Gov. Scott unveils school safety plan to crowd in Naples

Parts of Gov. Rick Scott’s speech were met with applause Friday afternoon in Naples as he laid out a $500 million proposal to keep kids safe in schools.

Gov. Scott spent the past week pitching his plan across the state. He developed it after meeting with local law enforcement and educators.

The plan calls for a “hardening” of schools and to incorporate more mental health personnel on staff.

“I want counselors at all our schools. I want to embed a DCFS person in all our sheriff’s departments,” Scott said.

Gov. Scott also said more than once that he does not want to arm teachers, but instead focus on getting mentally ill students the help they need. He also wants at least one school resource officer per 1,000 students—and Collier County’s Superintendent says they hit close to those numbers.

“We carefully hand choose which deputies are in our schools—people who have the passion to help kids,” said Dr. Kamela Patton.

Gov. Scott also called for a strengthening of gun buying restrictions for mentally ill people under the Baker Act, a requirement for active shooter training for students and staff on every campus and to create a state-wide website where people can anonymously report threats.