Across the area, school boards are keeping a close eye on Tallahassee. They're hoping to get state money for SROs, security upgrades and mental health programs.
On Tuesday, Manatee County's school board approved paying for extra officers to be at every school in the district through the rest of the year.
We checked in with local districts to see what they've done.
Polk: Changes are apparent
Right after the Parkland shooting, Polk County deputies and local police departments beefed up patrols near schools.
The sheriff’s office, however, tells 10News that's not happening anymore unless there's a threat to a specific school.
In some schools, parents might've already noticed changes to security. At South McKeel Academy in Lakeland, the front office added a surveillance camera. Parents and other visitors have to show an ID to get in.
“I never really thought about it until everything that's been going on lately,” said Joseph Boyd, who has a son in second grade. “With the new cameras in, I feel more secure with my son being at the school, and it's just safer for everybody.”
Still, Boyd points out at his son's school and others, kids are out in the open a lot. He said he'd feel even safer if the school had an SRO.
Yet, most schools in the county don’t have an SRO. There are 45 resource officers, but there are more than 150 schools in Polk.
The district wouldn’t provide a breakdown of which schools have an SRO, citing security concerns.
However, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office tells 10News all public high schools have an SRO. Most middle schools do too. Elementary schools usually don't.
The Polk County School Board met this week to talk security. That conversation happened behind closed doors, but parents could hear publicly about more changes to security soon.
The district wouldn't answer several other specific questions about student safety, again, citing security concerns.
Hillsborough performs lockdown drills
We asked the Hillsborough County School District what have they done over the past two weeks to improve school safety. Here's what they said:
"The Superintendent directed all principals to review their campuses and bring any security concerns to the district's attention. We have secure campuses that may include fences, gates and locked doors. We cannot go into any specifics on our security measures. We do encourage teachers, students or parents to bring any of their concerns to their principal's attention."
While the school district is not keeping a central list of safety measures being done, we have learned from parents that the Hillsborough County School District sent out a video to all schools that reviewed the district’s security procedures. And that schools have done lock-down drills.
But Steve Netta, a parent of two kids in the Hillsborough County School District, says the biggest change he's noticed since the attack two weeks ago is better communication coming from the schools.
Despite that change, he says his kids still don't feel safe.
"I don’t know all the measures the school district is doing that are internal and that they aren’t telling us about. But what I have seen is when I went to walk into my kids school, it was not secure at all. It was easy to get in with numerous places for others to get in without being noticed,” Netta said,
“My son said they did a lockdown drill, but while it was happening my son said other kids were texting, laughing and joking around, not paying attention at all. My son thought we are definitely going to die if something terrible actually happens.”
Pinellas going school by school
Schools in Pinellas County already have a lot of security measures in place that other school districts are just now adopting, but Pinellas County Schools spokeswoman Lisa Wolf confirms administrators are going school-by-school looking for any urgent changes that need to be made right now.
So far, no significant countywide changes have been made, and the school board is waiting for more direction from state lawmakers before considering things like adding additional officers or security systems.
The district tells 10News that currently, every middle and high school has a school resource officer assigned to the school and elementary schools and other school centers are manned by Pinellas County Schools police.
Also:
- All campuses now have a single entry point equipped with video surveillance.
- Frequent visitors like volunteers and school vendors must undergo a background check
- All school administrators receive safety and security measure training
In addition, each school is required to create a safety and security plan that’s submitted to the district annually on top of the immediate assessment that’s going on right now.
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the 10 News app now.
Have a news tip? Email tips@wtsp.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
