No increase in school crime after COVID, California privacy law declared unconstitutional

This is our bi-weekly briefing on the latest school safety news, reviewed by Mark Keierleber. Sign up below.

As the pandemic ended and students returned to in-person classes, national sentiment about school safety worsened.

After more than a year of learning from home and away from friends, enemies and rivals, educators reported that children brought new behavioral problems to school.

But new federal data – including data on assaults, bullying and thefts on campus – complicates that narrative. Even as students' mental health problems grow, the numbers suggest that crime in schools continues a downward trend that has been in place for more than a decade.

These 10 charts explain why school violence has declined since COVID.

In the news

• On the bench: A district judge in Detroit has been temporarily suspended from hearing cases after he ordered a teenager visiting his courtroom to be handcuffed after he caught her sleeping. It turned out the girl had struggled to stay awake during the outing because she had no permanent home. | The New York Times

• A California student privacy law passed in 2022 that prohibits social media companies from using children's personal information likely violates the First Amendment, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. | The Sacramento Bee

• No liability: A Texas jury found that the parents of the gunman who carried out the 2018 Santa Fe school shooting that killed 10 people and injured 13 others cannot be held responsible for the chaos. The victims' families claimed the parents were negligent in failing to prevent the attack. The gunman was declared incompetent to stand trial and remains hospitalized. | Houston Public Media

• The San Diego school district's failure to protect children from sexual harassment and abuse led to “serial offending,” a federal civil rights investigation found. | Axios

• 'Juvenile delinquency, adult punishment': Children charged with serious crimes as adults in Florida receive, on average, longer prison sentences than older, adult offenders, a Miami Herald study found. | Miami Herald

• ZeroEyes, an AI-powered gun detection company, announced a partnership with the New York Boards of Cooperative Educational Services that will provide school districts across the state with access to “pre-negotiated, discounted pricing.” | PR Newswire

• Calendar invitation: The National Center for Youth Law is hosting a webinar on youth voting rights on August 27, where experts will “share their insights on how to empower 16- and 17-year-olds to participate in our democracy.” | National Center for Youth Law

• In Las Vegas, a gun detection system caused significant delays at a high school football game, angering dozens of students and parents who were left waiting off the field long after kickoff. | News 3

• Gaggle, a surveillance tool that monitors students' online communications, has been launched in Ohio's largest school district. | Ohio Capital Journal

• A new law in the US state of Tennessee allows teachers to bring weapons into class. But so far there have been no takers. | Chalkbeat

• According to a new study, “Google Classroom undermines children's privacy and data protection and may also violate other children's rights.” | ScienceDirect

• Between 2020 and 2022, the number of youth incarcerated in juvenile detention facilities fell by an astonishing 75%. | The Sentencing Project

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