Armed guardian program expanded for Brevard's '24-'25 school year: Here's how it works

The 2024-2025 school year comes with a big change on the Space Coast: Certain Brevard Public Schools employees will be armed with guns.

You won't know who they are, what schools they serve at or how many there are, with the district citing safety concerns as the reason for keeping their identity private.

These armed employees are volunteer participants in Florida's guardian program, a program established in response to the 2018 Parkland shooting with the goal of helping to prevent additional school shootings. Brevard is one of 53 counties participating in the program, according to the state department of education.

There are numerous ways a district can be part of the program. Prior to this year, Brevard used security specialists, or civilians with a background in security, law enforcement or the military. But this year, they'll expand the program to allow employees who are not assigned to classrooms to go through training by Brevard County Sheriff's Office and volunteer.

The change comes after the idea was initially broached by Board Chair Megan Wright in October of last year. While it was ultimately approved 4-1 by the board, with Jennifer Jenkins dissenting, community members have spoken out against its expansion, raising questions and concerns about potential harm that could come to students and employees by having additional firearms in schools.

"I believe security is best left in the hands of individuals whose sole responsibility and focus is on security," Jenkins said.

However, the rest of the board and the district as a whole have remained steadfast in their pursuit of its expansion.

"It’s critical that we take every available step to prevent a tragedy like this one from ever happening again," said Janet Murnaghan, spokesperson for Brevard Public Schools, referencing the Parkland shooting. "By training trusted staff members to assist School Resource Officers during an active shooting we will keep students safer by increasing on-site personnel who can respond to an active threat."

FLORIDA TODAY reached out to the district and all board members to clarify how the program will be implemented in Brevard. Wright, Board Vice Chair Gene Trent and board member Matt Susin did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the program.

Program eligibility requirements, training

With Brevard's expansion, only existing school employees are eligible to volunteer, and teachers/employees assigned to a classroom are not allowed to participate. The district and sheriff's office work together to select the best candidates from those interested in volunteering, said Murnaghan. She added that candidates undergo numerous evaluations, including oral interviews, background evaluations, drug screenings and psychological evaluations before participating in the training program.

"The evaluations continue while in training to ensure the right candidate has been chosen," Murnaghan said. "We will only choose candidates that meet these criteria."

Public comment: 'If something happens ... we're coming for you': Community decries Brevard guardian program

BPS isn't seeking a specific number of volunteers, though they are looking especially for employees with backgrounds in law enforcement, military training and corrections. The district did not specify exactly how many employees had volunteered for the program, and they are not specifying which schools will have guardians.

As for the actual training volunteers undergo, Ivey's program involves 176 hours of training, Murnaghan said — 32 hours more than the state-mandated 144 hours of training for guardians. The training touches on topics such as marksmanship, active assailant response, defense tactics, de-escalation strategies and more. For every year that they volunteer, guardians will be required to participate in additional training.

The Florida Department of Education provides grants for any sheriff's office participating in the program, according to the department's website, with funding going toward candidate screening, training-related costs and a one-time $500 stipend for each guardian. The website did not say how much money each sheriff's office is allocated, though a total of $6,500,000 has been made available per funding period for all participating sheriffs' offices since 2021.

District officials initially said training for guardians would begin in July, though a more specific date has not been set. Once trained, the guardians will provide "an additional layer of protection alongside our School Resource Officers and School Security Specialists" during the upcoming school year, Murnaghan said.

"This is an extension of a very successful program that has been in place for many years," she said. "Dr. Rendell and the School Board are committed to providing safe, secure schools alongside all of our law enforcement partners."

District, board members address community concerns

Since the idea of the program was initially raised in October, teachers, parents, students and other members of the community have spoken out as being staunchly opposed to it, raising concerns ranging from a dislike of more guns in schools to a fear of potential accidents.

But the district hasn't swayed from their position in expanding the program.

"We are serious about protecting our students and keeping our schools safe," Superintendent Mark Rendell said via email to FLORIDA TODAY. "Every child deserves a safe school."

Jenkins — the sole opposing vote on the memorandum of understanding with Brevard County Sheriff's Office that allowed the program to be expanded — had a different perspective, saying that just because guardians won't be assigned to classrooms, it doesn't mean they won't interact with children.

"To state that these personnel don't have classrooms mischaracterizes how many staff members are around, interact with, and/or are responsible for more students a day than a traditional classroom teacher," she said. "Just because they aren't 'assigned' to them doesn't mean they (aren't) interacting with them."

Board approves program expansion: Brevard school board gives OK to trained staff carrying guns after promising no vote this week

Board member Katye Campbell, who was first elected in 2018 — when Brevard initially began considering the guardian program and ultimately opted for security specialists rather than armed employees — said she felt that enough time had passed since the program's inception to witness its implementation in other locations.

While members of the public have spoken out at meetings, Campbell said she's gotten significantly less pushback than she did in 2018, and that multiple principals have told her they're on board with the program, as long as candidates are well-vetted.

"The training for the new Guardians is the same training as for the Security Specialists; the main difference is that they will be unknown to all but the essential personnel," she said. "And Lord willing, they will never have to put the training they receive into practice. Any potential bad actors won’t know how many we have or where they are, but they will know that we have them. And that should be a deterrent."

A point of concern raised throughout months of consideration given the program was why the board wasn't considering alternatives to the guardian program. Campbell said it's not an "either/or situation but a both/and situation."

"We are also adding metal detectors this coming year," she said. "Not every security solution is feasible, practical or affordable, but we need to do everything we can to keep our students and staff safe. Expanding the Guardian program in Brevard adds another layer of security, building on the success we’ve already had with the security specialists who go through the same exact guardian training."

While Campbell said there weren't many negative reactions from employees, and the outrage from the public was largely due to a misconception that there aren't already weapons on campuses or that teachers would be armed, Jenkins had a different point of view, saying that staff was not surveyed about their feelings.

"We don't know exactly because we didn't survey staff," Jenkins said. "I said it publicly, if we were confident it's what they wanted, why didn't we ask them? In fact, some felt so strongly against it they expressed it in the volunteer survey that had nothing to do with it."

Program's implementation varies by county

Through Brevard is one of 53 counties in the guardian program, how the program is implemented in each district can vary widely, based on a survey conducted late last year by BPS' Chief Operating Officer Rachad Wilson.

Of the districts surveyed — Suwannee, Lake, Sumter, Lee, Volusia, Pinellas, Miami-Dade and Osceola — Suwannee is the only district where teachers are armed, according to Wilson's survey. It also arms administrators, as do Lake and Sumter counties. Lee County allows employees to participate in the program, though Wilson didn't specify which employees could or couldn't participate apart from saying teachers couldn't become guardians.

Volusia's and Pinellas' guardians are not school-based employees.

Miami-Dade and Osceola participate in the program in some capacity, according to the state department of education. However, they do not use armed guardians, according to Wilson's survey, with Miami-Dade opting for an internal police department and Osceola using school resource officers at their public schools and contracted security at their charter schools.

"We have had more school shootings since 2018 and people see the critical difference that mere minutes can make," Campbell said. "Programs like this have been instituted across the country without incident, and it is less scary than it seemed six years ago."

While it's true that time has passed without many incidents, a district employee in Palm Beach County accidentally shot themself during training to become a guardian in June, according to the district and sheriff's office. Their injuries were not life-threatening.

It's also not clear whether the program has deterred school shootings, as there is no data on the state department of education's website citing the program as having prevented any incidents.

"Remember, in 2018, we didn’t even have SROs on every campus," Campbell said. "Back then, some people didn’t want to have armed personnel on every campus at all."

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at321-290-4744 or [email protected]. X: @_finchwalker.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Armed guardians in Brevard schools: Why did district expand program?