- April 25, 2024
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When the School Board began to discuss a proposed contract with the Flagler County Sheriff's Office during a May 5 board workshop, the conversation followed a presentation about the district's financials in light of COVID-19.
"My fear is that our world is about to be rocked over the next two years, financially."
— COLLEEN CONKLIN, Flagler County School Board member
The district might face a 30% reduction in state funding in the coming year, district Finance Director Patricia Wormeck said —"a very, very drastic cut." So when district Risk Manager and Safety Specialist David Bossardet and FCSO Chief Mark Strobridge presented a proposed contract between the district and the Sheriff's Office that would involve the district paying 5% more this coming year for school resource deputies, there was immediate pushback from board members.
"I’m concerned about the increase," board member Colleen Conklin said. "We have a specific allocation under Safe Schools," she said, referring to the state program to fund school safety initiatives.
For Flagler Schools, that allocation is about $833,000 and is intended to provide for not only law enforcement coverage, but initiatives like facilities hardening and mental health care support. The proposed FCSO contract, not including overtime, is $851,489, and doesn't include any substantial changes from the current year in terms of coverage or staffing.
"I just think to be financially responsible, we need to say, 'This is what our allocation is; what can you make work for the dollars that we are being allocated from the state?'" Conklin said. "My fear is that our world is about to be rocked over the next two years, financially."
At minimum, she suggested, the board should have a conversation about eliminating district payments for deputies' overtime in cases where the overtime was not requested by the district, but was necessitated because of Sheriff's Office training or scheduling issues.
"That really is kind of out of our purview, if they’re being pulled to have other duties or pulled to do training," she said.
Board Chairwoman Janet McDonald asked about the possibility of using school "guardians" — not regular law enforcement officers, but school staff members armed and trained to react in the event of an incident like a shooting.
"This may be the time we talk about going to a blended model," she said, with guardians being trained by the Sheriff's Office.
Board member Trevor Tucker said he doubted the district would have time before the upcoming school year begins to send staff members through the hundreds of hours of training required by the state for armed school guardians.
"I think that has to be a longer conversation, maybe over a year," he said. For now, he said, "If we can just get a little bit of flexibility on that overtime, that would maybe help us out."
Board member Andy Dance said he agreed about the overtime, as did board member Maria Barbosa.
Strobridge noted that the school district is paying 100% of the cost of its school crossing guards — positions currently provided through the FCSO which could instead be brought in-house. The proposed contract includes $103,327 for nine crossing guards.
But if the district decides to hire its own school crossing guards, Board Attorney Kristy Gavin said, it would have to have them trained — and, as with the proposal for school guardians, it may not have time to do that before the school year begins.
Strobridge said the FCSO could look at a flat cost for school resource deputy overtime, rather than having the district pay time and a half, as it has been doing.
"That may be enough of a buffer — I don’t know — but that’s where I can go today," Strobridge said.
McDonald said school resource deputies are an important part of the school district's culture.
"I’m hoping the pencils can get a little more sharpened, and we can come up with a workable agreement," she said.
