The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission released its initial safety report on Wednesday following the Parkland shooting tragedy.
The report makes several immediate recommendations in relation to school safety in Florida and calls for state government to help re-enforce compliance.
"The Florida Legislature needs to mandate compliance with these strategies and establish consequences and significant sanctions for noncompliance, including financial sanctions and removal from office," the report states.
The report also outlines the timeline and crime analysis of the Parkland shooting tragedy.
Based on the intelligence gained from the crime analysis, the Commission is recommending that all Florida school districts implement the following safety strategies immediately.
New Safety Strategies
- The school security staff and/or “safety team” should regularly meet and train on proper safety strategies.
- All school campus gates must remain closed and locked, and when opened they should be staffed to prevent unauthorized campus access.
- Doors leading to instructional classrooms or student-occupied space and for ingress/egress to campus or a specific building should remain locked during school hours, and if they are open they should be staffed. All teachers should be able to lock doors from within the classroom, and keys should be on their person at all times.
- Every district and school should have a written Code Red or similar active assailant response policy that is well known to all school personnel, parents and students.
- Every school must have an effective communication system through which everyone on campus can see and/or hear—and immediately react to—a called Code Red or similar active assailant response notification. f) Classrooms should establish safety measures, such as hard corners or other safe areas, and teachers should have the ability to cover door windows quickly.
- Schools should evaluate and give consideration to the appropriateness of locking bathrooms doors.
- All districts should establish a system to ensure compliance and accountability with these requirements and consequences for noncompliance.
The report states that these measures are not the cure-all for instances of violence within our school system but they do serve as an appropriate starting point.
"That these measures may not in and of themselves stop the assailant; however, they represent the best and most immediate methods to slow the attacker until police or other personnel can foil the attack."