There is proposed legislation that would allow Broward County voters to establish a special taxing district to fund security, safety and mental health needs. While we very much appreciate this effort on behalf of our school district, we have concerns with this proposal. A special taxing district, if approved by the voters would not generate revenue until 2015. Although more funding is always welcome, the School Board cannot wait, and is not waiting, that long to address its safety concerns.
emphasis addedIn an effort to make the case that a special taxing district was not needed, the Superintendent and the School Board indicated that they would take a number of steps to ensure school safety. They said,
The School Board has:
- Requested our municipal and county law enforcement to increase their presence at our schools.
- Required each school to review its school safety plan. This review is in addition to the annual review that schools already are required to perform.
- Initiated a survey of each school site to determine the needs and costs to provide further hardening (e.g., retrofitting windows, doors, installing different locks).
- Assigned our limited corps of School District Police Officers to maintain an increased presence at schools that do not have full-time, dedicated School Resource Officers (SRO’s.)
- Instructed all of our schools to engage in mock emergency drills and practice lockdowns.
- Instituted additional training for our School Security Specialists and Campus Security Monitors.The School Board intends to expand its SRO Program to provide an SRO at each school. We are currently exploring options for how this can be accomplished in the immediate future.
At last night's #MSD Parent meeting, a document was read to @RobertwRuncie. It is a damning indictment of his failure to protect the students and teachers of Broward County as the Superintendent. https://t.co/Z6yaz16W0b *Thread 1/ pic.twitter.com/EjxZtA6AiQ
— Ryan Petty (@rpetty) February 7, 2019