CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — Parents in Clay County are pushing for tighter security at a local charter schools. Their hope is to secure additional funding from the Clay County School Board to hire school resource officers at St. Johns Classical Academy in Fleming Island.
Trish Higgins' daughter is a student at St. John's Classical Academy.
"We want our kids to be safe and have that service the same as anyone else," Higgins said. "We live in a much different world than ever where there is so much danger around school shootings and such and we want our kids to be safe because if they are not safe, whatever they learn it's not going to matter."
Higgins is not alone. Marc Smith shared the same sentiment.
"I have four children, I've got three daughters and one son, my kid, your kid or anybody's kid is just as important as the other and they all should be kept safe in the same regard no matter what school they go to," Smith said.
The parents told First Coast News they simply want what's best for all students in Clay County. Both of them brought their concerns before the school board hoping to start the conversation and ultimately find a solution.
According to the Superintendent Addison Davis, by law, Clay County School police officers are not allowed on charter school campuses because they are not district schools.
"With this particular situation from our legal perspective our legal office says we don't have the jurisdiction to complete the work," Davis said.
Davis said that safety continues to be a top priority for all students in Clay County however, in order to hire resource officers at charter schools, the decision boils down to funding.
"The next step would be to determine or not if funding will be allocated to the two charter schools to make them have sufficient funding to go out and hire a resource officer, whether it's with the Clay County Sheriff's Office Highway Patrol or Wildlife Officers, to make sure they have someone on those campuses' to protect their children," he said.
The issue will be discussed further at the next school board meeting on Nov. 7 at Fleming High School.