Schools want more security, safer dismissal system

SARASOTA — According to a new quarterly state-mandated risk assessment, Florida school districts must prove their security plan works.

While Sarasota County Schools continually passes its state checkups, recent district polls revealed schools want even more protection.

HB 1473 — a school safety bill signed into law by Gov. Ron Desantis in May and made effective on July 1 — requires quarterly inspections, school compliance visits and safe school officer checks.

Only nine school safety officer checks have been conducted during the current school year, though officials said the absence of state inspections in Sarasota is a good thing.

Jason Overbay, director of safety and security, said focus has shifted to underperforming districts, as all 62 Sarasota schools passed state inspections.

All schools have been checked in the last three years with no major safety or security violations, Overbay said, and the county was visited “extensively” in the last quarter of the 2023-24 school year.

The school district must also comply with the Florida Safe School Assessment Tool, which stems from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act in 2018 and SB 7030 in 2019.

The state law requires schools districts to use the FSSAT to self-assess the success of their safety and security practices — also know as the School Security Risk Assessment.

Results from the risk assessment are then used by state officials to assign grant funding to fill holes in a school district’s security plan.

Though a leader in school safety in Florida, officials said meeting the state’s standards “is not enough.”

Overbay proposed a list of security upgrades using available hardened funds to mirror the suggestions polled from schools district-wide.

According to the poll results shared during Tuesday’s school workshop presentation, 31.5% of schools feel fencing improvements are needed.

With recent damage from hurricanes Helene and Milton, officials estimated need for additional fencing has risen even more.

But during Tuesday’s Board meeting, some residents disagreed with the suggestion.

Logan Lopez, former Sarasota High student, said open spaces around campus helped him feel more confident he could escape school grounds during an emergency.

“With these big fences up, the students — when seconds count — the students can’t get out,” Lopez said.

Plans for perimeter fencing also intersected with school dismissal problems.

According to the poll, schools want more efficient student pickup systems, with 38.5% pushing for traffic calming and dismissal systems to improve student safety.

Overbay said fencing assists security staff with tracking the movement and locations of students for safety and efficiency purposes.

“It’s kind of a combination of everything,” Overbay said. “And we’re trying to find that tool that meets all those needs.”

Michael Kemp, assistant superintendent, said the two biggest requests to alleviate dismissal congestion were vehicle stacking for entry and exit lanes and speed bumps.

On the first day of school, a Booker Middle School student was airlifted to a nearby hospital with critical injuries after being struck by her parent’s vehicle during morning drop off.

The number of safety risk tips for Sarasota County has gone up on FortifyFL since last month’s school shooting and three local arrests made after threats to North Port High.

According to the safety assessment poll, 64% of schools feel more school‐assigned security personnel is needed.

Many schools feel communication needs enhancement, with 66% stating Wi‐Fi or LTE signal boosters would improve communication and student learning.

During Tuesday’s Board workshop, Jacob Ruiz, school district police chief, said communication is the biggest issue faced during emergencies on campus.

During the assessment review, the district announced it has received grant funding to remap every school in the district, including charter schools.

The mapping will be provided to all emergency responders so they can access school maps during an emergency without going through a district‐owned system.

Board member Tom Edwards questioned why the communication with first responders was not already in place through a multi-million dollar deal with Motorola Solutions.

Overbay said the plan is still in phase two of training police officers due to increasing turnover on the county level.

Though he said SCS has already exceeded the state requirement for school shooting trained officers, Overbay said he wants to extend the learning opportunity to county staff who could benefit from the emergency training.

“The system is functioning, we are not adding anything,” Overbay said. “It’s just an area that we never want to say we’re done in.”