SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Concerns over ongoing threats of violence to schools continue across the state and right here in the Tampa Bay area. On Thursday morning, the Imagine School campus in North Port went into lockdown.
Police report that a bus driver found ammunition on the bus after students were dropped off. The students linked to the school bus were questioned and thoroughly searched. Last week three students were arrested in North Port also. These incidents are more examples of ongoing threat situations with communities on edge.
"Definitely an uptick and sometimes we see like a copycat kind of phenomenon when something happens nationwide we start seeing it happen locally," Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Huffman said.
Both local law enforcement leaders and school district officials said they are on high alert to prevent any acts of violence from happening. As they seek long-term solutions, they're emphasizing mental health interventions and parental guidance as an interim way to curb the menace. The situation has the leaders putting parents to task.
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"Be active in your child's life and find out what's going on. Get involved before something happens or they post on social media," Huffman said.
"We are not joking about this," Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Terry Connor said.
This week the Sarasota School District's Safety and Security Department made a presentation about the district's mandatory quarterly safety report to the school board.
"We're well over 100 [threats] as of July 1 and 59 of them now having been since the Georgia incident and many of them as they've been investigated have been false, are not credible," Conner said.
"Our resources are readily available to act when needed, and when we're clogging the system with false reports, it is taking time and resources away for when something really happens," he said.
"Many families get very concerned [and] they take their children out of school. I completely understand that and that's a missed opportunity for them to learn" Sarasota School Board member Bridget Ziegler said.
At least one member of the school board is advocating for a different approach other than hardening schools, increasing law enforcement visibility, or focusing on mental health but one that involves change in legislation.
"It's a public health issue," Sarasota School Board member Tom Edwards said. "It's not a political issue. I wish all school board members across the state of Florida and across the country would like arms and ask for smart gun safety legislation because it's the number one killer of children."
"Let's get them the help they need so that we're not responding to the calls," Huffman said. "Getting to the kids often and early and finding out whatever the issue is and I wish I could say it's one thing we could focus on but some you see it substance abuse some you see that it's bullying."
Next week the school superintendent will meet with local law enforcement leaders to discuss the situation and increase public awareness parts of that conversation will be made available to the public through the school district's communication channels.