Northwest Fla. counties devise school safety plans

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WALA) - To keep children safe, Florida superintendents brought three major points before Senator John Legg and his education committee Tuesday.  They voiced concerns with entry points into the schools, and how to keeping them few and guarded.

The superintendents also want to improve communication and deal in flexibility when it comes to student safety.

"While some of our more urban areas may need more law enforcement on campus, that's not always the case," Sen. Legg said.  "And their security needs may be different, and maybe 24-hour monitoring with cameras may be sufficient.  What they asked for was flexibility.  Flexibility on addressing the needs based on school site locations, not a one size fits all."

In Okaloosa County, Sheriff Larry Ashley has 40 armed officers stationed at every school.  He had to move 26 deputies off the streets to get it done, and is now working to back-fill those positions. 

He learned Monday the school board will fund its half of the $1.1 million gap, voting in favor 4-1.  Now, we wait a week to see what the county commission says.

Head a little west and you'll find another law enforcement agency getting the ball rolling.

"The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office and the school board have formulated a joint task force to determine exactly what the school needs are versus the staffing for school resource officers," said SRCSO spokesman Rich Aloy.

Deputies said there used to be a resource officer at all Santa Rosa County schools.  But after some budget constraints, now there's only five deputies working at county high schools.

Task force members will determine if they can change that.  Money and staffing are the issues, as law enforcement and school board officials work to ensure student safety with Sandy Hook still fresh on many minds.

"Being a parent myself, it's just something that really hits home," Aloy said.  "It is a horrible tragedy, and it's something that we need to work forward with the school system to try to work as a group to formulate some type of a plan to hopefully avoid a situation like that happening here."

Senator Legg said legislation is being discussed in both the Florida House and Senate, and he anticipates several bills will soon come forward. 

Escambia County is also discussing its own plans.  Superintendent Malcolm Thomas' office says school safety will be priority number one at the special board workshop Thursday.