Board reviews new threat-management policy and substitute/employee safety training; schools say they already meet new requirements

Lake Wales Charter Schools trustees reviewed a new threat-management policy required by recent legislation and received an update on employee and substitute training intended to meet school-safety compliance obligations.

Board counsel Sean Arnold described a model threat-management policy derived from the Florida Harm Prevention and Threat Management framework; he said the legislation requires each school to adopt a policy and that the board’s draft follows that statewide model. Arnold said the school-based threat-management team will coordinate threat assessments and interventions.

HR director LaMari Burrows and Superintendent Julie Conrad described how staff onboarding and substitute training already incorporate safety protocols. Burrows said new teachers attend a new-teacher orientation each August that covers the district’s safety processes and that substitute training has been added to the district’s learning-management system (Vector) to create a verifiable record. She reported that Officer Hernandez conducts lockdown drills and that schools maintain site-specific floor plans and safety protocols.

Conrad told trustees the system had been proactive: the district’s training and procedures “were already in place prior to the legislative update,” and that administrators had worked to ensure substitutes and new staff complete required safety modules.

Trustees said the board would review a compliance checklist later in the session and that threat-assessment records will be retained per state safety rules as specified in the FERPA-related policy discussion.

Ending: Staff said they will present a school-safety compliance checklist and employee/substitute training records; trustees asked that the checklist be part of later agenda items so the board can formally confirm compliance.