Hardee County schools safety specialist reports compliance progress, school-hardening projects and threat-management data

The Hardee County School Board received a detailed safety and security update on June 26 from the district's safety specialist, who summarized compliance inspections, ongoing school-hardening projects and threat-management outcomes.

The specialist said the district worked this year to implement changes required by a recent state law on school door and gate policies and to address compliance reviewer concerns. She told the board that Office of Safe Schools inspectors visited four campuses this year — Hardee High, Bowling Green Elementary, Hardee Junior High and Hilltop Elementary — and that those visits led to only minor corrective actions.

"This past year for Hardee schools was a good year in regards to safety and security," the safety specialist said, adding that compliance visits produced only a few items that required adjustment.

The presentation described several planned and near-complete school-hardening projects. Work scheduled for this summer includes ornamental fencing and keypad access near the administration area at Zato Elementary and a relocated front entrance at North Watcher Elementary to improve visitor control. The district is also advancing keypad access and security fencing for Hardee Junior High and Hilltop Elementary; administrators said there will be two separate access points because staff on each campus should not need cross-campus access.

The specialist said the district completed first-responder walk-throughs of every school this year with law enforcement and fire personnel, as required by state guidance. The district uses Geocom for digital campus mapping; the specialist said the sheriff's office is coordinating to give responding officers access to those maps through the district's alert system so officers unfamiliar with a campus can see layouts when called.

On threat management, the specialist reported the district recorded 75 cases in the year covered by the report: 6 classified as high, 2 as medium and 20 as low. Fifteen of the 20 low cases involved SSMPs (support plans that require ongoing monitoring), and the district intervened in 20 self-harm cases to prevent student harm. She said those figures reflect the Florida model for threat assessment and credited school staff for meeting state timelines.

The specialist also addressed staff training requirements and reporting: Hardee County previously missed a submission deadline for staff youth-mental-health training data because of a form issue, but the specialist said the district now reports 92% of identified staff trained, exceeding the 80% minimum when submitted on the correct form.

Board members asked for clarification about scheduled training, the timeline for required annual updates to the district's active assailant plan and who will carry safety duties if a dedicated safety specialist position is vacant. The specialist said training recertification is ongoing, that armed-assailant training is scheduled at Watcher Elementary on July 15 and July 17, and that duties would be assigned to district staff if the statutory safety specialist position is vacated temporarily.

The specialist closed by urging continued principal involvement in risk assessments so proposed hardening projects align with state funding priorities.

Ending: The board did not take formal action on the presentation; members directed that planned projects and training continue and asked staff to keep the board informed as plans and funding develop.