FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. – There were fireworks at Thursday night's Clay County School Board meeting, as many parents voiced their displeasure over the board voting in favor of forming a school police force to replace Clay County deputies who are already working as school resource officers.
During the meeting at Fleming Island High School, board members discussed the salaries for the officers of the new school district police department. But that discussion was overshadowed by parents who said they believe the board acted too fast when it voted to form its own police department.
More than an hour before the school board ended up voting 4-1 to approve the salaries, parents opposed to the idea verbally let loose on the entire board.
“You want a police force? Fine. Like everyone has said, slow it down. You can’t do this in five months. You’ve elected a police chief and you don’t even know if you have the grants.”
“Please take this under more consideration.”
“You’re ready to make a terrible decision that’s going to last for years to come and children will be the ones to suffer.”
“Not one Clay County citizen agrees with this school board’s decision to implement a police force within the next five months. Five months, that’s ridiculous."
School leaders believe the district can save money by forming its own police department instead of paying the Clay County Sheriff’s Office to provide deputies.
The new department would have 47 members, 39 police officers, four sergeants, one detective, one training lieutenant, one lieutenant and one chief.
The board approved the following salaries of the police force: The starting salary for a school district police officer is $40,000, with the maximum capping out at $62,000. For a sergeant, the starting salary stands at $50,000 with the max at $78,000. For a lieutenant, $60,000 is the starting salary. The maximum would be $86,000. This is the same salary for a training lieutenant.
But parents told News4Jax they are concerned over how the money would be spent and if it’s sustainable over the long run.
“Over the next four years, they’re going to receive $10 million per year, just from the 1-mil increase. What happens when that money runs out? They start up a PD. In four years, they’ll be right back asking the taxpayers to foot the bill again," parent Patricia Shaffer said.
Parent Tina Stewart said money should instead be put toward other security measures.
“Start small (with) video cameras. I did notice my daughter’s school had several around the front office, which is good to see," Stewart said. "The fencing -- as a parent mentioned, there’s a school that has a fence down. Why aren’t those simple things being worked on first?”
Other parents have referred to the formation of a new police force as a "Barney Fife" force that they can’t take seriously enough to protect their children.
“I will not put my youngest child in Clay County schools. I will home-school him because I don’t want to have to worry every day when he goes to school," parent Kimberly Castell said. "Is somebody going to show up with a gun or a knife and are they going to do something about it?”
Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels has proposed a plan to keep his deputies in the schools by asking the school district to pay 70 percent of the cost instead of 100 percent. The remaining 30 percent would be paid for by the Board of County Commissioners.
But at least one school employee who supports the formation of a school district police department said she feels the school district had been getting ripped off by the county.
“The school district has already been strapped for money for so many years, but we’ve been obviously paying an annual salary for a nine-month employee for all these years," school district employee Teresa Dixon said.
On Tuesday, all eyes will be focused on the Clay County Board of Commissioners meeting to see if it accepts the sheriff's proposal.