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Broward School Board Hears Initial Security Assessment From Firm Hired After Parkland Shooting

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PARKLAND (CBSMiami) – On the eve of the first day of school, Broward County Public Schools scrambled to comply with new state legislation that requires schools to have an armed officer on campus.

The new legislation stems from the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglass Senior High back in February.  Tuesday, Broward schools reached out to the City of Fort Lauderdale for help in providing 13 officers to cover a shortage.

"We're very thankful for our partners at Fort Lauderdale who after a conversation today indicated that they would be able to fill in gaps while we await more guardians to come out of the program," said Broward County Public Schools Chief of Staff Jeff Moquin.

Moquin is referring to armed guardians that have been training to protect students on campus.  As it turns out, the number of guardians that successfully completed the program wasn't as high as first anticipated.  But he says the main reason for the last-minute scramble was the district's reliance on a third party company which was supposed to provide detail officers to fill in gaps.

"This morning we learned that the efforts weren't as successful as we wanted and as we looked at deploying the existing guardians that we have through the program, we realized that we were going to need to speak to several municipalities about them being able to come in and help us as well," said Moquin.

As the school district dealt with the shortage of armed guards, Broward County School Board members met for four hours Tuesday going over a lengthy report on school security and safety.

Michael Dorn, the Executive Director of Safe Havens International, presented a series of recommendations about everything from security cameras to metal detectors districtwide for the county's more than 200 schools.

But first, Safe Havens recommends not doing too much too quickly.

"We would caution you about moving too fast," said Dorn.

Safe Havens is recommending:

  • Smart cameras.
  • More portable radios & equipment to boost reliability & reach on campus.
  • Panic alarm buttons at key school areas.
  • Improved access systems to get into schools.
  • Creating a Chief Security Officer position and other subordinate positions.
  • Adding more emergency preparedness training.

As students return to Stoneman Douglas Wednesday, one day after the 6 month anniversary of the tragedy,  a number of parents told CBS 4 News they have serious concerns about safety and security at the school. They wanted metal detectors and can't understand why they're not in place. Parent Tracy Lund told the School Board that's exactly how she feels.

"How are you going to tell me that no one else on the campus is going to have a gun or a knife in their backpack?" Lund said.

The School District says they have not made a decision on whether to go ahead with the metal detector pilot program at Stoneman Douglas that's been discussed for the past few months.

Safe Havens will now undertake a second portion of their review, assessing the operations of each school in the district.

Once that report is complete at the end of October, public hearings will be held and decisions will be made.

The report by Safe Havens positively cites the security and safety work done by the District in recent years.

"The District has expended considerable time, energy and fiscal resources to enhance safety, security and emergency preparedness," the report says, adding that Broward Schools has employees who want to increase security and make commitment to improving safety districtwide. The report called that an  "Invaluable asset."

The goal for the District and Safe Havens is clear — they want to find a balance between real security and security that simply makes people feel better.

"I think one of the worst things we can do is a false sense of security," Dorn said.

In another development, late Tuesday the city of Fort Lauderdale announced they are providing 13 police officers to county schools for the next five days to meet a state mandate to have an armed officer at each school.

The city says the Broward County School Board called the city and told them they were not able to meet that requirement and needed a temporary solution.

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