Law Advisory
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From: Gary Avery Senior Consultant
NOTE: Items on this page are the responsibility and opinion of Gary Avery, J.D.,
independent consultant to Law Advisory Group, Inc. The ideas and opinions
are those of the author for which the corporation assumes no responsibility.
Dr. Avery may be reached directly at 216-392-5958 .
1/10/2011 OMAHA SHOOTINGS HIGHLIGHT NEED FOR EXIT INTERVIEWS
Robert Butler Jr. killed himself after wounding his school principal and killing his assistant principal. Butler has been suspended in a four-minute proceeding earlier in the day, left school and returned with his father's handgun. Since suspension from school has been a trigger in many school-age suicides, schools should have an "exit interview" process One of the problems with suspensions in most schools is the lack of an exit interview process. The purpose is multi-fold.
The student's emotional stability can be gauged. The question of how to make the embarrassment of the suspension palatable at home and with fellow students can be addressed. Making the most of the time spent on suspension can be covered. And, to some degree, a threat assessment is possible. If you would like copies of my earlier writings on this subject, e-mail me at garylaw@aol.com. There is no fee.
Thanksgiving Day, 2010
This bullying thing is getting me down. Now we have courts refusing to dismiss cases on immunity as thought educators are supposed to have answers to an age-old problem that has been made worse by electronic communication. I have a number of ideas and I will share them with you over the weekend. I'm happy to say that I've been invited to dinner with some people who are very dear to me since my own kids and grandchildren are spread across the U.S.
Check back in a couple of days and I think I can make a little sense out of a plan for you, whether you are a teacher, administrator or SRO.
Gary
-----------------items from earlier in 2010 ----------------
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES - the new "best practices model" for Special Education and 504 requires some rethinking of old practices with a constant eye on how easily the student will transition to the best reasonably attainable life situation following school days. Some schools still aren't aggressively pursuing the idea that when the school does it right the parent gets much needed relief from everyday pressures of meeting the needs of the student and the teaching personnel get the satisfaction of seeing ever brighter outcomes due to the educators' increased recognition of their professionalism. After studying hearing officer decisions for over 15 years I have decided to write a book in the Law Advisory "can do law"™ mode in the firm belief that 35 years of experience in this field have allowed us to open vistas for these kids that we originally thought impossible. Should have it ready to publish by January 1 but if you have special ed or 504 questions in the meantime, call me. If you have a question to which I know the answer, it will be no trouble to fill you in. If I don't know the answer, then both of us will benefit from my finding it.
TASERS IN SCHOOL TASER International is allegedly settling cases that it used to fight to the finish and win. From what we hear, the problem is not the TASER nor the training as much as it is poor judgment by the officers using the device. And now there is an incident in Kankakee for which the plaintiff's attorney will be more than likely trying to establish that the schools should have had a policy regarding the TASER and the Officer should have been better trained not only in the TASER and local policy but in general concepts of an SRO's duty to students. If SROs are going to be allowed to deploy with TASERS, a minimal set of standards for use in schools should include: TASER should normally be used only as an alternative to the use of deadly force. Exceptions may be: (a) to avoid injury to subject student or third parties; (b) to avoid serious injury to a law enforcement officer; (c) situations in which quick control of the subject is essential to avoid escalation, including riot.
DOGS I continue to note that a vocal minority decries the use of highly trained animals. In fact, until recently, the antagonism toward dogs kept Hawaii from adopting this modern, non-intrusive method of effective surveillance against guns, explosives and narcotics in schools. What I'm hearing from school administrators is that after dogs are used several times, the silent majority finally speaks out. Careful analysis of cases indicates that prosecutors and school attorneys aren't fully aware of some of the nuances of earlier cases against the realities of today's school safety. It is incumbent on the K-9 handlers to suggest to the attorneys what is happening in the legal field. In my experience, no attorney ever takes offense when a suggestion is respectfully presented instead of being offered as criticism.