BY JAMES WILLIAMS
Special to the Monitor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Clay County Public Schools Superintendent David Broskie and his staff argued for the continuation of the school district’s police department during an Aug. 29 workshop.
The district established the force in 2019 after the legislature passed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Act, requiring school resource officers on every campus. In June 2023, school board member Erin Skipper recommended abolishing the district’s police department, saying the Clay County Sheriff’s Office could do the job better.
Skipper questioned the fiscal responsibility of paying for two law enforcement agencies when one could do the job, given that school officers still had to rely on the sheriff’s office for arrests and detention or when specialists such as sex crime investigators were needed. Two law enforcement systems got in the way of speedy communication in emergencies, Skipper argued. She also questioned the efficacy of LEOs answering to a school superintendent.
Misinformation
During an August 29 workshop, Superintendent David Broskie and his staff argued for the continued use of the school district’s police department.
Dr. Michael Kemp, the district’s Director of Facility Planning and Construction, addressed what he called misinformation about the district’s current police force.
Kemp denied allegations that the department had not started the accreditation process or that the department operates without a budget and is fiscally irresponsible.
“There’s always misinformation out there, and it has to be vetted,” he said.
Nor is it true, Kemp said, that school police officers do not receive the same level of training as Clay deputies.
Board member Mary Bolla had responded that though the school district’s police department has yet to be accredited, the Orange Park and Green Cove Springs police departments haven’t been accredited either. Middleburg and Keystone Heights have no police forces, relying on sheriff’s office patrols.
School shooting prompts new law
Kemp said one result of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act was that each school district was required to create and report to the state its response to the rising crises of gun violence in schools.
In response to that act, the school board set up an internal police department, requiring a school resource officer to be at all elementary, middle, and high schools, bell to bell, every school day, as the new legislation required.
Kemp said one of the strongest arguments for retaining the department is that the school district, not the sheriff’s office, is legally responsible for students’ safety.
“It’s us,” he told board members of who is responsible. “Regardless of how we execute the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas Act, it does not reduce our liability…in any way.”
Kemp also claimed that if a deputy was on duty at a school and an emergency occurred near the campus, the deputy would likely leave the school to respond to the emergency, leaving students unprotected.
History of protecting students
Kemp also covered the history of the school resource program. Immediately after the Douglas Act was enacted, the county discussed hiring 43 officers for 180 days, but having the school board alone foot the bill was cost-prohibitive, Kemp said.
In 2007, Clay schools had safety officers in eight junior and senior highs, with an average cost per officer of $50,000.
From 2009 through 2018, the district had officers in the seven Clay high schools at an average cost of $101,819 per officer.
Since 2018, resource officers have been stationed in junior high and elementary schools for 180 days for $101,000 per officer.
After the Parkland shooting in 2018, the state contributed “safe school dollars,” providing a safe school grant, but, to no one’s surprise, Kemp said, it was yet another underfunded mandate.
The workshop was not held to reach conclusions or make decisions. The board did not take up the issue during its September 7 meeting. However, several members of the public spoke about their support of the school’s police force. The final meeting to discuss the 2023-2024 School Board budget and millage assessments will be held on Thursday, Sept. 14.
