In a series of press conferences Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis brought forward changes with a specific focus of safety in Florida schools.
Keeping his rapid pace of changes and policy enforcement since his inaugural going strong, the governor visited a pair of law enforcement departments to announce his plans to raise the safety levels on state campuses.
In Broward County newly appointed Sheriff Gregory Tony opened a press conference by stressing the need for accountability and restorative action for the sake of protecting students in Broward and across the entire state. DeSantis appointed Tony last month to replace Sheriff Scott Israel in the wake of revelations that Israel's policies failed failed to protect students before and during the mass shooting that took the lives of 17 one year ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
“As the one-year anniversary of one of the darkest days in Florida history approaches, it’s clear more needs to be done,” said DeSantis. “What’s truly devastating is that the tragedy in Parkland was avoidable. As governor, I have a moral obligation to protect the children in our state, which is why I have requested a statewide grand jury to investigate school safety practices and failures occurring around the state and to identify measures to improve the safety of our students.”
DeSantis announced changes that targeted school boards. With an eye towards accountability, he called for a statewide grand jury to investigate multiple school juridictions to see where fixes in school safety need to take place. The grand jury will have subpoena power to address problems and shortcomings in the school safety system and its leadership.
Focus will not be strictly on Broward and the actions at Parkland last year, but across the state to improve the conditions wherever needed.
The grand jury will investigate any crime or wrong within Florida Statute § 905.34 that relates to the following:
- Whether refusal or failure to follow the mandates of school-related safety laws, such as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, results in unnecessary and avoidable risk to students across the state;
- Whether public entities committed – and continue to commit – fraud and deceit by accepting state funds conditioned on implementation of certain safety measures while knowingly failing to act;
- Whether school officials committed – and continue to commit – fraud and deceit by mismanaging, failing to use, and diverting funds from multi-million-dollar bonds specifically solicited for school safety initiatives; and
- Whether school officials violated – and continue to violate – state law by systematically underreporting incidents of criminal activity to the Florida Department of Education.
In laying out his case for the grand jury, DeSantis alluded to speculation he might remove Superintendent of Schools Robert Runcie, another controversial figure surrounding the Parkland shooting. But the governor said no, that wasn't going to happen. He explained that the position of superintendent is not elected, and therefore he, as governor, did not have authority to remove Runcie. One possible option would have been to remove select school board members, leaving a board that will place someone besides Runcie in the superintendent position. DeSantis stepped back from that option because, he said, the board had recently been voted into office and he intended to honor the will of voters.
But the grand jury investigation could lead to findings that would progress to removal of board member(s) as deemed necessary. The final goal is to bring accountability and repair those aspects of the system that are failing the students.
One such area the governor mentioned was in the usage of funds allocated specifically for school safety improvements. This was a direct reference to a new report from the Sun Sentinel that found in 2013 the Broward County School Board, and Robert Runcie, turned down a provision for $55 million in funding to address safety improvements. Runcie declared at the time he had his own plan for safety improvements, and the board itself declined the funding, saying it would not be in total control of those funds.
It was earlier in the day when DeSantis spoke in Titusville, during which he announced a two-fold executive order (EO 19-45). This would entail calling for an audit to look into the the school PROMISE program. This was an initiative set up for students with emotional and behavioral challenges, and it was into PROMISE that at one time Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz had been assigned. However, he had never fully entered the program, and he drifted within the school system. The other aspect of the DeSantis' executive order was to open up the funding under the Guardian Program to the various sheriff's offices across the state. This will allow for training of non-teaching school personnel to become permitted to carry guns on campus.
While maybe not the quick fix some in Broward were anticipating or looking for, today’s moves should still be encouraging. We can see that DeSantis is taking a stern and sober look into the needed changes of the issue of protecting Florida’s students.
Brad Slager, a Fort Lauderdale freelance writer, wrote this story exclusively for Sunshine State News. He writes on politics and the entertainment industry and his stories appear in such publications as RedState and The Federalist.
