Hendry County schools launch armed guardians program

Hendry County is gearing up to protect their students with a new armed guardian program.

In the wake of the Parkland tragedy, many school districts have added school resource officers and additional security. But some schools can’t afford the manpower.

That’s where the guardian program comes in.

“It was so close to home, it was kind of the same deal as the Sandy Hook shooting that happened years ago, and it was like, ‘hey you know, we’re still unprotected,'” said Sheriff Whidden of Hendry County.

Sheriff Whidden says if he could, he would have multiple SROs in each school.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the funds. That’s why they are training additional school staff to respond in emergencies.

“A guardian is any staff member that does not have a class in school. So they’re not responsible for teaching your kids,” said Whidden.

A guardian could be any staff member other than a teacher. But some sheriffs at the annual SRO conference said they have their reservations about this guardian project.

“A sworn law enforcement officer has more than ten times the training that one of the guardians has and that person can go out there and do a range of things on the use-of-force spectrum before they have to employ deadly force to stop an active shooter,” said Sheriff Prendergast of Citrus County.

But Whidden says the guardians have had 132 hours of specific training.

“We wouldn’t put them in schools if they weren’t capable,” Whidden said.

A lot of trust is placed in these guardian’s hands, some of whom Lucinida Kelley, of the Hendry County School District, hand-picked herself.

“They are very dedicated people and I tried to think really carefully about who I thought would be a good candidate for this program,” said Kelley.

Whidden says training for these guardians will be continuous throughout the year.

The guardian’s identities are only known to other guardians and law enforcement. Hendry County schools will still have a school resource officer in each school in addition to the guardians.

Currently the only other county using this program is Polk County.