Tallahassee, Florida – Florida legislators agreed on Monday to give schools more latitude regarding the locking doors on the school campus.
State law obliges schools to lock the doors when a student is on campus. However, a new proposal The advance in the Florida Senate would size selected areas on the campus and would limit locking during class hours.
What you need to know
- Legislators think back when schools must lock the doors
- The objective of the bill is to balance security and practicality
- The bill would also create exceptions for certain areas on the campus
“You have a welding room. There are a lot of smoke when you signed. By virtue of the current law, this door had to remain closed and everyone would die from the smoke,” said the republican senator from Zephyrhills, Danny Burgess, the sponsor of the bill.
The proposal provides training approved by the State to security agents in private schools. It would also create a database funded by the state to follow campus cards and panic alarms.
“I am really grateful for the financing which is added to this bill. That this bill is not an unconcluded mandate to school districts,” said the senator of the Democratic State Rosalind Osgood.
The state plans to follow when and where the school doors remain unlocked. Florida Department of Education – which houses the school security office – oversees school security.
The proposal marks a minor adjustment to the changes introduced into the law after the deadly shooting in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas secondary school in Parkland, Florida.
A Florida Senate committee approved the measure unanimously. He has a judgment of a committee to stay before the Florida Senate gave a final vote.