At the time of this publication, there have been more mass shootings in the United States in 2023 than there have been days this year so far. 

   The attacks often occur indiscriminately and without warning, evoking the same feelings of unease and apprehension once felt in the dim, silent classrooms of March 7th.   

   While ways of addressing the nationwide issue are being heavily debated, Broward County is wasting no time in hiring armed safe school officers in an effort to curtail this statistic. 

   “Every school has to have an armed school safety officer or a school resource officer (SRO),” explains Principal Bayer. “The guideline is [that] for every 1000 students, [a school] should have an SRO.” 

   School resource officers are sworn-in law enforcement individuals with arrest powers and prior training with the youth, whereas safe school officers do not necessarily have to have these qualifications. And it’s this distinction, in addition to the experience that comes along with being a police or law enforcement officer, that leaves sophomore Milanna Correa in only partial support of the decision.

   “I think [school] will definitely be safer. If anything happens, they’re already on site and on campus, and here for us,” she says. “However at the end of the day, they’re not officers and there would be more weapons on campus.”

   Milagros Ortega also expresses concern over the prospect of additional weapons on campus. The junior asks a pressing question: “If weapons are the primary issue threatening our safety, why should we be adding more on campus?” She adds, “Adding more arms could just open up space for accidents and for students to feel like school is more a prison than a safe environment.”

   However, the armed safe school officers are provided body armor and training to which Milagros feels “could potentially be adding a sense of security within the school.”

   Though Broward County Public Schools is in the process of recruiting these safe school officers, Pembroke Pines Charter may not see these new hires. 

   “We have two full time SROs,” Bayer says, which, according to the SRO requirement of 1 per 1000 students, would satisfy Charter’s needs (there are about 2000 students on campus). “And [we’re] fortunate to be in a municipally-run charter school; the City of Pembroke Pines—who also oversees the City of Pembroke Pines Police Department—always makes sure we are taken care of.” 

   Freshman Jack Taylor recalls the recent lockdown false alarm that occurred on March 7th of this year. “The fact that our school was under a [lockdown] was kind of nerve-racking,” he says. Even so, Taylor remained confident in the protection provided by the city and school. “But at the same time, I felt safe because of the Pines Charter staff and police.” 

   Principal Bayer bolsters this confidence in school security, saying, “Even if an SRO is out sick [they’ll] send another detail officer from the road. I don’t see us ever being in a scenario that some schools have [where] BSO (Broward Sheriff’s Office) cannot get enough officers [and so] they would have to have an armed school security officer.” 

   Still, in the midst of America’s battle against gun violence, senior Mariana Ardila communicates her dislike for the idea. “I think that with everything going on, this could be a problem to something bigger that’s already happening. You never really know what somebody has going on behind them, you don’t know what their intentions are, so having these positions open can create more harm than what is already happening,” she says.

   Although the Broward County decision is not predicted to affect the Jaguar den, the move marks yet another measure aimed at keeping children and teenagers safe. 

   “I could see some of the positives of added security such as causing less threats,” Milagros says, hopeful.