Broward invests in security upgrades

District says millions will be spent on new officers and counselors

Broward schools promise more secure campuses this fall with hundreds of new employees to protect students.

The district plans to add about 500 security personnel — including armed guardians and unarmed security specialists and monitors — to the current of staff of 745. The plan includes beefing up unarmed security in elementary schools and armed guardians in high schools and large middle schools.

But not included are any new police officers at schools.

“There are significant vacancies in law enforcement, I think about 300 in the county, so getting additional [school resource officers] wasn’t really feasible,” Superintendent Robert Runcie said at a recent meeting.

The new positions are funded mostly through a referendum passed by taxpayers last year that raises $93 million a year for four years. Most of the money will pay for teacher raises, but $19 million will be used for security and $8 million will pay for additional guidance counselors, social workers and nurses.

Security has become a top issue for the district since the massacre Feb. 14, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, which left 17 dead. At the time, the 3,200-student campus only had one police officer, and he failed confront the shooter. The school has had several officers on campus since the tragedy.

The referendum plan calls for every school to have at least one police officer or armed guardian for every 1,000 students. That means a school like Cypress Bay, which has about 4,700 students and two police officers, would get at least two more people with guns.

The district’s plan, which officials say may still be tweaked, calls for:

■ Double the number of armed guardians, from 47 to 93.

■ More than twice as many unarmed campus security monitors, from 328 to 686. Many will be placed in elementary schools, which currently have no unarmed security officials.

■ An increase of 48 security specialists, bringing the total up to 196. These are are unarmed security personnel who are higher paid and have more leadership responsibilities than monitors.

School police officers would remain at 197.

The plan calls for 25 armed security and 50 unarmed to be part of a floater pool to fill any absences, said Judith Marte, chief financial officer. They may also be assigned to schools where there is chatter on social media about something problematic. If schools were fully covered, they would provide additional support, she said.

“They would be assigned every day. They would not be sitting waiting for an assignment,” Marte said.

The district is allocating $1.3 million to charter schools so they can get additional armed security. Spokeswoman Cathleen Brennan said the amoputn

each school would get is still being determined. She refused to say which schools would get the money, referring a reporter to the department that handles public records requests. Based on past discussions, schools would likely need 1,000 students to qualify for any money.

District officials say they continue to make physical security enhancements too, including more video surveillance cameras, upgraded intercoms and improvements to radio communications.

Brennan said all schools are expected to have single points of entry for the new school year. These are gates and fences that limit access to only the front office. The final 12 schools without these have projects under construction and are scheduled to be

complete this summer, Brennan said.

One security feature that continues to be debated is metal detectors. The district proposed a pilot project at Stoneman Douglas last year and then abruptly halted the plan after a security consultant cited logistical and financial obstacles to implementing them.

Brennan said the district plans to continue discussing the issue with the community before making any decisions.

“The district will continue to enhance the layers of security at schools throughout the school year – increasing security staff, providing training, and enhancing technology and infrastructure, as part of the ongoing focus on ensuring safe and secure learning environments for students and staff,” she said.