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Issue 1 - The Legal Considerations for Search and Seizure in Schools

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Issue 1 - The Legal Considerations for Search and Seizure in Schools

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The Fourth Amendment guarantees all Americans' right to be free from unreasonable searches--this was made applicable to states (and thereby, schools) by the 14th Amendment. Under these Amendments, probable cause must exist before an American citizen can be searched. However, this does not apply to schools--"school officials need not probable cause, only a reasonable suspicion" because of the "unique need to maintain a safe learning environment."(Bosher, 2004)

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While it may not seem student records would have much impact on school security, consider the idea that some school policies restricting the release of such records (i.e. student disciplinary records) can and have contributed to violence on campus when such records of disciplinary incidents are not released to local law enforcement.

Varadarajan (2019) describes how the failure to release disciplinary records of a student known to threaten violence at school led to the death of his daughter, Meadow, in the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas School in Parkland, Florida. The shooter's past disciplinary infractions and threats of violence were not released to law enforcement because of a program called Promise.

"Promise—a feel-good acronym for Preventing Recidivism through Opportunities, Mentoring, Interventions, Support and Education—under which students who commit crimes in public schools would no longer be reported to the police by administrators."
(Varadarajan, 2019).

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Bosher, W. C., Kaminski, K. R., & Vacca, R. S. (2004). The School Law Handbook : What Every Leader Needs to Know. Alexandria, Va: Assoc. for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved from https://easydb.angelo.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=
nlebk&AN=107037&site=eds-live

Varadarajan, T. (2019, January 11). The weekend interview:  a parkland father's quest for accountability. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com

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Upon completion of my Master's Degree in Curriculum & Instruction I hope to become a corporate trainer or obtain a position somewhere in that realm where I can educate school administrators and students at all levels on school security. I also plan to become involved in professional writing to influence school policies regarding security implementation as well as ensuring compliance with such policies. I'd like to find better ways school officials can work with local law enforcement and to empower all students to be cognizant of and able to act on threats to their own safety.

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Article 1 - School Safety Means More Than Active Shooter Drills

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Article 1 - School Safety Means More Than Active Shooter Drills

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An opinion piece by guest blogger Dr. Amy Klinger (2019) suggesting the prevalence of unnecessary focus on school shooters and arming teachers when debating school safety issues. Dr. Klinger notes a higher rate of incidents include bombs at schools, school bus accidents and stabbings--imploring school administrators to implement a variety of lockdown drills at their schools to address these more common incidents of violence on campus rather than the lesser likely incident of a school shooter.

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Education Week - Peter DeWitt's Finding Common Ground

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Today's guest blog is written by Dr. Amy Klinger, the director of programs at The Educator's School Safety Network. You can visit The Educator's School Safety Network at www.eschoolsafety.org.
With the recent release of the initial report on the February 2018 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, school safety discussions in 2019 are laser-focused on active-shooter situations, or worse yet, arming teachers. The report's recounting of the horrific details and failures of the tragedy in Parkland, Fla., is a grim reminder of the worst nightmares of educators, parents, and students. It's only natural then, that educators and law-enforcement officers find themselves immersed in-and sometimes overcome by-the confusion, divisiveness, and raw emotions engendered by an examination of the tragedy. But it's important to remember that a madman with a gun is not the only, or even most likely, crisis event that a school will face.

As schools rush to have numerous active-shooter drills, or have lockdown after lockdown in the wake of threats, two important truths must be acknowledged.

First, active-shooter preparation alone will not keep our students safe. Most schools have not considered, planned, or trained using the established best practice of a comprehensive, all-hazards approach to school safety. This means that while the school is spending time on the potentially catastrophic, but statistically unlikely event of an active shooter, they are not preparing to deal with the myriad of crises that they are much more likely to face. Our research indicates that so far this school year, there has already been a bomb detonation in a school as well as another explosive device found. In a single week in October 2018, five children were killed in school bus accidents. Three stabbings occurred this fall, there were sexual assaults reported in three different schools in a two-week period, and more than 24 plots for violence were thwarted. All of these were dangerous, deadly occurrences-and none of them was an active shooter or required an active-shooter response.

When a school plans and trains for an active-shooter response at the exclusion of everything else, critical prevention activities such as threat assessment, strategic supervision, improving climate and culture, and increasing disclosures are ignored. We cannot protect children and make our schools safer by only reactively planning and practicing what to do after the bullets start flying. We must take a proactive, all-hazards approach that places equal emphasis on preventing and responding to natural disasters, medical emergencies, accidents, and all different kinds of violent acts.

A heavy emphasis on active-shooter response often results in the frequent and often inappropriate use of an old-school "hide-out-and-hope-for-the-best" type of lockdown for every situation. Abraham Maslow's insight that if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, is certainly appropriate here. This fall alone, there were hundreds of examples of students and teachers hunkered down in classrooms for hours, wondering if they were the next Parkland, in order to allow administrators and police officers to investigate threats, provide "realistic" lockdown drills, or look for weapons or other contraband. We must acknowledge that there is a cost (and it is significant) to inducing trauma in students or treating them like inmates whose social media is surveilled and who are "contained" in locked classrooms. Remember we are, after all, running schools, not prisons.

Perhaps the biggest tragedy is that it doesn't have to be this way. By viewing school safety as more than just a nail, educators can work proactively to establish relationship-based cultures that reduce or prevent violence, allow students to feel safe and supported, all while increasing academic achievement. While active-shooter preparation is critical, and lockdowns are an important response option, to keep students safe, we must expand our view of crisis response to incorporate leveled lockdowns, rapid evacuation, barricading, and other protocols for bomb incidents, severe weather, medical emergencies, and acts of violence that don't necessarily involve a gun.

Amid the chaos, competing interests, political agendas, and general anxiety, let's start with the thing we can all agree on: No one wants kids dying at school. Sadly, it is also clear that schools must be prepared for the possibility of an active shooter. While it may be easier, "sexier," or more politically expedient to have a high-profile active-shooter training, the work of crisis planning and response cannot stop there.

Ensuring the safety of the children in our care is the primary mission of all educators-and it is at times a daunting task. Educators, parents, students, and emergency responders must commit to the difficult work and sustained attention that planning for, preventing, and responding to all safety hazards requires.
Dr. Amy Klinger is nationally recognized as an expert in school safety and crisis management. She delivers trainings and lectures to audiences throughout the United States and abroad. As thefounder and director of programs forThe Educator's School Safety Network. Klinger is an Associate Professor of Educational Administration and Department Chair at Ashland University in Ohio. She is the author of Keeping Students Safe Every Day (ASCD, 2018). Photo courtesty of Shutterstock.

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School Safety Means More Than Active-Shooter Drills

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Today's guest blog is written by Dr. Amy Klinger, the director of programs at The Educator's School Safety Network. You can visit The Educator's School Safety Network at www.eschoolsafety.org. With the recent release of the initial report on the February 2018 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, school safety discussions in 2019 are laser-focused on active-shooter situations, or worse yet, arming teachers.

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Article - 2 Newtown Shooting, Juror Race Cases Before State High Court

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Article - 2 Newtown Shooting, Juror Race Cases Before State High Court

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This article reviews the status of a lawsuit stemming from the Sandy Hook school shooting that occurred in 2012 in Newtown, CT. The lawsuit was brought by one survivor and several victims' relatives against the gun manufacturer, Remington. The case is under consideration by the Supreme Court of Connecticut after a lower court judge sided with Remington and dismissed the lawsuit. Arguments were heard by the Supreme Court of Connecticut in 2017 and a decision is expected sometime in 2019.

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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The Connecticut Supreme Court is poised to have a busy 2019 dealing with cases involving the Sandy Hook school shooting, the race of jurors and homes with crumbling foundations.

Justices have yet to reach a decision in the school shooting case after hearing arguments in November 2017 on whether a wrongful death lawsuit against gun-maker Remington should be reinstated. A lower court judge dismissed the lawsuit. Remington made the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle used by 20-year-old Adam Lanza to kill 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012.

The plaintiffs include a survivor and relatives of nine people killed in the massacre. They argue that such rifles were designed as military killing machines and are too dangerous for the public, but Remington glorified them in marketing them to young people.

A lower court judge dismissed the lawsuit, agreeing with Remington's argument that the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act exempts gun-makers from liability when their products are used in crimes. The plaintiffs say their case falls under exemptions to that law.

Other cases pending before the state's highest court:

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RACIAL MAKEUP OF JURIES

Three cases set to be argued in early 2019 question whether enough African-Americans are selected for jury duty in Connecticut and decisions by prosecutors to exclude black people during the jury selection process.

Darnell Moore, who is black, was convicted of murder in 2012 in the shooting death of a man in Norwich and is serving a 53-year prison sentence. He argues the jury pool for his trial had few African-American men and was not a fair representation of the community's racial demographics, in violation of his constitutional rights.

The state Appellate Court rejected Moore's appeal, saying he failed to present evidence that the jury pool wasn't fair. The judges found that census data relied on by Moore in his appeal to show the percentage of African-Americans in the population was not proper evidence to prove there weren't enough blacks summoned to jury duty.

The state Supreme Court will decide whether the Appellate Court's ruling was correct.

"As a general proposition, racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is a problem," said Moore's lawyer, Kenneth Rosenthal.

The two other cases involve African-Americans - one in each case - who were excluded from serving on juries for trials involving black defendants who were later convicted. At issue are "peremptory" challenges used by prosecutors during jury selection that excluded the black potential jurors from serving on the juries.

The defendants allege the prosecutors' use of those challenges violated their constitutional rights as well as a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Prosecutors deny those allegations.

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CRUMBLING FOUNDATIONS

The state justices recently heard arguments on whether homeowners' insurance policies should cover repairs to thousands of homes with crumbling foundations caused by defective concrete.

An estimated 35,000 homes in Connecticut and Massachusetts are affected by disintegrating concrete containing pyrrhotite, an iron sulfide that reacts naturally with oxygen and water. Replacing a foundation can cost $100,000 to $200,000.

In one of many lawsuits against insurers for failing to cover the damage, a federal judge earlier this year asked the state high court to better define the word "collapse."

Insurers argue that policies only cover repairing foundations if homes collapse. Homeowners argue that under a 1987 state Supreme Court ruling, "collapse" also can mean impairment in structural integrity.

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HOME INVASION KILLER

More than a decade after a Cheshire woman and her two daughters were killed in a home invasion, the appeal of one of the killers remains pending before the state Supreme Court.

Lawyers for Joshua Komisarjevsky say he should get a new trial because Cheshire police did not give defense lawyers the recordings of police phone calls that could have been used to challenge the credibility of officers who testified at the trial.

Prosecutors say the recordings would not have affected the verdict.

Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes are serving life prison sentences for the killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and her daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley, in 2007.

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Newtown shooting, juror race cases before state high court

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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The Connecticut Supreme Court is poised to have a busy 2019 dealing with cases involving the Sandy Hook school shooting, the race of jurors and homes with crumbling foundations. Justices have yet to reach a decision in the school shooting case after hearing arguments in November 2017 on whether a wrongful death lawsuit against gun-maker Remington should be reinstated.

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After reading and researching the myriad of legal and ethical issues surrounding school security coupled with my interest in policy writing, I am intrigued to learn more about the Promise Program mentioned under Issue 2 in Exploration Option 4. I want to research this program and others like it to learn the consequences of such policies across the nation.

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Brezenski, T. (2018) Inside the 23rd Congressional District (FL) Gun Violence Task Force: Real-Time Crisis Policymaking in the Wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shootings. Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 10, 35-49

Summary:  This articles explicitly details the arduous process of the two-week political public policymaking after this school shooting along with a discussion of gun control, mental health issues, and Nicholas Cruz's background.

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Rosenblatt, K. (2018) Broward County Officials Change Shooting-Response Policy After Lessons Learned in Parkland School Shooting Massacre. Retrieved from http://NBCNews.com

Summary:  This article discusses the process of policymaking regarding the change made by the sheriff's office to change the policy language from "may" to "shall" when it comes to officers responding to school shootings. The policy makers also updated the list of priorities for officers responding to a school shooting scene.