Case One: 

After seeing a student with an emotional disturbance swinging his jacket as a teacher escorted him to a counselor's office, one of the SROs lifted the 11-year-old boy by his shoulders and carried him from the hallway into a separate classroom.  There, some teachers tried to calm the boy down, and asked the two SROs to stay in the hallway.  They didn't.  Instead, they "entered the room, forced the student to the ground, and placed his hands in handcuffs behind his back."  The SROs defended the practices as "a generic takedown of the student which was followed by standard handcuffing." The court held that any reasonable SRO in those situations should have realized that they did not have a basis to use that level of force. (M.P v. Jones, decided September 12, 2023)

Case Two:

A teacher is going to court for "unconstitutional seizure" because the teacher held his forearm against the student's chest, preventing him from entering his classroom.  The teacher did this after the student refused the teacher's instruction to remove his headphones.  The student's IEP allowed him to wear headphones, but the teacher was unaware of this.  The case has not been decided, but the important thing to note is the force in this case is far less aggressive than most "uncontitutional seizure" cases, yet the court refused to dismiss the claim against the teacher.  

What Do we need to Learn/Know from this:

• Changing standards should cause changes in practice.

• 4th Amendment coves seizures as well as searches.

• Know what constitutes unreasonable seizure (restraint). 

• Ask for training if you feel like you need more information.