JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Duval County School Board on Tuesday morning heard a presentation about what went wrong in Parkland in 2018 when 17 people were killed in a school shooting.
It’s part of a program established by the state legislature to help schools be more prepared.
But it doesn’t come without controversy.
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The presenter said effective school safety measures may include things that may be controversial including armed people on campus. But that’s not something everyone accepts.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri is the chair of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. He has more than 40 years of law enforcement experience.
He told the Duval County school board that Florida schools should be prepared not if another school shooting happens — but for when.
“When we consider school safety, the day that you think you’re safe, is the day you’re vulnerable,” Gualtieri said.
He noted Marjory Stoneman Douglas did not have an active assailant response policy in 2018 and very few people on campus had a communication device to alert others as the attack was underway. Also, classroom doors were unlocked.
In Duval County, there are policies in place where protocol fell short in Parkland. Classroom doors must be locked during instruction and they have regular active shooter drills where students are taught things like going to “a hard corner” in the classroom, with the hardest angle for a bullet to reach in the event of someone shooting through the classroom door.
Duval County also gives staff badges where pressing a button can start a code red with lights and sirens.
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DCPS has at least one armed person at each school. They include School Resource Officers (SROs), trained security guards, or staff hired and trained specifically to carry a gun they do not include armed teachers or principals.
Some women from the advocacy group Moms Demand Action said they feel like there should be more focus on curbing school shootings through things like gun control and that we should not accept that school shootings are inevitable.