Lee County families address school safety proposal

The Lee superintendent responded to pleas for better school security Wednesday.

A school board meeting was held Tuesday to discuss a new school safety proposal. Many families and students attended to voice their concerns.

WINK News reporter Jessica Alpern was live in Cape Coral to discuss what the superintendent had to say about increase in security for Lee County schools. Watch the full segment above.

Some families in Southwest Florida don’t agree with proposals coming out of Tallahassee.

A bill approved Tuesday still has a way to go, but it would mean teachers could carry guns on school campuses.

Concerned citizens in Lee County were allowed to voice their opinions at a school board meeting Tuesday night.

“This is not the Wild West,” one resident said.

“Teachers need to focus on leading and educating not safety,” said Ramie Hall, a mother.

Teachers and parents spoke up against the bill which would put guns in the hands of teachers. The bill would train them to take action in the event of an active shooter.

“Kids are scared as is and now they have to be scared of teachers?”

Instead, others requested immediate local action. One student, Reese Hall, asked the board a tough question.

“I want you to ask yourself if you’re doing everything you can to prevent a tragedy in Lee County and if not how many more children need to die?”

Reese Hall says her school, Cypress Lake High School is vulnerable because it doesn’t have a single point of entry.

Superintendent Greg Adkins says fixing that at Lee County schools is a top priority.

“That is what our new facilities can provide and what our upgrades can provide as doing renovations to older schools,” said Adkins.

Parents said there is a needs to be immediate changes to secure perimeters with safer fences, install safer doors in classrooms and add metal detectors at those single-point entries.

One mother recalled the day after the Stoneman Douglas shooting, when she said she had to answer her child’s tough questions about safety in their schools.

“It broke my heart to drive my 6th grader to school the day after he asked me if he had an armed guard at all times and I don’t know that answer,” said Hall.

The superintendent assured everyone that they are working on a number of solutions.

He says he wants to increase the student resource presence. Also a joint program with the SROs, local police agencies and deputies on campus.