District safety and security team reports inspections, upgrades and staffing; board weighs outside review of school police

Sarasota County School District safety and security leaders reported to the school board on June 17 that recent state inspections found no major violations, that the district is rolling out new threat‑management software and intrusion‑detection upgrades, and that fingerprinting and radio reprogramming efforts are under way — while the superintendent proposed commissioning an independent review of the district police.

Chiefs and directors from the district's safety and security team briefed the board on multiple fronts: a county threat‑management team, the Handle With Care notification process for students affected by community incidents, an FDLE audit of the district evidence room, and an expanded fingerprinting program that is migrating background checks to the ACA clearinghouse. "If there's an incident out in the counties that affect children in our school district, we have a form that the officers or deputies will fill out and they'll send back to us," the team said describing the Handle With Care program.

During the quarter‑four review, the district reported five state…