ORLANDO, Fla. — A grand jury report says school districts should do more to keep students safe.
- Gov. DeSantis commissioned grand jury to evaluate school districts
- Goal was to see how Florida school districts are complying with school safety recommendations
The findings come after Gov. Ron DeSantis asked the grand jury to evaluate how school districts were complying with recommendations made after the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida nearly two years ago.
The Orange County Public School District is one of nearly 30 school districts across the state that rejected a recommendation to arm teachers and other school personnel. OCPS decided it was best to leave that to law enforcement officers who work as school resource officers in schools.
But in the nearly 18-page report, the grand jury says the Florida Department of Education should check to see if that’s the safest option, especially for larger schools.
A commission recommended school districts begin a guardian program, which would arm teachers and other school personnel so they would be ready to defend students in situations like school shootings.
School districts who don’t participate are required to have at least one school resource officer on duty.
But the report from a statewide grand jury questions whether that’s enough, and it recommends state education officials evaluate the safety of schools in those districts and require larger schools with more incidents to add more school resource officers to keep them safe.
The report also recommends guardians in place in 38 participating districts undergo the same psychological evaluations that regular law enforcement officers have to go through – to keep the program safe.
The report also recommends charter schools have school resource officers in place, something the report found is not always happening.
The grand jury said it released this report now because it hopes it will prompt state leaders to take their recommendations and consider them for potential legislation in the upcoming legislative session early next year in Tallahassee.