There are as many as nine Truhe, Pruett, and Johnson children running rampant in Nebraska and its public schools. On a totally unrelated note, many public school districts have chosen to deploy school resource officers (SROs) at their schools. As you may recall, the Unicameral adopted LB 390 in 2019 that imposes minimum requirements regarding the deployment of peace officers in school districts as SROs. The law requires schools to cooperate with law enforcement as provided in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that includes specific terms on training, required policies, and other topics. As the January 1, 2021, deadline is fast-approaching, now is a great time to make sure your school has completed the necessary training, adopted the required MOU, and adopted or revised appropriate policies.
Required Training
Each school resource officer or security guard and a minimum of one administrator in each elementary or secondary school where a school resource officer or security guard is assigned must attend a minimum of twenty hours of training focused on school-based law enforcement, including, but not limited to: coursework focused on school law, student rights, understanding special needs students and students with disabilities, conflict de-escalation techniques, ethics for school resource officers, teenage brain development, adolescent behavior, implicit bias training, diversity and cultural awareness, trauma-informed responses, and preventing violence in school settings. KSB offers the required training in a video-on-demand series. You can learn more about this training here.
Required MOU
Schools must have an MOU in place with the law enforcement agency or security agency no later than January 1, 2021. Schools have two choices: (1) use the Nebraska Department of Education's model MOU, or (2) draft your own. Your school’s MOU may “include any other procedures and provisions the school district and the law enforcement agency or security agency mutually deem appropriate” as long as it is “substantially similar” to NDE’s model MOU. NDE’s model MOUs are available here (law enforcement agency) or here (security agency). While NDE’s model MOU is a good start, we strongly recommend that you make substantial additions to it. We have found that the NDE template does not address many substantive areas that we consider vital to such an agreement, such as: roles and responsibilities regarding school discipline, duties of the SRO, duties of school administrators, student rights, payment, and termination. KSB has created its own template that we believe addresses all required and appropriate topics.
Update Policies as Necessary
The new SRO statutes do not explicitly require the adoption or amendment of any district policies, but they do so implicitly by requiring specific policies be identified in every MOU. This means that districts seeking to comply with these new requirements must have in place policies which address, at a minimum:
When a parent or guardian will be notified or present if a student is subjected to questioning or interrogation by a school official or by an SRO or security guard operating in conjunction with a school official.
Under what circumstances a student will be advised of constitutional rights prior to being questioned or interrogated by a school official or by an SRO or security guard operating in conjunction with a school official.
The type or category of student conduct or actions that will be referred to law enforcement consistent with the requirements of Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 79-262 and 79-293.
A student and parent complaint process to express a concern or file a complaint about an SRO and the practices of the SRO with the law enforcement agency or security agency.
Schools should review their policies and update them as necessary to make sure they comply with the new requirements. If you find you don’t have the necessary policies, KSB has drafted a single policy that includes all of these requirements as well as some other topics.
We hope this information will help you prepare to deal with the KSB spawn! If you have any questions or would like to purchase KSB’s SRO video training, MOU template, or SRO policy, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at ksb@ksbschoollaw.com or (402) 804-8000.