s be tossed out because he was
mother and said she was there to entitled to immunity.
pick up her child.
Was immunity appropriate?

8

School to reopen after has agreed to pay $25,000 to the The “pass out” challenge is a
mercury scare family of a student with disabili- variation of the “choking game”
ties to resolve their lawsuit. — and these dangerous hijinks
A Nevada school was closed for have been around for years.
three days after a “significant The student attends North Bend
amount” of mercury was found, Middle School. The boy was a sixth-grade stu-
according to clean-up crews from dent at Beech Springs Intermedi-
the Environmental Protection She has several disabilities, in- ate School. He was a prankster
Agency (EPA). cluding spina bifida, epilepsy, hy- who showed no signs of depres-
drocephaly and other medical sion.
Mike Barton, of the Clark County problems.
School District, said it remains His family and school wanted to
unclear who brought the mercury According to the child’s parents, issue a reminder that some of the
to Walter Johnson Junior High the problems began in the spring “challenges” on YouTube can
School. of 2014, when the girl came lead to serious health risks or
home from school with a series death.
“We do believe it was brought in of suspicious injuries, including:
potentially by a student. We don’t There are variations on how the
know yet, but it’s under investiga- * a broken leg “game” is played.
tion by our school police,” said * an injured foot
Barton. * swollen feet and ankles But in a nutshell, participants
* a broken growth plate choke themselves — or are
The EPA recovered almost a * undiagnosed blood clots, and choked by a friend — until they
quarter of a cup of mercury, * a bleeding stoma – a port sur- are on the verge of passing out.
which is quite a bit. For compari- gically created in her stomach Then the hold is loosened to re-
son, the EPA explained that a that serves as a catheter. portedly obtain a “high” from the
mercury thermometer only con- lack of oxygen.
tains about .61 grams of mer- The suit claimed the district
cury. looked the other way when It can — and has — happened
teachers and nurses injured the at school
Oregon district pays $25K to child.
settle injury claim Unfortunately, this is one of those
The district denied the allega- trends that can take place at
The North Bend School District tions. school — especially in areas like
restrooms, locker rooms and
‘Pass out challenge’ — stairwells.
7 red flags
Case in point: A student suffered
An 11-year-old in South Carolina injuries after participating in the
recently died after participating in trend in a West Virginia school.
the “pass out” challenge. His parents sued — and the long
legal battle reached the state’s
highest court, which ultimately
held that the school board had
no duty to catch students playing
the “game” because it had no
warning they were playing it.

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Having said that, it’s crucial to
point out that the decision was
specific to the facts in that case.
It wasn’t a blanket ruling that
meant schools don’t have to
worry about the game.

So it’s probably worth mentioning
the risks of this game to students
— and parents — in the same
way that you’ve addressed other
YouTube trends, like the duct
tape challenge, “smoking” alco-
hol and the cinnamon challenge.

Red flags Handling problem parents: 3 had to hold up a place card sign,
new court rulings offer help and a school staffer would bring
Students who participate in the the children out.
pass out challenge may: What to do when adults cause
safety headaches Sure enough, one father walked
1. have bruises on the neck from up to the building to pick up his
the strangulation You’ve probably dealt with your kids. When the SRO approached
fair share of problem parents. the father, the two had a heated
2. have bruises on other parts of discussion.
the body from falling while losing It’s frustrating enough when they
consciousness come to school and argue with Two days later, the same father
teachers about grades or home- walked up to the building again to
3. frequently wear clothing that work. get his children – but this time,
covers the neck — even if the SRO arrested him.
weather is too warm for turtle But what’s even worse than that?
necks or scarves Parents who actually cause The father sued, alleging the
safety and security problems. school violated his rights by “re-
4. have blood shot eyes immedi- fusing to release his children to
ately after participating Take a look at how the courts him on foot.”
ruled in three incidents.
5. look tired for a while after par- He claimed the new pickuppolicy
ticipating Dad challenges new safety pol- violated his constitutional right to
icy, wants to pick kids up ‘on foot’ “family unity” under the Four-
6. seem disoriented immediately teenth Amendment.
after participating, and In Tennessee, an elementary
school adopted a new safety pol- Not so, the court said, explaining
7. have problems with spacial icy that required parents to stay that the liberty interest in “family
orientation for a while after par- in their cars during child pickup unity” typically applies when a
ticipating. times. child is actually removed from
the home and parents’ custody,
Instead of getting out of the car such as during child abuse inves-
to greet their children, parents tigations.

10

Will ‘friends in high places’ Dad: ‘I wasn’t really angry –
help belligerent board my voice got louder due to
member/dad?
disability’

In California, a board member of A father will get his day in court
the district frequently butted after a Montana federal judge re-
heads with his son’s middle fused to dismiss his ADA claim.
school principal.
At a conference with the princi-
Turns out, the board member pal, the father alleged that a
had a habit of picking up his son teacher “got physical” with his
late – and becoming belligerent son, purportedly due to his dis-
and aggressive when the princi- ability.
pal called him on it.
During the talk, the father’s voice
Things got so bad, the security rose. He said this was due to his
director and the police had to get own disability.
involved. The principal eventually
got a restraining order restricting But it caused the principal to
the board member to the think the angry father presented
pickup/drop off location outside a threat – so he was banned
the school. from campus.

The board member appealed, ar- The father returned with a list of
guing that the restraining order accommodations his son
wasn’t supported by the evi- needed. The SRO took the list,
dence. but refused to let the father in the
building.
So the appeals court took a sec-
ond look at the evidence. In ad- He sued, alleging his exclusion
dition to seeing video footage from the school violated the ADA.
that implicated the board mem-
ber, the court heard similar He stated a valid prima facie
damning testimony from: claim, as he’s a qualified individ-
ual with a disability, he was ex-
• the school security director cluded from the school, and his
• police officers, and disability may have been the rea-
• the vice principal. son behind the exclusion.

After reviewing the evidence, the So the claim moved forward.
court affirmed the restraining
order. Lagervall v. Missoula County
Public Schools, No. CV 16-57-
Harris v. Stampolis, No. 1-14- MDCL-JCL, 2016 WL 3282194
CH005881 (Cal. Ct. App. (D. Mont. 6/14/16).
6/24/16).