Sarasota County Sheriff, schools superintendent haggle over crossing guards

Herald-Tribune | by Ryan McKinnon | April 5, 2021

Negotiations over crossing guards near Sarasota County Schools have some school officials worried about the future partnership with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, three years after the school district launched its own police department

On March 25, first-year Sheriff Kurt Hoffman sent a letter to Superintendent Brennan Asplen proposing the school district take on the cost of paying for crossing guards, which the Sheriff’s Office had been covering. 

The total cost of the program this year was roughly $260,000, a small amount compared to both agencies’ overall budgets.

However, Hoffman argues that under Florida law it is the schools’ responsibility and not a law enforcement duty.

As he is trying to boost deputy pay to entice more recruits into the field, the quarter-million-dollar crossing guard contract stood out as one natural place to cut, especially since the district started its own police force instead of using Sheriff’s Office deputies in schools. 

“There has got to be some equity at some point. I am doing all this stuff plus the school crossing guard after you guys basically fired us.”

Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman

Hoffman’s letter listed dozens of services the Sheriff’s Office still provides at no cost to the school district. This includes providing detectives for felony crimes, the bomb squad and K9 unit, use of the forensic drug laboratory, crime scene technicians, 911 dispatch services and multi-agency active shooter training.

“I am trying to lay out all the things we do and will continue to do,” Hoffman said Friday. “There has got to be some equity at some point. I am doing all this stuff plus (paying for) the school crossing guards after you guys basically fired us.”

“I am trying to lay out all the things we do and will continue to do,” Hoffman said Friday. “There has got to be some equity at some point. I am doing all this stuff plus (paying for) the school crossing guards after you guys basically fired us.”

Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman is looking for savings in his budget and has proposed the Sarasota County School District take on the cost of crossing guards.
Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman is looking for savings in his budget and has proposed the Sarasota County School District take on the cost of crossing guards. HERALD-TRIBUNE FILE

Hoffman is proposing that the Sheriff’s Office and school district split the cost for 2021-22. In 2022-23, the School District would pay 75% under his proposal, and the schools would foot the entire bill beginning in 2023-24.

Hoffman cited the Florida law that says “local governmental entities” administer school crossing guard programs. According to statute, these entities include “municipalities, school boards, special districts and other local entities within the jurisdiction of one county.”  

Sarasota County School officials say the school’s police force does not have jurisdiction over intersections near schools and that it is a matter of public safety, which falls under the sheriff’s domain. 

“All crossing guards are on areas that are not school property,” school district spokesman Craig Maniglia said in an email. 

The Sarasota County School District is under new leadership, with Superintendent Brennan Asplen, left, having taken the job just last summer.
The Sarasota County School District is under new leadership, with Superintendent Brennan Asplen, left, having taken the job just last summer. THOMAS BENDER/HERALD-TRIBUNE FILE

New leadership

Hoffman’s letter comes as both the school district and Sheriff’s Office have new leadership.

It also comes after the School Board opted to form its own police force in 2018, rather than paying the Sheriff’s Office for school resource officers to meet new state-mandated security requirements.

School officials said two years ago that forming the department had ended up saving them nearly half a million dollars that they otherwise would have spent on paying local law enforcement agencies, including the Sheriff’s Office, to staff their campuses. 

However, some of those savings are likely only possible because of continued support from the Sheriff’s Office in the nearly 40 major areas Hoffman listed in his letter.

School Board member Jane Goodwin said the laundry list of support seemed to “include everything but business cards,” and she questioned why Hoffman was choosing this particular fight. 

With schools facing a possible decline in enrollment and funding due to COVID-19, Goodwin and other board members are worried that the Sheriff’s Office could be signaling that much of what they have been providing at no cost could soon be itemized and subject to negotiations. 

“I have great concern about this letter.”

SARASOTA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER JANE GOODWIN

“I have great concern about this letter and I would like to flesh out more detail about this,” Goodwin said. “Every service he provides to us was mentioned there. For what purpose?”

Board members Tom Edwards and Shirley Brown, along with Goodwin, said that crossing guards across the state are funded by law enforcement agencies.   

“I think we are all being asked to do more with budget constraints,” Edwards said. “I get why he is asking questions, but the reality is who is really responsible?”

Hoffman said on Friday that any fears of “itemizing” services were overblown and that this was a reasonable request, based on Florida law, and the fact that crossing guards are third party vendors. He added that most crossing guards are provided by local law enforcement because most school districts do not have their own police departments. 

“Categorically, I am not removing any of these services,” Hoffman said, referring to the support his office provides the school district. “I am not pulling any of that back. I say that at the risk of my own position, which is to get a little bit of equity.”

Lingering Robinson involvement?

Both sides have emphasized the desire to continue to partner on several fronts, especially with new leadership in place, but the impact of the split between the Sheriff’s Office and School Board in 2018 continues to reverberate.

At the time, former School Board member Eric Robinson was caught texting with then-Sheriff Tom Knight during a board meeting, encouraging the sheriff to charge the board and former Superintendent Todd Bowden the full amount to continue providing security in schools.

The School Board ultimately decided to form its own police force, over the objections of Robinson and current School Board member Bridget Ziegler. 

Robinson, who lost his seat to Edwards in last fall’s election, is close friends with Hoffman, who was on the text thread that got Robinson into hot water with his fellow board members. Hoffman is godparent to one of Robinson’s children.

Robinson rejected the notion that he was “counseling” the new sheriff, although he did say the two had discussed the continued level of support the Sheriff’s Office was providing to the schools. 

“If you want to be your own law enforcement agency, be your own law enforcement agency,” Robinson said, referring to the school district police force. “The School Board fired the Sheriff’s Office, and it took them time to unwind all the relationships. I see this as a natural extension of the decision the School Board made many years ago.”

Hoffman said that the former School Board member had no role in this decision and said that the possible $260,000 in savings would help increase starting deputy pay, especially given a record low number of recruits in the latest class. 

“There is no Eric Robinson, Tom Knight, Todd Bowden connection,” Hoffman said. “What started the discussion for me is I am trying to build a pay plan for my deputies to be competitive with what is going on in the world right now.”

Photo: Crossing guard Deborah Reaves helps make sure students and parents get to school safely on Aug. 31, 2020 at Wilkinson Elementary. Reaves has been a crossing guard at Beneva and Wilkinson roads for seven years. MIKE LANG/HERALD-TRIBUNE FILE

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