BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — Students in Broward County are officially less than one week away from the first day of school, and a new year means new rules to the Code of Conduct.
Luckily, a lot of the policies and procedures that were new last year are sticking around, so the adjustment for students shouldn’t be too hard as they return to class next Monday.
Broward County public school students will once again walk into the first day at school through metal detectors, hoping for a smoother entry than last year when the detectors were first rolled out across all high schools.
“I was late to class,” one student told Local 10 News.
“She’s gonna be standing out in line for who knows how long,” one parent said.
But the security technology also brought some successful saves, catching knives, hammers, screwdrivers, and mace before the items got in the building.
A new layer of security will be added for staff -- all of whom will be equipped with a crisis alert badge.
“Now with this device, they’ll be able to alert someone right away if they are having a challenge with a student or if there’s a real extreme emergency on campus,” Blanche Ely High School Principal Tavares Williams said.
The administration is also hoping to cut back on cellphone issues, continuing to include the near total ban on wireless devices in the Student Code of Conduct.
“This policy isn’t about giving students access to Instagram or Facebook or TikTok. It’s about giving students access to a tool that every adult in this room uses daily,” School Board member Rebecca Thompson said.
“You’re not just giving us screentime, you’re showing us that you trust us,” Everglades High School student Taylor Berry said.
Despite pushback from some school board members and students, the policy still passed.
Critics want to relax the policy, allowing high schoolers to use their devices during lunch, but that probably won’t happen for a few more months.
The next time the new policy might be workshopped is Aug. 26.
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