Guardian program planned for Glades County Public Schools

Another local school district is considering adding the guardian program to its school safety measures.

Glades County Public Schools gave the sheriff’s office the go-ahead to apply for a $100,000 grant last night.

If approved, it will start the discussion on whether to bring it into their schools in the future. Florida started the program in 2018 after the massacre in Parkland.

“I teach for the attorney general’s office, basic SRO across the state. I’m an adjunct instructor. I have been involved in the guardian program since pretty much its inception,” said Curtis Clay, assistant director of school safety and security of the Hendry County School District.

The guardian program was launched back in 2018 at Hendry County public schools, in partnership with the sheriff’s office.

“Broward has guardians, Palm Beach County, just started picking up guardians. I know Lee County just started doing guardians, you know, so I know that it’s starting to become very clear that this is a program that’s needed,” Clay said.

Clay said he can’t arm just anyone. Every guardian is trained, examined and background checked when they start, and continuously throughout the program.

“Use the Uvalde incident in Texas. That teacher got up and approached that person trying to stop that person from harming those students without a gun, and took several rounds because of it, so these are heroes, these are people that are walking towards somebody who they know has a gun, that is going to hurt them kill them, and they’re still doing it trying to defend the children behind them,” Clay said.

Guardians can be teachers, administrators, and front desk staff who conceal carry, but by early next year, Hendry County will begin to have guardians who open carry.

“We advanced to hiring individuals that will be putting in an actual uniform and open carry as a guardian, their primary job is to do school safety and security on the campuses that are assigned,” Clay said.

Those guardians will be visibly armed and wear a shirt that says “guardian,” but their role isn’t to enforce the law but to protect everyone inside the schools from the worst-case scenario.

Clay is currently training a guardian who is set to open carry at one of the Hendry County public schools by next year, and will then continue to train more who apply and pass to be a part of their open carry guardian program.