Tighter
school security will cost a bundle
District
leaders in Miami-Dade and Broward counties said the new guidelines will
require a massive mobilization to fingerprint construction workers building
additions, and sports officials and vendors selling yearbooks and class rings
at school -- all before the law goes into effect Sept. 1. Across
the state, thousands of those workers will be required to submit fingerprints
to the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement, costing hundreds of
thousands of dollars. ''I
do think the law is very clear on that issue,'' said Pamela Stewart, a deputy
chancellor with the Department of Education, who said she ''couldn't even
begin to try to estimate'' the number of workers who will be affected. Spokesmen
in Miami-Dade and Broward were also unable to provide estimates, but both
districts said it would be a major undertaking. ''We're
talking about thousands of people who interact with our schools,'' said
Miami-Dade spokesman Joseph Garcia. ``That number will increase as we have
more and more construction sites.'' The
background checks were required by the Jessica Lunsford Act, a law signed
this year by Gov. Jeb Bush to tighten monitoring and punishment of sexual
offenders. It was named for the the 9-year-old Homosassa girl who was
kidnapped, raped and murdered this year, allegedly by a convicted sex
offender who did construction work at her school. ''It
seems extreme, but it might be necessary,'' said Eileen Segal, president of
the Dade County Council PTA/PTSA. ``It may be difficult for the construction
company, but if they are going to be around the children every single day, I
think they have to be checked.'' $65 PER SCREENING District
contractors, especially builders, have worried about the cost: Background
checks cost more than $65 per person. ''The
really unfortunate thing about this is that this money will come directly out
of every child's classroom,'' said Miami-Dade School Board member Evelyn
Greer. Moreover,
some builders said their employees would go to another project rather than
risk exposing previous crimes or uncertain immigration status. South
Florida's real estate boom provides plenty of options. Advocates
have applauded the law and said districts should avoid putting a price tag on
children's safety. ''They've
got to get beyond the inconvenience and cost,'' Rep. Dick Kravitz, one of the
bill's sponsors, said in an interview with The Herald last month. ``What's
more precious than one little kid?'' The
background checks are supposed to be completed by Sept. 1; many large
districts have been scrambling to comply while also hoping for a narrow
interpretation of the law. For example, some leaders hoped to exempt
construction workers if their work site was fenced off from the rest of the
school. ''We
fence our construction zone off and keep everyone out of the area where the
kids are,'' said Jim Hewett, president of Hewett-Kier Construction, which is
managing an $8 million renovation to Eugenia B. Thomas Elementary in Doral.
``We've been doing school construction for 28 years and never had a
problem.'' But
the guidance issued Monday was broad, including anyone who could access any
school property when children are present. At a meeting last week, Greer said
such a strict interpretation could ``grind the system to a halt.'' ''I
think it's going to be quite massive,'' said Associate Superintendent Freddie
Woodson, who said the district hopes to issue a formal position statement and
possibly an implementation plan before the School Board's monthly meeting on
Wednesday. The
only obvious exceptions are drivers for UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal
Service, which do not have contracts with the district. They, too, would
require screening if the district signed a bulk-services deal to get lower
prices. The
rules do not apply to unpaid volunteers, who are already screened under
different rules. But the law does require checking sports referees,
vending-machine suppliers and people who hawk class rings and other school
memorabilia. `COSTS WORTHWHILE' ''We
will be in full compliance at the request of the state of Florida,'' said
Julie Goetz, communications manager for Jostens, the Minneapolis company that
sells yearbooks, diplomas and other mementos. ``We support the [law] and feel
the costs are worthwhile.'' She
would not disclose how many Jostens salespeople visit South Florida schools
and said the company will negotiate the costs of background checks with
individual districts. Broward
district leaders said they want lawmakers to revisit the rule during the
spring legislative session and possibly provide alternatives to
fingerprinting. ''I
don't think we're putting the children in harm's way if we put in a fenced-in
area [for construction workers] or provide supervision directly over those
persons,'' said Broward district spokesman Keith Bromery. WHO DOES SCREENING The
new guidelines require the districts themselves to conduct the screenings,
rather than leaving it to contractors. They also instruct districts to use
identification cards, sign-in logs, checkpoints or other methods to ensure
only prescreened workers have access to schools. Districts
can share screening results -- a vendor who was checked in Miami-Dade would
not need a separate check in Broward -- but the state is not planning to
build a database of workers who have been checked. Each
county must develop its own list of crimes that exclude a worker from coming
on school property, so the state guidelines say a database would not be
feasible. ''I
see where people think you go overboard in an effort to be safe,'' said
Kravitz, R-Orange Park. 'But if it happens one time that somebody's little
boy or girl gets lifted by one of these [school] contractors, then we'll all
wring our hands and say, `How could this happen?' '' |
Source:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12391076.htm