NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – The Miami-Dade County Public School District is inching closer to having a police officer at each of its 360 school sites.
The district and the city of North Miami Beach signed an agreement Thursday to train eight new school resource officers who will rotate at two elementary schools come August.
Currently, Miami-Dade Schools Police has an officer at all secondary schools.
Last month, the school district scored a similar agreement with the city of Miami Beach, where the city picked up the cost of hiring and training new officers.
"It is a little bit different to interact with kids on a regular basis, and through that modified training we are absolutely certain that we'll reach a point where the level of understanding, the level of proactive activities and interaction between law enforcement, teachers, students and parents will be at an optimum," M-DCPS Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.
A state law passed in the wake of the Feb. 14 Parkland shooting requires an armed person to be at all schools full time.
Some school districts, including Broward County, are still trying to figure out how to split the cost with cities.