Trio of chiefs on board for district
As staffing, security needs ramp up, school police get help with transition.
The Palm Beach County School Police Department has gone from one chief to three – one incoming, one outgoing and one former. And a major to spare — at least for now.
In making over its in-house police department, school district leaders last week hired Jupiter’s Frank Kitzerow Jr. to preside over what will eventually be a much larger force. But the man he’s replacing, Lawrence Leon, won’t be going home. Leon was written out of his old job, but he remains among the ranks for at least another year, district officials said last week.
Meanwhile, administrators also have brought in Jim Kelly, the man who preceded Leon as chief and retired in 2012.
This month, the district cut Kelly a check for $25,000 to cover two
months of consulting that will end July 31. And there is no word yet on what will happen to one of the district’s police majors, who happens to also be the new chief ’s wife. For certain, Robin Griffin-Kitzerow will not report to her husband, said Chief Academic Officer Keith Oswald. Instead, she’ll work on the district’s academic side; it’s just not clear where yet, he said Thursday. The road to preparing the district’s police department to meet state mandates in the wake of the Parkland shooting has been bumpy. The 160-officer department places at least one officer in every middle and high school, but the district is racing to cover every elementary as well, as the law demands. Ultimately, the district hopes to do that with 75 new hires, but staffing up by the first day of school, Aug. 13, has been challenging. Superintendent Donald Fennoy announced this month that the district may have to rely on private security guards to make sure all 107 elementaries are covered. The move Fennoy once eschewed comes after Sheriff Ric Bradshaw refused a request to have 50 overtime deputies do the work in schools in his territory and offered just 10. By Wednesday, the district took another hit. As Kitzerow awaited his formal introduction at the School Board, State Attorney Dave Aronberg held a news conference across town to broadcast a grand jury report excoriating school leaders for investing too few resources in keeping students safe. Kitzerow, whose first day on the job is July 2, demurred when asked to respond to criticisms that the department had too few officers and are underpaid. “Right now, I have one mission ahead of me, to do everything necessary to ensure students, staff and principals are safe. I don’t want to get sidetracked,” Kitzerow said. “Before I weigh in on that, let me take a look internally.” Kitzerow said what was getting lost in the grand jury discussion is the work the department has done for years. “They do an incredible job. Is there room for improvement? Yes, and we’re going to take it to the next level,” Kitzerow said. “I’ve worked with Dave Aronberg. I’ve worked with Sheriff Bradshaw. We are all going to work together to do what’s in the best interest of our children.” Kitzerow’s first collaboration may be a little closer to headquarters. It will be up to Kitzerow to decide how to best deploy his predecessor – Leon’s job title will be at his discretion, said Kitzerow’s boss, Chief Operating Officer Wanda Paul. Leon was earning a base pay of just more than $133,700. Leon’s future salary will be tied to the pay scale of whatever position he is assigned, district officials said. Leon, like other staff, is working off an annual contract. Leon began his career in the Miccosukee Tribe Police Department in 1985 and worked as a school officer in Palm Beach County schools from 1991 to 2005 before landing his first chief of police title in the Sarasota School District’s department. He returned in 2012 to take over in Palm Beach County. When the district’s top brass decided to rewrite the chief ’s job description to manage more officers and broader responsibilities, Leon applied. He was among the four candidates to land an interview but didn’t make the top two who were then vetted by Fennoy, said Mark Mitchell, who ran the process from the district’s Human Resources office. Of the two, Kitzerow rose above Boynton Beach Police Assistant Chief Vanessa K. Snow, a former school police officer. Kitzerow’s base pay will be $167,500, Mitchell reports. Though the department was changing chiefs, it still had marks to hit if it wanted to claim money from the state designated for school security, and COO Paul said she needed help. That’s when she turned to former Chief Kelly. “Because of the many Marjory Stoneman Douglas Act requirements, we needed outside eyes. We also needed that historical perspective,” Paul said. “I’m not an expert in law enforcement so I needed that direction.” Tapping Leon’s expertise as he tried to keep his job at the top would put him “in an awkward position,” Paul said. Kelly is among the first four police officers to work full time in Palm Beach County Schools, assigned to Boca Raton High in the late 1970s. He later quit to attend law school but returned in 1989 as director of school security —a title the school board later changed to police chief. Kelly said that since returning to the district this month he’s focused on streamlining the hiring of officers. As of last week, the district reported 414 applications were reviewed, 294 applicants were screened out for issues such as an expired law enforcement certificate or discipline problems, and 120 were invited to interview. So far, 87 have interviewed and the district is conducting background investigations on 36. In the next two weeks, another 33 applicants are due to be interviewed. Paul said Kelly also has been instrumental in making sure safety assessments are done at every school, required to tap into the millions the state is offering. With Chief Kitzerow’s arrival, the district is working to move his wife, a major in charge of youth court. She has been with the department since 1999 and is paid $78,000 a year, according to district records. The district’s nepotism policy prohibits one spouse to appoint, employ, supervise, promote or evaluate the other. Chief Academic Officer Oswald said he spoke to Griffin-Kitzerow on Thursday. “She brings a lot to the table on this side of the work we do,” Oswald said. Griffin-Kitzerow has expertise in student mental health and youth court – where two officers report to her, he said. He’ll be looking for the best fit in the upcoming weeks. Conversations have included moving the youth court program but also opportunities created as a result of the state’s new requirements to provide more mental health services to students. Until days before the interviews in Palm Beach County, both Kitzerows appeared poised to move to Florida’s west coast as finalists for two different police chief positions in Sarasota County. Frank Kitzerow was one of four finalists in the running for the city of North Port’s police department until he asked city officials to remove his name from the list earlier this month. At the same time, Griffin-Kitzerow had risen to the top three names in the running for Sarasota Schools police chief. But local reports indicate she also withdrew her application around the same time.