School safety bill presents challenges locally, officials say in Marathon

More walls, more bars, more guards.

It’s like something from “The Shawshank Redemption” prison movie, but Florida Keys officials weren’t talking about prisons at the Marathon City Council meeting Tuesday. They were talking about schools.

Following the Feb. 14 mass shooting that left 17 dead at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High and new state legislation that aims to make schools safer, City Council members heard from Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay about what the new law means locally.

SB 7026, signed by Gov. Rick Scott last week, includes $67 million for Sheriff’s Offices throughout the state to train personnel in the event of an active-shooter situation.

The legislation also requires a school resource officer in every school, meaning the Sheriff’s Office will have to hire and train a number of new deputies, which has already been a challenge in the months after Hurricane Irma.

He told the council the money set aside in the bill will not be nearly enough for Monroe County to accomplish what it requires: An SRO in every school by August.

“I think about $200,00 will come from the state for SROs,” Ramsay told the Keynoter, while the actual cost to train new SROs will be around $1.5 million. “So that leaves about $1.3 million that will have to come from somewhere.”

Monroe County already has a shortage of deputies, and the state money won’t be available until July.

“Post-hurricane, we’re having a hard time attracting and keeping people,” Ramsay said. “We have a law enforcement academy starting soon and I’d like to hire some people and get them trained, but until I have money, I can’t even do that.”

The bill also includes provisions to “harden” schools with bulletproof glass and steel doors. Monroe County School Board member John Dick told the council the district will have to put off projects like new Marathon High School athletic fields, in the works since last year, until the hardening is complete.

“We can do the hardening without doing the fields. The bill is going to change a lot of things, but we have to do it,” he said.

Ramsay suggested the council organize a summit with other municipalities, the School Board and other officials about school safety, to which the council agreed. It has not been scheduled.

This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 3:39 PM with the headline "School safety bill presents challenges locally, officials say in Marathon."