In sniping over school safety, pols look bad

Over the past week, two of Orange County’s top officials have been involved in a testy spat. The headlines tell the story: “Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and Sheriff Jerry Demings spar over school deputy vacancies”

“Mayor, sheriff square off over school resource officers”

“Demings, Jacobs point fingers over Orange County school officer vacancies”

Sparring … squaring off … pointing fingers.

I suppose there’s a chance that these two office-holders — both of whom want voters to put them in new offices — think this bickering over school safety serves them well.

Allow me to submit it does not. It looks petty. More importantly, it looks like a lot of huffing and puffing to cover up a simple fact: They didn’t get the job done.

Each can make points — some quite valid — about what preceded this dust-up and how each had tried to address the problem.

But allow me to submit something else: Most people simply don’t care.

But Scott, the mayor showed she was serious about all this by penning a memo SIX YEARS ago that said … Don’t care.

But Scott, the sheriff ’s office has tried to warn the county for months that … Don’t care. The only thing that matters to most people is that kids are safe. And when the Sentinel reported — just four days before classes started — that there still weren’t plans to have full-time deputies stationed at all Orange County schools, it was clear they hadn’t gotten the job done.

Nor had the school board, the group obviously most responsible for school issues, but largely MIA in this debate.

And we know it’s not too much to ask all these people to get the job done — because other districts already did it.

Seminole County has had dedicated officers in every school for three years now, long before the state mandated it.

There was no screaming. No dueling press conferences.

When I asked Seminole Sheriff Dennis Lemma how it happened, he responded: “We came together with [Superintendent] Walt Griffin, members of our school board, and county commissioners to make this a funding priority for us.”

Teamwork. Cooperation. Imagine that. And how did they pay for it? “We made it a budget priority,” Griffin said.

That’s really what this is about. That is what government spending is always about: priorities.

And in Orange County, this issue obviously hasn’t been enough of a priority to get the

job done.

So suddenly we have a blame game right as the school year begins — and just two weeks before the 2018 primaries.

Competing in those primaries: Mayor Jacobs, who now wants to be school chair; Sheriff Demings, who now wants to be mayor; county commissioner Pete Clarke, who also wants to be mayor; school board member Nancy Robbinson, who now wants to be school chair; and school board member Christine Moore, who wants to be a county commissioner.

Every one of these people has been in a position to address this issue now. And every one is seeking another position in the same cluster of offices.

It’s like musical chairs, except without music or prizes. Or solutions, in this case.

Now, another major culprit in all of this is the governor and legislators — who have never funded education properly.

Florida ranks near the bottom for everything from teacher pay (45th) to per-pupil funding (44th). And school safety is no different.

The governor and Legislature mandated protectors in every school but only provided enough money for part-time security guards. Just this past week, the state’s own newly created Office of Safe Schools said sheriffs everywhere agreed funding was inadequate.

When districts such as Seminole put officers in every school, they may be doing the right thing — but they’re also diverting funds away from other needed programs.

A sad reality is that an officer in every school won’t, of course, guarantee safety. The school in Parkland, after all, had an officer.

But we generally protect things we value. Heck, most of the politicians I mentioned above have armed guards around them whenever they meet. Protection is an ugly, needed reality in our increasingly violent world. Thoughts and prayers aren’t enough.

Honestly, I think both Jacobs and Demings know this.

I also think there’s a good chance both will get elected to the offices they seek. So they might as well work together as soon as possible. Because the best way to prove you’re ready for the next job is to excel at your current one.