BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – The Broward County School Board on Tuesday voted unanimously to reject a proposal that called for the district to create a full-time police force.
The no vote came after a lengthy discussion that lasted nearly five hours and would have ended Broward’s use of school resource officers to maintain security on campuses throughout the county.
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Under the terms of the plan, the sixth largest school district in the country would’ve fielded a 362-member police force to replace the current 202 school resource officers who come from local law enforcement agencies, mainly from the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
The idea to create a new police force, however, came under fire from some city leaders who balked at the costs of the $37 million proposal.
“Policing is not something that the school board should be doing,” said Parkland Mayor Rich Walker.
Walker was part of a long list of elected officials, along with law enforcement reps there to oppose the idea.
“Vote this down today,” said Coconut Creek Vice Mayor Sandra Welch.
Almost the entire speaking public, which was close to 40 people, opposed the proposal that would have transitioned Broward schools to a full-fledged police department.
“We probably went too fast,” said Broward County School Board Member Allen Zeman.
“I think we community input and dialogue we can improve on the proposal before us,” said BCSB member Sarah Leonardi.
“If we say yes to this today, we’re building the plan while we are flying,” said BCSB member Debi Hixon.
“We should have absolutely had full engagement with our cities,” added BCSB member Torey Alston.
Four and half hours later, every single school board member voted against the proposal.
“This wasn’t about not being safe,” said Broward County Public School Superintendent Peter Licata. “It was about more opportunities to train our individual force and department.”