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The Marjory Stoneman High School Public Safety Commission wants lawmakers to require Florida’s sheriffs to train public school staffers to carry a gun on campus.

The commission voted unanimously on Thursday to recommend the change to a guardian program that was named after the Stoneman Douglas coach, Aaron Feis, who died protecting students. The program provides law enforcement training to public school staffers, excluding teachers, who want to carry a gun on campus, but current law does not require sheriff’s offices to participate.

So far, only 25 of 67 school districts are participating in the program, according to the Florida Department of Education, and only $9.3 million of the $67 million lawmakers appropriated for the program has been spent.

Charter school officials struggling to comply with the new campus safety mandates are hoping the program will be expanded. Lynn Norman-Teck, executive director of the Florida Charter School Alliance, applauded the recommendation.

“We are pleased that the commission understands the challenges public schools face when trying to meet the safe school mandates,” she said.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who is a member of the commission, proposed the requirement.

“We need to tell the sheriffs, ‘Do your job,’” he said. “A majority of those sheriffs want to do the Guardian program but fear the Guardian program because of insurance companies.”

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, chairman of the commission, agreed. “We need to be part of the solution and not part of the problem,” he said. “We have to come up with a way to allow these districts that want to do it to get around the sheriff where the sheriff won’t do it.”

After the Parkland shooting in February, Gov. Rick Scott signed into law legislation increasing security measures at schools. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act requires all public schools to hire a school resource officer (SRO), a sheriff’s deputy, or a trained employee to carry a gun on campus.

However, many charter schools, which receive less money than traditional public schools according to a  2017 Florida TaxWatch study, can’t afford SROs. Finances are not the only obstacle. In many areas, there simply are not enough officers to meet the needs of each school.

State Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, said thorough training is paramount. “We want to make sure that training is what it is supposed to be,” she said. “What we want it to be. Anything else would be a recipe for a problem.”

 

In his first trip to South Florida since winning the election, Governor-elect Ron DeSantis visited a Jewish Day school Monday where he spoke about the importance of expanding educational options and enhancing security specifically at such schools.

DeSantis visited Brauser Maimonides Academy, a Jewish Day school in Fort Lauderdale, where 80 students use the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students. Step Up For Students, which helps administer the scholarship, publishes this blog.

“For his first trip to be focused on visiting a Jewish day school, talking about security and expanding school choice says an enormous amount about what his priorities will be when he gets sworn in,” said Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, who attended the event.

Fine, who sponsored legislation in 2017 that provided security funding for Jewish day schools, said DeSantis highlighted security at the Orthodox school Monday. Gov. Rick Scott asked legislators last month to increase security funding for Jewish Day schools from $2 million to $4 million. This past spring, the Florida Legislature approved $2 million in security funding for 46 Jewish day schools.

Rabbi Yoni Fein, head of school for Brauser, said he was encouraged by the governor-elect’s visit. Fein said security is his own top priority, specifically “with the rise of anti-Semitism and the number of incidents that have happened on school properties.”

The number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States grew by 57 percent in 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

“There is a lot more we need to do to ensure we have the highest security possible,” he said.

At a roundtable discussion, DeSantis emphasized how scholarship programs such as the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and Gardiner Scholarship for students with special needs are working and how there are many families who want the same choice, according to Mimi Jankovits, executive director of Teach Florida.

“Florida has the weather, low taxes and hopefully under the DeSantis administration we will build the best school system in the country,” Jankovits said.

 

In the aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that left 11 people dead, key Florida lawmakers are looking to increase security at both public and private schools in this state.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, says he wants to introduce legislation allowing private schools to participate in the Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program. That program currently provides law enforcement training to public school staffers who want to carry a gun on campus.

“We created a program for public schools that said if they could choose to send their staff members to get special training, the state would pay for it and they could be armed guardians in public schools,” said Fine. “There is no reason we shouldn’t open that program to private schools.”

So far, only 25 out of 67 school districts are participating in the guardian program, according to the Florida Department of Education. (more…)

Officials from Jewish schools in Florida said Monday they are remaining vigilant after a gunman killed 11 people Saturday at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Rabbi Chaim Friedman, director of development for Yeshiva Elementary School in Miami Beach, said he is always looking at ways to upgrade security at his school, which serves 500 students. (About half use the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students). “We are worried about the future,” he said.

In recent years, Yeshiva has beefed up security and now has its own armed guard.

Even before the Pittsburgh shooting, security at Jewish schools in Florida has been a statewide concern. This past spring, the Florida Legislature approved $2 million in security funding for 46 Jewish day schools. Unfortunately for Yeshiva, that appropriation did not cover the hiring of security personnel. The Florida Board of Education has requested another $2 million for Jewish day schools for the 2019 session. (more…)

The Ranking House Education Democrat and PreK-12 Appropriations Chairman both said this week the state should re-examine the formula for how security funds are distributed to schools.

Their comments come on the heels of reported concerns from administrators at smaller charter schools who are struggling to pay for security officers to protect their schools.

Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, the Ranking Democrat, said the state needs to respond to the shortfall at some schools by taking a new look at the distribution formula.

“It would be my hope that the leadership in Tallahassee recognizes that this is an issue that we can’t sweep under the rug,” Jones said. “We need to tackle this issue head on. My suggestion would probably be to look at a state that is doing this right, to see how they calculate school safety into their budgets.”

Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, the Education Appropriations chairman, agrees. He said the state should reevaluate the formula, especially for small independent schools.

The concerns stem from a new state law passed in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The law requires all public schools to hire a School Resource Officer (SRO), a sheriff deputy or a trained employee to carry a gun on campus. The law, passed as SB 7026, gave public schools an additional $97.5 million for resource officers.

But administrators of several smaller charter schools have said they are being forced to choose between security and teachers because it has been difficult to afford an SRO. And a more affordable option – a training program for employees who could carry a gun – has been implemented in just 22 of the 67 districts to date, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Gov. Rick Scott called on Tuesday for lawmakers to redirect $58 million of unused funding from the guardian program to school districts for additional security. But, according to the Associated Press, key lawmakers, including incoming Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, are not on board with Scott’s proposal.

Galvano wants to continue to address school security in 2019. He recently wrote in a series of tweets that “we cannot be complacent, or think the work is done. We must continually review existing policies and encourage new ideas to keep our students safe.”

Other lawmakers are also weighing in.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, who introduced legislation to enhance security at Jewish day schools in 2017, thinks sheriff’s departments should play a bigger role.

“In those school districts where the sheriff has chosen not to offer a guardian program, the charter schools need to take that up with their local politicians,” he said. “Law enforcement has an obligation to protect children no matter where they are.”

Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, R-Mount Dora, who served as vice chair of the Education Committee, said she is evaluating schools’ discretionary funding and how the funds are being used.

Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, said school districts need more options to comply with the law. He said the private sector could offer school districts tangible help. The current law does not include private security firms as an option for schools.

“The private sector can provide any level of care that you want,” Baxley said. “We need some way to provide for great diversity, size and shape of schools. They are not alike. I think the private sector has a lot of answers, not only on staffing but how to better secure its campuses with electronics and cameras.”

 

Jackie Grimm, co-director at New Dimensions High School, a top-rated charter school in Kissimmee, found herself in a difficult predicament.

A new state law passed in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland requires all public schools to hire a School Resource Officer (SRO), a sheriff deputy or a trained employee to carry a gun on campus. In turn, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office sent Grimm its proposed contract to supply an SRO. The tab: $90,000 a year. The new law, passed as SB 7026, gave public schools an additional $97.5 million for resource officers. But charter school officials say that because the allocation to fund security is based on student enrollment, smaller charter schools could struggle to pay for a security officer. They could more readily be put in the position of having to choose between a teacher and a security guard.

At the same time, a less costly alternative envisioned under the law – employee training – has been implemented in only 22 of the 67 school districts to date, according to the state Department of Education (DOE). Osceola is not one of them. That leaves smaller charter schools with no affordable options.

Safe Schools Director Damien Kelly told the Florida Board of Education Wednesday that the states’ sheriffs believe not enough funding was allocated under SB 7026 for school security.

For New Dimensions, a medium-size charter with 470 students, the financial math simply doesn’t add up.

“Student safety is paramount on our agenda, just like it is for the whole country,” said Grimm. “It has placed such a burden on us. Do we have to make a decision on whether we have an SRO or a school? Ultimately our charter could be revoked for not being in compliance.”

She said $90,000 is a tremendous financial burden.

“We literally do not have even $3,000 in our bottom line of our budget,” she said.

Furthermore, several districts are not including charters in their contracts with sheriffs’ offices to provide security, according to Lynn Norman-Teck, executive director of the Florida Charter School Alliance.

“Sixty-seven counties are interpreting this law in 67 different ways,” said Ralph Arza, director of governmental relations for the Alliance.

Arza said he is aware of 100 charter schools that may only be partially compliant with the law because of the cost of supplying an officer.

Asked how DOE responds to the issue, spokesperson Audrey Walden wrote: “We encourage them to work with their school districts and/or local law enforcement to meet the requirements spelled out in the law.”

By contrast, Jane Watt, chairwoman of the board for Marco Island Academy, a small charter school in Collier County serving 230 students, said the school would not have been able to afford an SRO if the city of Marco Island had not stepped in to cover the cost.

State tests: The end of the much-maligned FCAT is no cause for celebration by critics, writes the Palm Beach Post. Sen. John Legg correctly recognizes there are too many standardized tests in Florida's public schools, but his proposed solution of a test-free period around state-required tests is impractical, writes the Tampa Bay Times.

Common Core: A state senator has submitted legislation to stop the Common Core State Standards from taking effect in Florida. The Buzz. The new state standards place more emphasis on cursive writing, but not everyone is on board as technology takes over the classroom. Fort Myers News-Press. Studies find textbooks are a poor match for Common Core standards. StateImpact Florida.

Teacher evals: The publication of teacher performance scores this week resonate in Leon County Schools, drawing criticism from school board members and fueling recruitment efforts by the local teachers union. Tallahassee Democrat.

Special needs: The state teachers union releases a video showing Polk County school administrators giving a standardized test to a blind child in a persistent vegetative state. Herald/Times.

State grades: The state Board of Education should listen to parents and educators who want to put the brakes on the grading plan, writes The Ledger.

Pay raises: Pasco County's superintendent recommends new salary schedules for administrators and non-bargaining personnel that would increase their pay by 4 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively. Tampa Bay Times. The roughly 6,000 Palm Beach school district service employees like bus drivers, custodians and electricians will get a 4 percent raise under a new tentative labor agreement. Palm Beach Post.

School boards: Pinellas County School Board members vote unanimously to change the time allotted for public comments from the beginning of their meetings to the end, despite initial concerns the switch would discourage public participation. The Tampa Tribune. More from the Tampa Bay Times. The Palm Beach County school board hears some tough talk on a still-sparse budget for next school year. Palm Beach Post.

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Traditional schools: Broward County revamps several struggling schools and sees a boost in technology use and enrollment. Sun Sentinel. Duval's superintendent tells residents that approval of a bond issue could result in students of the highest-poverty schools gaining wireless Internet and greater access to laptops and computers. Florida Times-Union. Five struggling schools in Pinellas County have made significant improvements during the year, the state Department of Education says, but they still aren't up to par. The Tampa Tribune. Hillsborough's schools security chief retires. The Tampa Tribune. Hernando County schools prioritize spending. Tampa Bay Times. Manatee County elementary students learn about energy conservation through a traveling theater program. Bradenton Herald.

Magnet schools: A Broward County middle school starts a pre-law program next school year that will offer a class to teach students how to argue. Sun Sentinel.

STEM: Students from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties compete in a Lego robotics contest. Palm Beach Post. 

Common Core: The Department of Education's effort to rename the Common Core State Standards does little to end Florida's education debate. Miami Herald. Teachers and principals adjust to the state's continual educational changes. Tampa Bay Times. The proposal deserves a fair hearing next month, writes the Tampa Bay Times.

MLK Day: Meet the man who helped integrate Sarasota High School. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Desegregation occurred slowly in Sarasota County. Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Blake High student prepares to recite "I Have a Dream'' speech. The Tampa Tribune.

Smart Cities: Tom Vander Ark names Miami as one of the Smart Cities in his blog series that looks at what communities are doing right to improve education. Getting Smart.

Zero tolerance: New federal school-discipline guidelines for school districts released this month are desperately needed — and school districts must take the voluntary advice to heart, writes Darryl E. Owens for the Orlando Sentinel. (more…)

Private schools: A Broward County private K-12 welcomes Animal Planet's "Gator Boys'' to help open the school's $600,000 center that provides students with an outdoor classroom. Sun Sentinel.

District schools: A Brevard County elementary school wins a statewide contest for a video that promotes reading. Florida Today. Plans for a cell tower at a Naples elementary school campus are on hold. Naples Daily News. It’s the time of year when thousands of children and parents in Lee County make a decision on which school they want to attend. Fort Myers News-Press. An internal auditor reviews Pasco County schools and suggests looking more closely at the way money flows inside the campuses. Tampa Bay Times.

Charter schools: A new report looks at the lasting impacts charters have on students and whether the schools help determine paychecks later in life. The answer, in a word, is yes, writes Collin Hitt for Jay P. Greene's blog.

Florida Virtual School: For the first time, FLVS offers an opportunity for online students outside of the state to earn their high school diploma through a virtual school. GettingSmart. The state Supreme Court will hear arguments April 28 in a dispute about whether Florida Virtual School can sue K12 Inc. for alleged trademark infringement. News Service of Florida.

Mental health:  Sandy Pines Residential Treatment Center in Palm Beach County opens with three dozen new beds to fill the growing need for more mental health care for children. Palm Beach Post.

School safety: The ACLU responds to Hillsborough County's security proposal with a letter that contends the more guards you put in the schools, the more likely you are to criminalize behavior that could better be corrected without exposing the child to the criminal justice system. Tampa Bay Times.

Jeb Bush: The former Florida governor addresses ideas about immigration, education and the plight of youths in a speech at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts. Florida Times-Union. (more…)