Florida School Districts Criticized for Failing to Enact Required Safety Measures

Florida School Districts Criticized for Failing to Enact Required Safety Measures

A report that was recently released by a statewide grand jury chastises Florida school districts for failing to comply with safety measures that were set out after the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

  • By Kaitlyn DeHaven
  • July 31, 2019

The first report from a statewide grand jury chastises Florida school districts for failing to enact required safety measures.

The interim report was released a few weeks ago by Attorney General Ashley Moody and warns school districts that they must quickly start complying with safety measures passed by the Legislature following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting.

One armed person is required in every campus, and law enforcement must be involved in assessments to determine the level of threat certain students pose due to these measures. In addition, accurate crime and safety reports must be turned into the state.

“We have heard days of testimony from Department of Education, school district and law enforcement officials regarding administrative hurdles, increased costs to their districts, and shortages of the qualified employees necessary to bring these districts into compliance with these important safety measures,” the report says. “Without discussing the specifics of their explanations, suffice it to say we find this testimony wholly unpersuasive.”

Originally, it seemed as if the grand jury was only going to be looking at Broward county in Florida, but the report suggests they are looking statewide.

"We find that law enforcement and school district officials have had sufficient time to bring their districts into compliance with these laws, and we fully expect that these officials will use the remaining days before the first day of the 2019-20 school year to do whatever it takes to bring these districts into full compliance,” the report says.

The grand jury will keep the information about which districts are not complying confidential until its term has ended.

About the Author

Kaitlyn DeHaven is the Associate Content Editor for the Infrastructure Solutions Group at 1105 Media.

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