Brevard district safety specialist reports half of schools initially noncompliant in 2024 FSAT inspections

Timpson, the district school safety specialist, told the Brevard Public School Board on Oct. 7 that district and state inspections of campus safety procedures found many fixable deficiencies but that Brevard schools were brought into compliance after reinspection.

The report summarized inspections required by state law and by the Office of Safe Schools. Timpson said district inspectors visited 105 schools during the previous calendar year; 55 were compliant on the initial visit (53%), 50 were initially noncompliant (47%) and, after corrections, all 105 were reported compliant. He said the state conducted 34 unannounced inspections, found 14 compliant sites (41%) and 20 noncompliant at first; after reinspection the state listed all 34 as compliant.

The presentation matters to parents and staff because the inspections check doors, gates, emergency-drill documentation, threat-assessment training and other physical- and paperwork-based safeguards. Timpson told the board the inspections look for “classroom doors, exterior gates and doors, threat assessment paperwork, threat team certification, hard corners and safe spaces, emergency drills, and fire drills.”

Board members praised Timpson’s follow-up work. “We appreciate what you’re doing for us,” Mr. Thomas said, adding that board members have received positive reports from schools. A board member noted the district also holds a closed session with more detailed security findings “because it’s security information,” and that the public-facing slides are a summary of a larger internal report.

Timpson and the board highlighted common deficiencies statewide and in Brevard: unsecured campus-access doors or gates; missing requested documentation at the time of a site visit; incomplete threat-assessment team training; classroom doors not closed or locked when occupied; and safe areas not clearly marked. Timpson said many deficiencies stem from small, fixable issues — missing certificates from binders, torn labels on “hard corner” safe spaces or a misaligned door latch — and that district staff work to correct problems before he leaves a campus or within one day of the visit.

Board members asked about consistency of markings and whether the district had implemented uniform safe-corner markers; Timpson said the same sticker set is now installed across schools so that a hard-corner designation is consistent from campus to campus. The board also discussed how inspections treat missing documentation during a surprise visit: if the person who knows where paperwork is located is not present, an assistant principal or other staff should be able to produce the documentation, Timpson said.

Timpson concluded by noting the district’s current pace of work and optimism that compliance rates will improve over last year’s baseline. “We’re well on our way to do better, and outpace the state statistics,” he said.

The public-facing presentation was followed by an exchange in which the board reiterated that additional, detailed security findings are reviewed in closed session. The board asked staff to continue follow-up and to support principals as they correct technical items flagged in inspections.