- September 10, 2024
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In May, Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a new law requiring more safety measures for schools — including a new reporting requirement for guardian programs and enforcement of locked access points, such as gates and doors.
Regarding the locked access points, Florida House Bill 1473 dictated this should be in place by Aug. 1, but Volusia County Schools rolled it out in May, hoping to give teachers and staff an opportunity to find solutions should problems arise, said Capt. Todd Smith, director of safety and security for Volusia County Schools, during a School Board workshop on Tuesday, Aug. 13.
"Obviously, there are a lot of different steps," Smith said. "There's a lot to this law, but we've been working with them to try to make it as convenient as possible."
After the first day of school, issues such as confusion over locked gates and doors arose at schools, which were highlighted by School Board members at the workshop.
This is another unfunded mandate, Superintendent Carmen Balgobin said.
"Captain has walked every single campus with our Student Services Department and our Operational Division because each of our campuses are different," Balgobin said. "... So he's had to walk, from the time that the law has been enacted, every single campus to determine where the nooks and crannies are."
The principals have been "amazing in problem solving," she added. What the district will do in the upcoming weeks is speak with them about what is working well and what needs to be addressed.
School Board member Ruben Colon said he'd like for the district to have conversations with legislature to illustrate what the changes they are mandating look like — like the requirement that all campus access doors, gates and access points be either electronically or manually controlled by school personnel to let visitors, students and staff inside a school campus.
"Let's show you what it means in the morning, if it's storming that someone has to stand at the teacher gate to let the teachers as they come in one after the other," Colon said. "... Maybe they didn't think of that. It's not criticism. It's, 'What is the application?'"
Colon spoke about implementing electronic methods to control gates, which are being implemented at some schools. To implement that at all schools, however, would take funding he said. Supplemental school funding that would otherwise be used for clubs or other school-based programs was used to staff gates at some schools, he said.
Smiith said the district is looking at the cost of staffing gates and access points versus putting in electronic systems.
"What we're doing is trying to figure out what the best and most efficient use of the resources that we have are," Smith said.
