TITUSVILLE, Fla. — With Parkland parent Andrew Pollack at his side, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that he's issuing an executive order to direct the Florida Department of Education and law enforcement agencies to make changes to school safety policies.
- DeSantis issues executive order addressing school safety policies
- Florida governor wants plan for "school hardening" by July 1
- DeSantis made Brevard appearance with Parkland parent Andrew Pollack
The governor is demanding a July 1 deadline for a plan for "school hardening."
At the news conference in Brevard County on Tuesday, DeSantis said he would issue the executive order based on recommendations by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission.
The governor wants school districts and the Department of Education to work with the juvenile justice system to develop best practices for school safety, saying if there is no accountability in schools, students will have none later in life.
"We are in a very strong position for our schools being hard targets," said Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey, whose district security serves 104 school campuses, with 66 current sworn deputies as school resource officers.
Among the provisions in the order, DeSantis is demanding that the Department of Education and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to develop a centralized data reseource for school threat assessment teams.
Another directive is for FDLE to implement a statewide threat assessment to pinpoint possible suspects for shootings such as Parkland. DeSantis said the program was already in its infancy and likened it to FBI and Secret Service programs for pinpointing potential threats to government officials.
DeSantis is also ordering the Department of Education to examine all school district leniency programs with the Department of Juvenile Justice and develop best practices by the July 1 deadline.
The Stoneman Douglas Commission criticized the Broward County School District's Promise Program for allowing the Parkland shooter, who took part in the program, to slip through the cracks.
DeSantis said the education department should have provided guidance on programs like these, and criticized the agency for not providing that guidance sooner.
DeSantis is also directing the Department of Education to reopen the window for local law enforcement to apply for funds to implement the armed guardian program for school campuses. DeSantis says $50 million is still available, because the original application window for the program was closed before many counties could access the money.
"The acts at Pulse Nightclub, the Fort Lauderdale Airport, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Jacksonville Landing, the yoga studio in Tallahassee and just a few weeks ago, the SunTrust Bank in Sebring have all been avoidable tragedies. We live in a new era of policing as authorities now have analytical tools they can follow that will impede further violence," DeSantis' office said in a statement.
Counties now have until April 1 to apply for that money to hire and trained armed guardians in public schools.
Statewide Grand Jury
DeSantis announced in Broward County later Wednesday that he has filed a petition for a statewide grand jury to take a closer look at school safety in Florida.
The governor said he wants to examine how "districts have handled money for security and handled all of these issues that impact the safety of our schools."
The grand jury investigation will take a look at districts across the state and examine any crime or wrong-doing in implementing school safety initiatives, including mismanaging funds, or underreporting criminal activity to FDLE.