BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission met Tuesday to discuss how to keep schools safe statewide.
While over the past couple of years, significant safety bills have passed, the commission is now rolling out its new Florida Harm Prevention and Threat Management Model, also called the Florida Model.
It requires that every district must have a district threat management team. There must also be an active assailant response policy and student resource officers are required to be trained on this policy.
Unlike the last model, which waited for students to pose a threat, this new model will identify students who are considering certain behaviors well before it gets to the path of violence.
There are four possible levels of concern, which are “unfounded, low, medium and high.”
If a student reaches high concern, there will be one year of “monitoring” for that child and the monitoring period can be extended.
Along with handling and classifying threats, a database to track students considered a threat was also discussed.
Records will follow students whether they move schools or districts.
“If it’s already gotten to a point where it’s a threat, it’s gone too far, so what you really want to do is identify it back here. When somebody has got something they can’t deal with effectively, get them help, get them services -- the idea of this process is not to arrest. The idea of this process is to keep it from getting there to begin with and to identify that concerning behavior and get these people help,” Commission Chair and Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.
Also discussed was the role of mental health providers in threat management and improving communication with law enforcement.
The meeting will run through the evening and the commission will be back again for another meeting on Wednesday.