By: Andrew Atterbury, Treasure Coast Newspapers
MARTIN COUNTY — The school district will pick up the tab for 13 additional armed guards in 2018-19 to comply with new laws passed since the Parkland shooting.
The School Board on Tuesday voted 3-2 to staff all schools with sheriff’s deputies in the new school year following a spirited discussion about whether to also utilizeStuart police as school resource officers.
Christia Li Roberts and Michael DiTerlizzi voted no.
The additional deputies are expected to cost about $2.4 million more than Martin County paid last year for security, Sheriff William Snyder told the board.
Board members expressed urgency in approving a plan Tuesday with the new school year and state safety deadlines rapidly approaching.
“Everything that school resource officers are doing is being heightened,” said board member Marsha Powers. “If we don’t make a decision, a decision will be made for us.”
Snyder addressed the board at the start of Tuesday’s meeting, explaining he needed guidance on how many deputies to hire in preparation for the new school year. Altogether, he said, the district needs 25 deputies or police officers to meet the state requirement of one armed guard on every campus…