Grand jury report on school safety ‘shocks the senses’

School safety and security in South Florida was redefined in Parkland on Feb. 14, 2018.

In the weeks, months and now almost two years since, students, parents and communities demanded change and lawmakers responded with laser focus and stunning speed.

That’s why the Florida grand jury report published last week shocks the senses.

In the 18 pages, jurors document how school districts have lagged or flat-out failed to put into practice mandatory security fixes.

Of Florida’s 67 counties, only two districts are named in the report — MiamiDade and Broward.

Some of the headlines: ■ Emergency radio systems identified early on as deficient still aren’t fixed. Jurors cite power struggles and turf wars.

■ They say the new mandate for armed security in schools has become political, and met with minimal compliance.

■ Dangerous behaviors in schools still go unreported because teachers and students fear reprisal from administration.

■ And jurors accuse those administrators of cooking the books — manipulating data — to hide the numbers of dangerous incidents. That prompted an email from Miami-Dade Schools’ attorney telling the statewide prosecutor “the grand jury is mistaken.”

Broward’s Superintendent issued a public statement defending the district’s response to the mandates.

The grand jury writes that there is more to come, but they were so concerned with their findings, they wanted lawmakers to have them before session begins next month.

Within those 18 pages are suggestions for solutions, but an unsettling prediction that districts won’t comply with security measures unless there are consequences — from withholding funding to indicting administrators on criminal charges. That would be a first.

There have been so many firsts since that afternoon at Douglas High, like the attention to keeping students safe, that were a long time coming.