The doctrine of sovereign immunity in Florida has evolved over time as the common law and statutory environment within the state has changed. Public schools and public-school employees enjoy some level of immunity protection under both common law and statutory law. Nonetheless, Florida law creates a duty to provide a safe environment for students…

Three weeks after the February 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed and 17 more injured, the Florida state legislature passed a bill, which among other things, designated two new roles for each school district: a director of safe schools and a mental health coordinator. These…

Based on events in Florida, this case explores issues that accompany the choice to arm school personnel as a means to address school violence and shootings. Readers consider the issue from the perspective of the school board of a large, diverse district and are presented with dilemmas while they consider the effectiveness, the political…

Education reformers have long lamented America's persistent racial and socioeconomic achievement gap and framed school choice as a means to provide low-income students of color trapped in failing schools with a ticket to a better education. Yet when parents who participate in school choice programs in states like Georgia or Indiana have been…

Describes Florida's statewide effort to provide a means of collecting information on perceptions of safety held by students, teachers, and administrators to enhance the currently available school crime and violence data collected through the statewide incident referral system. Documents the design process and development of two statewide model…

The 2001 Florida Legislature passed Ch. 2001-125, Laws of Florida, Section 40, which is often referred to as the Safe Passage Act. It requires all school districts to conduct a self-assessment of their school safety and security using best practices developed by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA). It also…

This report contains campus crime statistics for 1990-92 of crimes reported to have occurred on the community colleges, state universities, and independent colleges and universities of Florida, as required by the Florida Postsecondary Education Security Information (FPESI) Act. It also includes an assessment of physical plant safety for 1993…