Cities say replacing SROs with armed Guardians is OCPS idea

Five Orange County municipalities — branded hold-outs for not accepting Orange County Public Schools’ initial contract offer for school resource officers — pushed back hard on the school district’s fearmongering email sent to parents earlier this week. The email urged parents to contact their city commissioners about preventing SROs from being replaced with armed Guardians, who have less training and fewer tools, if the district couldn't reach salary agreements with the municipalities’ law enforcement agencies.

The email was sent Monday to parents with students in the 30 schools in Winter Garden, Ocoee, Windermere, Apopka and Winter Park. That same day there was a shooting at a Christian school in Wisconsin that left two dead and two wounded. 

At Ocoee’s city commission meeting Tuesday, the typically placid city manager, Craig Shadrix, was furious.

“I'm trying to be judicious about what I say here, but I'm so angry about the fact that the cities Ocoee, Winter Garden, Apopka, Windermere and Winter Park have been placed in the crosshairs of a pretty vicious narrative control campaign by the Orange County School Board  with regard to the fact that these jurisdictions decided to enter into a one-year contract in a year where, market-wide, salaries went up by 20 percent across Central Florida for law enforcement," he said. "We were forced to absorb that in a year that Amendment 5 passed. In my view, Orange County Public Schools is exempt from the impacts of that change.”

Shadrix said it is OCPS’ responsibility to ensure the safety of students — a sentiment echoed by Winter Garden City Manager Jon Williams.

“The safety and security of the schools is OCPS’ responsibility, and OCPS will make the ultimate decision to continue with SROs or utilize Guardians,” Williams said in an email to VoxPopuli. “All we are asking for is fair and adequate compensation for the very critical and valuable services that are being provided, and we hope that will be accomplished in negotiations which are scheduled in January.”

Five police chiefs of these municipalities wrote in a joint press statement, that they were “disappointed” in OCPS for sending the email the same day as the Wisconsin shooting and said OCPS exploited the shooting to garner support. OCPS spokesperson Michael Ollendorf told VoxPopuli in a statement that the idea that OCPS tried to exploit the tragedy was “false,” that the email was drafted “last week,” before Monday’s shooting and never referenced the incident.

The police chiefs also stated that “no law enforcement agency involved in these negotiations has ever suggested or expressed a desire to remove SROs from schools; the discussions to replace SROs with a Guardian Program lies solely on Orange County Public Schools.”

The law enforcement agencies began the 2024-2025 school year without a contract, according to the joint statement, but "never threatened or even considered withdrawing SROs from schools." The agencies are currently operating under a one-year contract, which allows for flexibility and changing economic conditions, such as the decline in revenue that may come with the passage of Amendment 5, which links taxes to the Consumer Price Index.

OCPS is pushing for a three-year contract. The five municipalities want an opportunity to negotiate the 1.5 percent raise presented in the second year of the contract in anticipation of an increase in expenses.

FAIR COMPROMISE

During the commission meeting, Shadrix explained that Ocoee pays approximately $1 million for SROs while receiving $648,000 in reimbursement from OCPS or 46 percent. That equates to $72,000 per officer. Likewise, Winter Garden received $648,000 for SRO services from OCPS whereas the city covered $1.4 million in salaries, benefits and equipment, according to Williams’ email.

Shadrix pointed out that OCPS has its own District Police Department. It has 22 sworn officers.

“A lot of people don’t know that. They have the police department. They're the agency responsible for the safety of their kids. We're footing more than half of the cost right now, yet we're being crucified in the media,” he said.

Shadrix wants to see the scales evened out so that the five municipalities are reimbursed at least 50 percent of the costs associated with SROs, increasing to 55 percent over three years.

Ocoee Police Chief Vincent Ogburn told the commission that between training, equipment, vehicles and uniforms, it costs the city $162,208.15 to hire a single police officer. Ogburn said the police department is asking for a starting salary of $75,000 in the first year of a three-year contract — OCPS offers that in the second year — with increases that put officers in the $80,000 range by year three.

INCREASING COSTS

OCPS has offered to boost its reimbursement by 20 percent to $72,000 per SRO in the 2024-2025 school year and increase it to $75,000 by 2026-2027. Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Orlando Police Department and others agreed to the proposal.

Winter Garden, Ocoee, Windermere, Winter Park and Apopka did not accept the proposal. In their joint statement, the police chiefs said that in the previous three-year agreement, OCPS had only offered a 20 percent increase on reimbursements as agency costs increased 45 percent.

“Entering into another three-year contract under similar terms would only exacerbate the financial strain, making future negotiations even more difficult,” the press release said.

“ We have to figure out how to continue to budget more frugally with the anticipated reduction in our revenue due to the passing of Amendment  5,” said Shadrix. “We don't even know what that impact is going to be yet. All in a year when police salaries went up 20 percent across Central Florida.”

Negotiations begin in January.

SAME FISCAL PROBLEM

District 7 School Board Member Melissa Byrd, who represents Winter Garden, Ocoee and Apopka, said OCPS was stuck between the proverbial “rock and a hard place” because safe school allocations are underfunded.

In a Dec. 10 Orange County School Board work session, Byrd and Bryan Holmes, Chief of OCPS District Police, discussed training 30 District police officers if OCPS cannot finalize a deal with the five individual law enforcement agencies. But Byrd shot this down as beyond their budget since the cost to hire one District officer is more than $100,000, including salary, equipment and vehicle. Limited funding has meant that the School Board District Police Department currently has six vacant positions.

“We have no other option than a Guardian if they do not settle this contract with us,” Byrd said during the meeting. “It’s disappointing.”

Anne Douglas, newly elected District 4 school board member, said, “I’m really deeply saddened and disappointed that the safety of our kids is compromised because of salaries. These are our children, they deserve the best. They deserve the best safe environment.”

In the wake of the 2018 Parkland shooting, which killed 17 students and faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission established the Guardian Program. The commission found that in the event of a school shooting, Guardians are the “best way to ensure” trained personnel are in place to respond. 

Guardians undergo psychological evaluation, criminal background checks and 144 hours of training, including 12 hours of diversity training and 132 hours of firearm safety training. Guardians have been described as "armed security guards." About 30 Florida counties employ them. 

By contrast, SROs also undergo criminal background checks, drug testing and psychological evaluation. They complete approximately 770 hours of training at a Law Enforcement Officer Basic Recruit program as a requirement to become law enforcement officers.

Florida Statutes require schools to have either an SRO or an armed Guardian on campus.

In the meeting, Bryan Holmes, Chief of OCPS District Police, said Guardians cannot arrest or act in any law enforcement capacity. Holmes also confirmed Guardians will have less equipment compared to an SRO such as communication radios, tasers and marked cars.

“ The city of Ocoee, and I believe I'm speaking for these other jurisdictions, in no way, shape, or form is advocating not having a trained, sworn law enforcement officer in these schools to protect students,” said Shadrix.