Speaker Discusses School Security, Budget Cuts At Douglas Partners Meeting 

Published May 26th, 2008

By Nicol Jenkins
Editor

Joe Melita spoke about school safety and security at a recent Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Partners meeting held in Coral Springs.  

“I have been in education for over 30 years and was content being a principal,” said Melita. “But then someone asked me, ‘Aren’t you concerned with who is teaching your kids?’”

Melita went from principal of Deerfield Beach High School to Executive Director of the Professional Standards and Special Investigative Unit for the Broward County School District.

“We’ve had to pull out seven teachers in the last year for sexual offense. There is no reason an adult should be texting a kid. We have 17,000 teachers and a small percentage does not do what they are expected to do and we get them out,” Melita said. 

Melita further discussed school security including district-wide anti-bullying programs, a safety plan, and the STAR system, which scans every school visitor’s ID and scans it through all sexual predator databases.
“We took a gun off an 8-year-old,” he said. “The key is that students need to see role models.”
Melita added that budget cuts are also looming.

“We are looking at no police officers at some elementary schools and that leaves some vulnerable,” he said. “With budget cuts, we are concerned with cuts in safety and security. We need volunteers to be mentors to kids.”

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