JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Incomplete. It appears that's the grade the Duval County School District may get when children go back to school next month. The superintendent has told the school board that when the first school bell rings on Aug. 13, not every school will have a safety assistant.
Of 105 safety assistant positions, only 24 have been hired so far to protect Duval County schools, according to district spokeswoman Laureen Ricks.
Those two dozen are currently undergoing training and will report for duty on the first day of school. Once hired, the assistants will receive 200 hours of training within a five-week time-period. The first training session began July 9, the second will begin July 30 and the third will begin Aug. 23.
The other 81 positions will be filled as the hiring process continues, and those assistants will complete their training in one of the upcoming sessions. But they won't be ready for the beginning of the school year, the district admitted.
"We hope to fill all positions within the first nine weeks of the semester," Ricks said, adding that the priority is making sure those who fill the positions are "highly qualified and well-trained."
Safety assistants by the numbers Source: Duval County Public Schools |
The district received about 370 applications for the available 105 positions. Before an applicant is hired, he or she must first pass a drug test, background screening, polygraph, psychological exam and a panel review.
"Given the rigorous application process and training schedule for School Safety Assistants, the time needed to fully staff these positions is longer than originally anticipated," Ricks said. "While not ideal, we also want to make sure that the process is not rushed, and all individuals are thoroughly vetted."
Florida law says Duval and other school districts must have someone armed in each school this coming school year, and it's unclear what Duval County plans to do to fulfill that requirement until the safety assistants are ready.
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Board member Scott Shine said it's unfortunate the school district won't make the deadline for having a safety assistant at every school, but those new hires are only part of the new plan to keep kids safe.
"I'm not surprised. I wish we had them, but it was a stretch goal, and we're not there yet, so there's a lot of progress that can be made," Shine said.
He said the sheer amount of training the assistants require is one reason the district won't make the deadline. The new employees have to complete hundreds of hours of training before they can step foot on campuses as armed employees, and they are just not done. But he doesn't want the missed deadline to alarm parents.
"Compared to some of the other school districts, compared to what we saw in Parkland, Duval County, the sheriff's department and the school system is way ahead of where things were when Parkland occurred," Shine said.
Shine said the district has made numerous safety changes in light of that school shooting, and the district will get those armed security guards in place.
"We're going to fill those officer positions, it's just a matter of time before we get there. It may take us a couple more weeks or months, but that's happening," Shine said.
The superintendent predicts they will be able to have the rest of the security assistants in place by October.