State House committee looks to clarify fine points of school-safety law
Students protest at the Florida Capitol in 2018 following the Parkland school shooting tragedy. (Photo by Julie Hauserman/Florida Phoenix)
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Safety Commission may see some legislative clarification of a 2024 school safety law that public safety officers have had trouble interpreting.
That law, HB 1473, requires classrooms and the perimeter of a campus to be locked while students are present. HB 1403, heard in the House Education Administration Subcommittee Tuesday, would allow for doors to be unlocked if they are actively being watched.
The bill, sponsored by Reps. Brad Yeager and Christine Hunschofsky, who was mayor of Parkland at the time of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shootings in 2018, would require gates and access points to be closed at least 30 minutes before and after school.
Hunschofsky said she and Yeager made sure to consult with school leaders in crafting the legislation 'so that whatever we're doing up here also makes sense in a school environment, because it's about safety but it's also about making sure the kids and the teachers have the environment that they need to thrive.'
Cafeterias, auditoriums, and media centers would only be covered by the law when they are being used for instruction or student testing. The bill requires at least one locked barrier between classroom and instructional spaces and school grounds.
'This bill puts school safety first while protecting the student campus experience for the students across Florida,' Yeager said.
The proposal addresses concerns Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd raised in July, saying his county feels 'boxed up' by the gray areas he said the law presented.
Legislative clarification may be needed on school safety law, commission says
The 2024 law requires gate and access points to be locked unless the school has approval from the state.
Judd said he supports the purpose of the law, 'but we're having a really hard time.'
'We need something from the state to come down to these folks,' Judd said in July, voicing complaints from his officers. 'Just give me something to explain what all campus access doors means, because I can't physically keep them locked and I don't want to violate the rules, so we need help with some definitions.'
The chair of the safety commission, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, assured Judd at that time that enforcement would not include 'aggressively trying to find the most obscure situation just so they can have a violation.'
Gualtieri said then that exceptions may need to be made for welding, diesel engine, and other shop classes. The proposal approved Tuesday does that, carving out an exemption for career and technical education classrooms to open doors for health and safety reasons.
The proposal would authorize childcare facilities to participate in the state's school guardian program, which provides state funding to sheriff's offices to train security personnel.
Substitute teachers would be required to be informed of school safety procedures before their first day of teaching under the bill.
Representatives on the Education Administration Subcommittee approved the measure 16-0. The bill was referred to the Criminal Justice Subcommittee and the Education and Employment Committee.
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