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 inspections; Garden Elementary, Venice Middle School and Woodland Middle School passed with zero compliance deficiencies, and schools previously noted with deficiencies were re‑inspected and passed, the team told the board. The presentation also covered infrastructure upgrades: new IP dialers and cellular fallbacks for intrusion detection as legacy copper lines are retired, ongoing camera refreshes and an OmniAlert rollout for middle and high schools. The district said it has completed a proof‑of‑concept to share live camera feeds with an external agency's real‑time crime center, but noted integration work remains on the partner's side.

Superintendent Connor proposed that the board authorize an independent, third‑party review of the district police, citing that the department has operated since 2018 without an external evaluation. The district solicited letters of interest and received six applicants. Two firms rose to the top in interviews: 20 First Century Policing Solutions and the School Safety Advisory Council. The superintendent said the School Safety Advisory Council offered the best value and a recommended initial contract of roughly $50,052. "I did out a request for a letter of interest and we received about 6 applicants for that," Connor told the board.

Board members asked procedural and cost questions and raised concerns about vendor independence. Board Member Ziegler said she supports an independent review but expressed reservations about perceived political ties of some applicants and the risk that that could undermine public trust. No final vote was taken; the board agreed to continue one‑on‑one conversations and return with a recommendation for action. The superintendent said he would bring the item back after those discussions.

Other operational details offered during the presentation: the district's fingerprinting office reported more than 8,081 people fingerprinted this year and work to migrate employee records into the new clearinghouse; mobile fingerprint stations have been deployed; the district is reprogramming radios and adding Sky Ranch to district radio frequencies; security signage standards and rekeying projects are under way; and an FDLE evidence audit passed with 100% compliance in the evidence locker review.

The safety team also described training and exercises: annual active‑shooter response training for returning employees, CIT (crisis intervention training) for SROs, reunification tabletop exercises with the I Love You Guys Foundation and a planned full‑scale exercise in 2026 with local first responders. A new threat‑management software platform mandated by the state was introduced and district coordinators planned training for rollout on Aug. 4.

What's next: staff will continue negotiations and vetting of candidate firms for the independent police review and will return to the board for a formal decision; the district will advance planned upgrades, training and the statewide threat‑management software implementation this summer.

Ending: Board members praised district safety staff and asked that leadership convey appreciation to officers and security teams; the board left the vendor selection discussion open while members pursue additional questions and assurances about independence and scope.