Sep 25, 2009 10:56 pm US/Eastern
Some Broward Schools Cut Back On Security
Budget Cuts Leave 2 Broward Schools Without Resource Officers
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
When students and teachers arrive at Boyd Anderson High School and Lauderdale Lakes Middle School on Tuesday, a pair of familiar faces will be missing.
The School Resource Deputy assigned to each school has been reassigned. School district officials say it's because the city of Lauderdale Lakes decided not to fund the deputy's positions.
Under an agreement, the Broward County School District and the city where each school is located share the costs of the school resource deputies. School District spokesperson Nadine Drew said Lauderdale Lakes has a contract with the Broward Sheriff's Office for the deputy's and the city decided to cut the funding.
"The District has lived up to our responsibility, but this is the decision of Lauderdale Lakes and BSO," Drew said.
Boyd Anderson High sophomore Suetannya Gocoul worked closely with School Resource Deputy Timothy Doughty in the school's Crime Watch program. She said his departure means the student's will not be as safe.
"With him walking around in uniform and with his weapons, everyone felt safe, because we felt like we were in the arms of the deputy," Gocoul told CBS4's Carey Codd. "With him gone, we don't feel safe anymore."
School district officials told CBS4 there are other cities in Broward County that are either not funding the school resource officers or are shifting them around, leaving some schools without them. However, school district security officers will still patrol campuses.
Gocoul's mother, Heather Johnson, said funding the school resource deputy's should be a priority.
"Boyd Anderson is not in the safest neighborhood, so of course for me personally, I would love to have the deputy here because the kids would feel more secured," she said.
Chavante Roberts agrees. Roberts knows firsthand about school violence. Her 16-year-old son, Gregory Smith, was murdered near the campus of Boyd Anderson on April 3. Smith and his friends were waiting for a ride after attending a school talent show when they were robbed by four men.
"They don't need to be cutting school resource officers," Roberts said. "They need to cut something else, not that because our kids are there at school more than they're at home. They need protection. Kids are bringing knives, guns, weapons, too much bullying. They need that protection at school."
Roberts said students often establish close relationships with the officers.
"Some of the kids feel like they can talk to the officer better than they can a teacher," she said. "The officer's are in our community, even outside of school. These kids see the officers. They feel a more personable bond with them. They trust them."
There have been numerous other violent incidents on South Florida school campuses in the past year.
On September 15, police say Coral Gables High School student Andy Rodriguez stabbed and killed fellow student Juan Carlos Rivera.
On November 12, 2008, Dillard High School student Teah Wimberly was accused of shooting fellow student Amanda Collette in the back, killing her.
Suetannya Gocoul and her fellow students at Boyd Anderson are fighting back. They plan to rally at Lauderdale Lakes City Hall on Monday morning, asking commissioners to fund the deputy's.
"I will not feel safe at this school. I will not," Gocoul said. "I would watching my back 24/7 because anything could happen at this point. Anything."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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