Columbia district spotlights school resource deputies and threat-management teams

Mr. Cooley, host of the District Download broadcast, convened school safety partners to mark School Resource Deputies Appreciation Week and to review how deputies, threat-management teams and student-reporting tools work together to keep Columbia County schools safe.

District Safe Schools coordinator Judy Tatum traced the district’s current protocols to changes made after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. “One of the biggest initiatives that we’ve had is putting our school resource deputies in each and every school on a daily basis as long as the school doors are open,” Tatum said, crediting parents, legislators and law enforcement for the resulting policy changes and continuous review of state requirements.

Sergeant Tim Ball of the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office described the deputies’ primary responsibility: campus safety and security. He said deputies also serve as mentors and liaisons to students and families and remain on campus during instructional time. Ball outlined deputies’ daily activities — monitoring bus stops and school zones, greeting students at arrival, conducting periodic patrols (gate and parking-lot checks, between-classroom rounds) and ensuring safe dismissal.

Ball said deputies complete state certification and additional SRD training, including active-assailant response and mental-health recognition, and that deputies return for annual refresher workshops provided through a statewide training organization (the transcript did not give that organization’s formal name). “We send them back, they get legal updates to get a little additional guidance,” Ball said.

Rebecca Fowler, the district’s threat-management coordinator, said Columbia uses the harm-prevention and threat-management model enacted in January 2024. She stressed the model’s preventive focus: “It’s not — we’re not identifying the next school shooter, but we are identifying those students that may need extra support,” Fowler said. She described required Threat Management Teams as multidisciplinary, including administration, an instruction expert, certified law enforcement and a licensed mental-health professional or DOE-certified counselor, which assess reports and intervene before behaviors escalate.

Mike Kaffitis, Safe Schools coordinator, described the district’s drill schedule and reporting tools. He said the district runs one fire drill per month, four active-shooter drills annually (one per grading period) and two severe-weather drills, scheduled at varied times so staff and students rehearse responses across different parts of the day. Columbia County uses Florida Fortify, an anonymous suspicious-activity reporting tool shown to students at the start of the school year; reports go to SRDs and school administrators so staff can be alerted, including before school starts the next day.

Deputy Baylor, a K-9 handler assigned to the sheriff’s office and the schools, described Jade, the gun-detection canine funded through a state grant. Baylor said Jade’s primary role is firearms detection but added that the dog also helps students through positive interactions at school and community events, which can have therapeutic effects.

Officials urged parents to remain involved and monitor children’s online activity. Corporal Ray said students often see concerning posts before adults do and encouraged parents to know which platforms children use and to talk with them about what is appropriate to share. “When you do see something that could protect another student or somebody on your campus, we want you to say something,” he said.

Mr. Cooley closed by thanking SRDs and staff for their work and announced that Judy Tatum will depart the district in one month to take a position at Florida Gateway College. He called her leadership on school safety a lasting legacy. The District Download’s next broadcast will feature Columbia High School’s welding class.