ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County Public Schools, the fourth largest school district in Florida with more than 200,000 students, is sending a safety message to parents via email Wednesday night, focusing on gun safety and gun storage.
The message, set to go out on the eve of the new school year, will stress that “safely storing firearms is necessary to protect our children from the disastrous consequences of accessibility.”
School board Vice Chair Angie Gallo told News 6 the whole idea is to make sure “our children are safe.”
“We want them (families) to know if they have a firearm at home to please safely store and lock them up,” Gallo said.
In a letter sent to district parents on May 8, school board Chair Teresa Jacobs and Superintendent Maria Vazquez asked did you know that “our community suffered the senseless shooting deaths of multiple OCPS students last year (unrelated to school itself)?”
While specific data is unconfirmed incidents of students with guns on campus have been reported nationwide.
Florida law mandates “loaded forearms in a home must be stored in a locked box or container or secured with a trigger lock if the owner reasonably knows that a child under the age of 16 can access the firearm.”
Last year, a 15-year-old Winter Park High School student walked onto campus with a handgun, ammunition magazine and three bullets in a backpack. No shots were fired, and no one was hurt.
Teachers and Law enforcement agencies credit Fortify Florida for the tip that led to the teen’s arrest.
The app and website are considered a crucial tool in the mission to keep school campuses safe from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Bryan Holmes, the chief of the district police for Orange County, has been at the helm for 10 years. Holmes, who also serves as a school safety specialist, told News 6 since the 2018 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, safety protocol at the district has “changed dramatically.”
Holmes said school safety is “top priority” and the access to Fortify Florida, in his view, is “vitally important to have an anonymous tip reporting tool.”
“Somebody might have serious concern about a friend or that individual may be having thoughts of hurting themselves,” Holmes said. ”The principal gets the notification, the police get the notification, I get all the notifications as a school safety specialist for the district.”
Holmes told News 6 some students have used Fortify Florida to send out false alerts, reporting “things that are not accurate.”
Florida Statute 943.082 states that if, after an investigation, it is determined a person knowingly submitted a false tip through FortifyFL, the IP address of the device on which the tip was submitted will be provided to law enforcement agencies for further investigation.
Students or parents who need to report an incident online or via app can click here.
If you have a school issue, email me at mholfeld@wkmg.com.
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