PASCO COUNTY, Fla. -- Pasco County schools has started training for their new school safety guards and the first wave of trainees are wrapping up the program. 

  • Busy week of training for Pasco school safety guards
  • 53 new safety guards to start next school year
  • Guards to have 10 years in law enforcement or military

Pasco County schools hired 53 school safety guards to start next school year.

They have been training with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office at Roushe Middle School in Land O' Lakes on a number of tactics, including first aid, defensive techniques, and gun safety. 

This week the group will go to the gun range to qualify with the firearm they will be carrying in school. They will also need to pass a psychological evaluation as well as an agility test. 

Pasco Superintendent Kurt Browning said the training isn't just about confronting an active threat. 

"We want to make sure that when we put these men and women in our elementary schools that it's just not certainly to provide safety, but to build the relationships with these students," Browning said. 

Officials said the trainees know exactly what they are getting into in this program and that they need at least ten years experience in law enforcement or the military.