VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – After eight weeks of deputies working on the campuses of seven Volusia County middle schools, the district’s safety team updated the school board on the progress they’re making.
The district decided to bring in extra law enforcement after those seven schools had to call law enforcement 257 times in the first month and a half of the school year.
Those schools are Creekside, Deltona, Galaxy, Heritage, Holly Hill, Silver Sands, and Southwestern.
The safety team told the board on Tuesday that overall, the number of problems at these middle schools has dropped significantly.
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“Four of the schools saw a significant decrease in calls for service while three saw an increase. Keep in mind: all of these cases previously required a law enforcement response from a patrol officer or deputy,” said Capt. Todd Smith.
Smith said the data shows having a deputy on these seven campuses is making big changes in response times and safety.
“In comparing the eight weeks prior to the eight weeks following implementation, there was a 52% reduction in weapons on the campuses,” he said.
It was a big decision the district made in the fall to add the deputies after a fight with the Volusia county leaders who didn’t want to help pay half of the costs for these deputies.
The district decided it was worth it spending over $500,000 on them.
The other stat that went down was the “Gaggle alerts” — or alerts deputies get when a student makes threats online or on social media. Those went down close to 55% compared to last semester.
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