WE NEED HIGH TECH SECURITY IN OUR SCHOOLS!

One in six Americans will set foot into a school campus every day.

Senate Republicans plan to spend 68 million to help Florida schools hire at least one safety officer for each school. There would also be 50 million in “school hardening grants”

The sheriff agreed to an armed guardian program. But there is a court challenge in Duval County to armed guardians in Florida. Existing state law allows only law enforcement to carry guns on campus.

I read the full 439 page report of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. The report cites multiple security failures that resulted in unnecessary loss of life. Gates and doors were regularly left unlocked and unstaffed for long periods of time. The shooter gained entrance to the campus unchallenged, Marjory Stoneman had no active assailant response policy and lacked Code Red Protocols or drills.

Classroom doors could only be locked from the outside; one teacher was gunned down while fumbling for his keys. Third floor bathroom doors were locked in an effort to combat vaping, cutting off another avenue to shelter. Inside the classrooms, “hard corners”(safety zones not visible from the outside)were non-existent or obstructed.

In July 2018, the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center published a guide for schools titled “Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model: An Operational Guide For Preventing School Violence.” It contains expert recommendations on reporting mechanisms, training, intervention, thresholds for law enforcement involvement, examination of social media, community involvement, building relationships, motives, inappropriate interests and access to weapons.

New York City and Chicago public school systems have had metal detectors placed in every public school for over 40 years. Initially this was done in response to the gang outbreaks and the carrying of knives to school. Instead of placing an army in our schools with a costly one day a week well paid chief , my campaign is advocating using our tax money wiser. Our SRO’s can be assisted with better technology including better use of cameras, better technologically locking doors and other measures mentioned by the U.S. Secret Service to prevent the same security failures that occurred at Stoneman Douglas. We can place metal detectors manned by private unarmed guard services under contract assisted when necessary by our current SRO’s.

Such high tech security is used in our courthouses. Why is the life of a judge, a lawyer anymore valuable than a child, their teachers, their principal, or school support staff?

While waiting for lawsuit resolution and bureaucratic red tape something can happen.

Dr. Paul John Reinhardt M.D., Republican Candidate for Citrus County Superintendent of Schools