LAKELAND, Fla. -- At 6’3”, 280 pounds, newly graduated guardian Ronnie Ghent looks like he could be an NFL fullback. That’s because he was.
“It happens all across the country, it’s like, when football’s over, what’s next?” Ghent asked.
What’s next for Lakeland native Ronnie Ghent required hours of grueling training. This time, off the football field.
The former member of the Cincinnati Bengals and New Orleans Saints is now a member of the first graduating class of Polk County’s school guardian program.
He and the other graduates underwent firearms training, psychological testing and a background check. Of the roughly 600 people who applied to be a Polk County guardian, only 87 made the cut.
“It’s just like in my football days,” Ghent said. “You got to be up for the challenge, and you want to go through and make it through, and that’s what happened.”
Ghent has worked for the school district supervising in-school suspension and substitute teaching for several years before deciding to become a guardian.
Unlike Ghent, about half of the guardians are former law enforcement or military. Although not technically a law enforcement officer, guardian Jocelyn Rodriguez hopes it launches her career.
“Children are our future, and at the end of the day we need to protect our kids,” she said.
Sheriff Grady Judd helped create the program. School districts across the state will soon implement it.
“These folks are well-trained,” Judd explained. “They’re special people, and they’re willing to give up their life to protect your children.”
Andrew Pollack was also at the ceremony. Since losing his daughter Meadow in the Parkland shooting, he’s made it his mission to make schools safer.
“This means so much to me that these kids are going to be safer, and my daughter just didn’t die in vain and we made a difference,” he said.
Pollack and the guardians hope they never need their training, but they say they’re ready to use it if they do.
Two smaller classes of guardians will graduate soon. They will be in elementary schools and charter schools across the county by the start of the school year.
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