Private And Charter School Safety

The Florida legislature, despite differences and disagreements on gun and school safety controls, moved forward to pass The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. Its two main provisions are raising the age to buy guns and having at least one school resource officer in every public school.

A 2017-2018 annual report from the Florida Department of Education details 370,166 students enrolled in private schools. That was more than 11% of the total PK-12 student enrollment statewide.

Alachua County had 4,480 children enrolled in private institutions.

While there have been very few incidents of gun violence occurring within private or charter schools, what choices do students of these institutions have in the advent of an active shooter situation?

“What we do is we make our patrol officers aware of those locations with a high population of children and on those private campuses so we can respond quickly and effectively,” Alachua County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Brett Rhodenizer said. He said his office’s community outreach program also allows private school students to meet and connect with deputies as more than a law enforcement individual.

Rhodenizer praised one particular aspect of the school safety law: It created a mix of school resource officers and guardians.

“I think you start to see people asking the right question, ‘How do we ensure that there is someone like a school resource deputy, a safety professional licensed and trained?’ It’s a significant undertaking for our charter schools,” Rhodenizer said.

Charters are publicly-funded but privately-run schools. They have the freedom to quickly change their curriculum and hire teachers without a union contract. Along with 45 public schools and centers, there are 15 charter schools in Alachua County.

While the state legislature workshopped the safety plan for charter school earlier this year, Alachua County’s school board voted against arming school employees. That part of the state act is named the “Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program” in honor of the assistant football coach who was also slain in the Parkland shooting.

Since August 6th, 13 charter schools have decided to individually participate in the Guardianship program and 132 hours of state-mandated training. The final cost is based on a total of 496 hours of instructor time, according to Rhodenizer. The Sheriff’s Office is allowed to charge up to $500 per guardian student and schools could use state grants to offset some costs.

“Private school personnel is not eligible to be a guardian under the current statute, “Rhodenizer elaborated, while these schools can still contract with law enforcement for a safety officer.

Without a school resource officer, Rhodenizer said communications could be a challenge for both his office and the schools’ security personnel.