Hillsborough County School Board members voted down Jan. 15, a $4.1 million measure that would have added police officers to every elementary school campus in the district.
However, the board agreed to hire Michael Dorn, a nationally recognized school safety expert, to review district safety and security protocols.
The board also agreed to conduct a workshop with a security committee to explore the measures further and add more definition to officers who would be located on campuses, such as their training and job descriptions.
The vote came less than a week after Hillsborough Superintendent MaryEllen Elia proposed a long-term plan to enhance security at every elementary school.
In addition to hiring Dorn and adding 130 officers, Elia’s proposal included:
• $1.2 million for securing the remaining 10% of school facilities (failed);
• $700,000 to boost existing staff with an additional 50 security personnel for three months prior to June 30, 2013. The remaining security personnel also would be in place during the 2013/14 school year (failed); and
• $10,000 for crisis-management training (failed).
Board members said they would have liked more time to consider the measures.
“I have a problem with this agenda item only because we did not have an opportunity to talk about this as a board in a workshop setting,” board member Susan Valdes said. “I believe this is a board conversation and not something that should have come to us as a recommendation. I think this is overboard.”
The funding for the proposed measures would have come from the district’s contingency fund, which is not recurring. Once the money is spent, the board would have to depend on grants or other sources to maintain the security measures.
“It behooves this board to look at this and carefully weigh it,” board member Carol Kurdell said before the vote. “There are no guarantees when you’ve done everything you can to protect the school system, and some madman breaks in.”
Walden Lake Elementary School Principal Dina Wyatt attended the Jan. 9 press conference, during which Elia first debuted the security measures.
“It is a step in the right direction,” Wyatt said. “It is a part in that big puzzle. School is a different place now from when I went to school.”
Elia agrees.
“I wish this wasn’t necessary,” she said. “I wish we didn’t have to consider any of these strategies, but the world has changed since I was in school. It changed again on Dec. 14 (the date of the Sandy Hook shooting).”
The district already utilizes 78 school resource officers at middle and high schools through a partnership with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Tampa Police Department and other agencies. In addition to adding a security presence on campus, the officers also develop neighborhood crime watches and instruct students in their involvement with crime prevention, crisis management and anti-bullying programs.
Wyatt said the resource officers would do more than just provide extra security.
“The thing considered in an elementary setting is that we also teach community services, and this (would have helped) to have someone in that role on campus serving as a positive role model, versus someone who is around just during emergency situations,” Wyatt said.
“It also (would have helped) segue them into middle school, (because) there are school resource officers there already. The children haven’t questioned them. They just see them as another person on campus.”
However, Elia said she remains optimistic about the proposed workshop.
“This is exactly what we needed to have happen, and I thank you that you have pointed us in the right direction,” Elia told board members.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.