Florida Senate Looks to Revise Its Controversial School Guardian Law

Florida Senate Looks to Revise Its Controversial School Guardian Law

The potential revision was prompted by Palm Beach County schools using a private security firm to train its school guardians instead of the sheriff’s office.

  • By Sherelle Black
  • September 12, 2019

The Florida Senate is looking to revise the controversial school guardian bill just four months after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law.

SB 7030 states all public schools in Florida are required to have police officers or specially trained guards. Under the law, classroom teachers can also be armed.

The News Service of Florida reported Senate President Bill Galvano wants to clarify the law and clearly outline the training requirements for armed school personnel.

The potential revision was prompted by Palm Beach County schools using a private security firm to train its school guardians instead of the sheriff’s office.

The school district’s lawyer understood the law to mean private firms could also train the security, reported the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The sheriff’s office discovered the company, Invictus Security, was passing students who failed shooting and firearm tests.

The office also found the company passed candidates that did not meet psychological qualifications as well.

Upon discovery of the botched training job, the school district abruptly terminated the contract with the company.

Now, Invictus is suing the school board alleging the board owes the firm about $100,000. However, the school board said due to the passage of students who failed tests by Invictus the contract is void as the company broke the terms of the agreement.

“Failure to train the school security guards in compliance with SB 7030, endangered the health, safety and/or welfare of the Palm Beach County School District’s students or employees,” the school board said in a Sept. 5 response to the lawsuit.

The Senate’s potential revision would not be able to be considered until the next legislative session begins in January.

About the Author

Sherelle Black is a Content Editor for the Infrastructure Solutions Group at 1105 Media.

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