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Volusia school district looks to add more law enforcement to campuses

District asking for school resource deputies for 7 middle schools

Silver Sands Middle School (Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved.)

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – District leaders are asking the county to add deputies to several Volusia County middle schools after a rocky start to the school year with safety incidents.

The schools asking for permanent school resource deputies currently only have school guardians.

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The district will ask Volusia County Council next Tuesday for the sheriff’s office to provide seven deputies and one supervising sergeant.

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They would be assigned to these seven middle schools with the district basing the need on the number of times law enforcement was called to these campuses in the first month and a half of school this year:

  • Creekside Middle - 36 calls
  • Deltona Middle - 41 calls
  • Galaxy Middle - 29 calls
  • Heritage Middle - 58 calls
  • Holly Hill School - 43 calls
  • Silver Sands Middle - 39 calls
  • Southwestern Middle - 23 calls

Also, in the first quarter of the year, the district said there have been 718 drug, alcohol or tobacco-related incidents in middle schools and 647 fighting incidents.

District leaders said increased law enforcement on other campuses has made a notable difference.

New Smyrna Middle School got a school resource officer this year. The district said the school’s reported safety incidents decreased from 158 in the first quarter of last school year to 19 in that time frame this year.

Parents at Heritage Middle School hope a deputy on campus would be a deterrent before students even leave their house for the day.

“There’s more guns and a lot of people have more facilities to get them and if you have a gun at the house the kid can bring it over to school,” one parent said.

The sheriff’s office also said, so far, 26 weapons have been recovered from school grounds this year whereas 82 were recovered all of last school year.

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Correction:

A previous version of this story reported incorrect information for the number of calls for service to each school. That information was provided by a district spokesperson, but was later amended by the district's safety leader. We apologize for the error and any confusion it may have caused.