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Escambia Schools Hiring Armed Force To Protect Elementary Schools
April 25, 2019
The Escambia County School District is looking to hire its own armed force to protect local elementary schools beginning next school year.
“These Campus Security Officers, or CSOs, will serve to protect students in our schools during the school day, 10 months a year,” Escambia County School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said. “The district will be working with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office to ensure high quality individuals with the appropriate skills, temperament and abilities are selected.”
The CSOs will have no law enforcement authority, except to the extent necessary to prevent or abate an active assailant incident”, according to the district.
The district has tried using off-duty law enforcement officers in elementary schools this school year, but that has proved difficult to provide full coverage.
“We are hoping retired military and retired law enforcement officers, who have maintained their weapons’ permits and skills, will see this opportunity as a new way to continue to serve our community and protect our students,” said Thomas.
Applications will be process through the Escambia County School District, but the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office will be responsible for training to include a background screening, psychological evaluation and polygraph test. Applicants will be required to successfully complete 150 hours (approximately 2 months) of training. The first class is expected to begin in June, and trainees will be paid during the training.
The district plans to have 30 participants in the first class. With an expected attrition rate of about one-third, there will be an expected 20 new CSOs from the first class. Another class is planned for August, with an expected total of 40-45 CSOs from the two classes. The ultimate goal is provide a CSO all-day at each elementary school, with additional CSOs to float and cover days off.
Funding for ongoing salary of the CSOs will come from dedicated “Safe Schools Categorical” funding which is separate from instructional or teacher salary funding. The district will not hire more CSOs than it can afford under this separate funding mechanism, and the district will not be arming teachers.
The CSOs will not be placed charter schools such as Byrneville Elementary School or the Beulah Academy of Science at the district’s expense. However, the CSOs will be made available to charter schools if they choose to pay for them.
Campus Security Officers will be required to also complete the fingerprinting and drug screening requirement that ECSD requires of all school district employees prior to being placed in a school. Those selected will have a starting salary at $30,600, plus benefits, for a 10 month position.
To read the full job description, click here.
Comments
26 Responses to “Escambia Schools Hiring Armed Force To Protect Elementary Schools”
Security cameras with audio on everyone would be great! That would cut down on alot of things, not in the bathrooms but right outside to see who goes in and who comes out. Or a better idea, go to homeschooling. The teachers would still have a job to grade the work when work is sent in. Give option of dvd along with the internet based flvs. Set a time for parks for the parents to take the kids when time allowed so that they could interact with other children or other activities. Have free stuff for communities like free 5k races/walks for the families.
Ok I’ve been waiting for this to be in schools for a long time heck I’ve even said arming teachers was a good idea with
Good background checks and psych evaluations of course.
We have to take every action we can to protect our children cause let’s face it we live in a world where some people don’t abide by laws and will do what they wan’t. So if you don’t like protecting your children then don’t put them in schools that want to protect them.
@Ed–Were you one of the deputies making ridiculous money ?
Chrissy. Did you even read the article. It says elementary schools.
Smokers need not apply.
So you want to hire a retired person to break up fights between 250+ pound football players.Then you only want to pay these people $30k to put their life on the line for someone else’s kid.
We now see exactly how much you value the children of Escambia County.
For those of you who think this is a good idea you might want to think of the bigger picture. These CSO’s will have NO law-enforcement powers.. says all I need to know that this is a bad idea!
So when a suspicious person enters on to the school grounds they will have no authority to stop them or detain them, run them for warrants or see if they have any trespass warning‘s Or even see their criminal history, as law enforcement officers can see through there in car computers. He or she will have to call the Sheriffs office to have a Deputy Sheriff(s) to respond.
When that suspicious vehicle pulls onto the school property the CSO will not have a patrol car no authority to stop the vehicle as it pulls out. Won’t be able to make a traffic stop or run the vehicles tag To get the information of the owner of the vehicle. He or she will have to call the Sheriffs office to have a Deputy Sheriff(s) to respond.
CSO will have no authority to take a report of any kind for crimes against the child or staff, no authority to call Department of Children and Families.
I could do this all day long but any sensible person can see where I’m going with this it’s a bad decision it’s not good for the community or our children .
Oh and one last thing The children get to interact with law-enforcement at a young age, which a great thing.
I am so glad my kids don’t go to Escambia County Schools.
NICK….issues can be faced from multiple angles. This isnt the only effort made to stop the issue of violence, but one of many. Schools have been made targets for many reasons, whether it be the source of a lost souls despair and/or a “easy target”. While we have been tackling the former, let us also fight the latter.
30K are you kidding me?
Most high school graduates who work at certain departments of ECSD make 80K!!! If you are a good ole boy at ECSD you can make 100K year with no education!!!
If the public was aware of waste, fraud and abuse at ECSD things would change quickly!!!
You get what you pay for!!!
30K per year is peanuts and is unlikely to attract the quality security Malcom Thomas is seeking. Good idea, bad execution. Thankfully my kids are already grown because this is a disaster waiting to happen.
This is a long overdue program. I highly recommend these Officers be properly equipped, otherwise the effort may turn disastrous. Even a powerful handgun is no match for a centerfire rifle; an under-gunned Officer can be at a deadly disadvantage.
Rifle projectiles, called “frangibles”, would ensure student safety, as they do not usually pass through walls or other barriers, but transfer their energy and disintegrate upon impact on an intended target.
An officer equipped with a rifle might initially be intimidating to students and staff, but sadly, it should be a requirement, and will surely serve as a deterrent. The sight of such a professionally armed officer might prevent an attack before it is even conceived. Police Officers with long arms are a common sight in most European Countries, and one soon becomes quite used to it.Don’t “Set them up for Failure”; our children are counting on us
So please tell us, Nick, exactly what measures you would suggest to address the “issues of what causes such incidents from ever occurring”.Please also share with us less enlightened folks, what the root causes of this violence might be.
Lemme grab my popcorn for this….
30k is more than I’ve ever made working 12 months a year. This is fantastic pay for the Escambia county area.
This is a long overdue development, and I welcome it.
I would caution the administrators of the program not to leave these people under-gunned. Even a very powerful handgun is not a match for a centerfire rifle. Projectiles are available for these officers that would not penetrate the walls, for the protection of the students, while being powerful and accurate enough to deal with any threat that might come walking in. An under-gunned office most likely is not going to be able get the job done against a heavily armed lunatic.
Excellent proposal!!
Some people are born to complain regardless of the idea. You complain because an individual who applies for a job to be the first one to engage an active shooter and you complain. If the County didn’t do anything yo address the problem, you’d complain when there is a shooter. The school board can not afford to pay deputies full time now and we mush have someone in our schools, this is the society we live in. Sure do your study and figure out why but don’t leave our children exposed to potential violence while you’re picking flowers and hugging trees.
Just set me a recliner and TV in a janitor’s closet, throw in a hot lunch. You could get me at a reasonable price.
Two things are certain. I would run TO the danger and I would light the bad guys up. six ways from Sunday.
I totally disagree with the individual that refers to the starting salary of $30k as a measly amount. I would not consider this position to be adequate as a primary and sole employment position for a person. The primary prospective’s would be a physically and mentally active individual that has retired from military/security/law enforcement and are already drawing a retirement salary, but most importantly…they’re not doing this job just for the money. Many of us have served our country for the honor and privilege as our main reason to do what we do…and the money and retirement benefits are way down the list on priorities. If you’re there just for the money…don’t apply.
This sounds like a positive approach to prevent another terrible tragedy. Even though I personally live in Santa Rosa County…I support your plan 100%.
Yeah and to Nick… seriously it isn’t a way around what causes anything, good grief you people have no business being involved in this discussion, closed minded and obviously didn’t read the article or the issues involved.
@ no way
$30,000 is nearly what state corrections officers make and these safety officers will have much better working conditions
@ nick
Addressing the causes of school violence is great, but cant prevent every incident. These are the people to stop those shooters that dont get identified by the “red flags” that we always miss.
Good idea. Also the comment above regarding this as a low paying job, a retiree is what they are looking for. They receive a government check as well. Also ECSO doesn’t start out much more are you saying they aren’t well trained? Seriously some of you should just not be online . ECFR rub into burning building for 10 bucks an hour.
Another cost saving method by Malcolm. In his words “They will have no Law enforcement Authority “. Crossing guard is what they will become. Sad!!!! Time to move forward from his thinking.
So rather than addressing the issue of what causes school violence and preventing such incidents from ever occurring the county would rather compromise by paying a trained, armed, and “stable” individual $30k a year in anticipation a violent act will happen or just in case. This is fear breeding contempt, clouding judgement, and influencing decisions. There is very little logic to this decision.
I have always hoped to work in a capacity like this one.
I am a retired Navy petty officer. Also worked as a corrections
Officer here in Escambia County Sheriffs Department. The passing
Of my wife and an on the job injury together pushed me to resign.
I have kept my concealed weapons license current and would
Like an opportunity to serve. I am the security chief at my church
And worked in Auxiliary forces while in the military as well as a
A loss prevention officer at JC Penney.
Thank you,
Monty Ray
soooooooooo, I’m to believe that you’re going to expect people of quality to apply for a job with this much responsibility and possible danger for a measly 30k a year? Now Escambia county will be the lowest paying county in the state not just for teachers, but for security too!! Come’on folks, why is it we have to be last in everything up on this end of the state?
I love this idea! It’s better than arming the teachers. They have enough to worry about on a day to day basis.