It's official: 47 school police officers are now ready to protect children throughout Clay County schools at the start of school next week.
Clay County School Board voted in February to part ways with the sheriff deputies and guardians in place of their own police force.
The guardians came as a result of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act.
The district argued creating their own police force would save the district money in the long run.
First Coast News' On Your Side team wanted to take a deeper look at the training the officers went through before becoming official.
In Florida, state statute requires anyone who is going to serve as officer in any department to go through the same training through the Department of Florida Law Enforcement.
Clay School District had just four months to fill the 47 positions that make up the county's first school police force. The force has a variety of experience, some 60, others over 37 years of experience. The members come from previous law enforcement stops in Clay, Duval, and Bradford Counties. One member even came in from Hawaii.
Some may have found themselves playing the Guess Who board game when it came to who the department would find in a short time.
“We are glad to say that we have a number of individuals that have been in education, whether it’s in K12 education or post-secondary education and truly understand what is need to protect our children," said Clay County Superintendent Addison Davis.
Despite prior experience and required certification through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Davis added that the 47 members have been going through training since June. Training that included work with the FBI.
“Field training, psychological assessment, de-escalation training, trauma-informed care training, active shooter training," he said.
It’s the exact same training neighboring police forces like the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office goes through. Clay School district even hired former FBI agents to work on background checks.
“Please note, parents if you’re watching, we have done our homework to make certain that we have the individuals that really have the hearts and abilities to protect our kids every single day," Davis said.
The most important piece, Davis added, is that this will allow for a resource officer in every school which Clay County has not had. Davis estimates the move could save up to $1.2 million in the first year.