Grand jury that was formed after Parkland shooting calls for increased mental-health services
The statewide grand jury created to investigate the public safety and security issues highlighted by the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School underscored the dire need for mental-health services.
Putting the word “system,” in quotes, the grand jury lambasted Florida’s mental-health system.
“To put it bluntly, our mental health care “system” — if one can even call it that — is a mess,” the report stated.
“We cannot overstate the importance of addressing these deficiencies,” the report read. “It is clear to us that inadequately addressed mental-health issues have the peculiar potential to spiral out over time into criminal acts and violent behavior resulting
in serious injury and loss of life.”
The grand jury broke the issue down into three parts: financial, service and leadership.
It pointed out that Florida provides less funding per capita than any other state for mental healthcare and treatment. It asked the state to not only provide more funding for the diagnosis and treatment of mental-health issues, but also alleviate overburdened agencies so they can have flexibility to properly diagnose and treat accordingly.
The grand jury encouraged coordination among local, state and federal agencies, and said a comprehensive database including data from multiple agencies, such as the Florida Department of Children and Families, the Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Juvenile Justice, would help along with proper leadership.
The grand jury’s report noted the impact the coronavirus pandemic would have on the state budget, but warned: “Students are going to go back to school, and somewhere, a school shooting is going to happen again.”
In the 24-page report issued Thursday, the grand jury reemphasized the importance of school district accountability, particularly at charter schools, and in proper reporting of disciplinary incidents. Both topics were named as areas of concern in the grand jury’s previous report.
The grand jury took issue with loosely defined disciplinary infractions and recommended that school police chiefs be legally required to be elected or report to a county sheriff. School district officials and school administrators should not be allowed to determine which disciplinary incidents should be referred to law enforcement.
The grand jury also encouraged the Florida Legislature to give the Florida Department of Education the resources to investigate incomplete or inaccurate disciplinary reports submitted by school districts, with sanctions and criminal penalties for underreporting or misreporting of data.
The grand jury also called for accountability regarding what it termed as school “district-run building, permitting and inspection regimes” and recommended that the Florida Legislature pass a law banning school districtrun building, permitting and inspection departments in the State of Florida.