As school year comes to a close, safety remains top priority

BRADENTON (FOX 13) - A 10th grade student from Bayshore High School in Bradenton was arrested Tuesday after a school resource deputy found a loaded gun in his waistband. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office said the quick response was all thanks to alert students who saw something and said something.

As a result, the Manatee County School District says it's planning to tighten security to close out the school year.

District officials decided to ban backpacks at Bayshore High starting on Wednesday, and for the rest of the middle and high schools for the district starting on Thursday. Metal detector wands have been in use at middle and high schools since the Parkland school shooting in February, but those random screenings will increase through the final days of school. 

After the Parkland school shooting in February, this is just one example of districts across Florida not taking any chances.

Tuesday, the Pinellas County School Board voted unanimously to hire 82 additional school resource officers as well as security officers. It's one effort to meet requirements of the new Marjory Stoneman Douglas Act.

The biggest challenge, according to the district, is the time-crunch it's under to have the new officers trained and in place by August 13.

The non-law enforcement school security officers will be required to complete firearms training, active shooter training, and diversity training. They will undergo background checks and psychological screening; all things mandated by the state.

Unlike school resource officers, they won't be sworn officers, meaning they won't have the power to make arrests.

"We already have plans in place for extensive training for our security officers, knowing they are not coming from a law enforcement background, so they'll undergo 140 hours of training," said district spokesperson Lisa Wolf. "They're still going to be an armed officer and, much like the school resource officer, their primary and sole focus of their job will be the safety and security of the school and students."

Meanwhile, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri is working with state leaders to dissect every moment of the Parkland school shooting to better protect schools in the future.

"We need to get to the bottom of it and, what's important is that it be accurate and truthful," Gualtieri said.

He's leading a statewide commission made up of fellow law enforcement officers, state and education leaders, and families of victims. They're looking at what was done right, what was done wrong, and what wasn't done.

"We are going to look at everything that happened from the day that Nikolas Cruz was born until the time of the shooting," Gualtieri said. "Everything in his life, what happened, what didn't happen, his involvement with mental health providers, his involvement with the school counselors, what happened on that day, what happened with the law enforcement response."

The first meeting took place in April. Another one is coming up in June. After a series of monthly meetings, the commission's report will be due in January.

Gualtieri is keeping a close eye on school security in his home county. By August 1, he says there will be risk assessments of every school to determine vulnerabilities and to "harden" the buildings before students return on August 13.

"The students and the staff all have to be trained and then, based on the training, there has to be an active shooter drill every month on every campus," Gualtieri said.

All of these drills will be practiced in the hope that they'll never have to be used but readiness for any scenario is what could save lives.

"We can not prevent these situations from happening," Gualtieri said. "It will happen again. The question is where and when and how much have we been able to do to mitigate the impact of it. That's what our goal should be."