GAINESVILLE - In a move Gainesville City School officials have been weighing since the start of the year, the Gainesville School Board Monday night approved equipping school resource officers (SROs) at three schools with semi-automatic rifles.
The intergovernmental agreement with the City of Gainesville will provide funding for three Colt M4 6920 rifles and for three rifle safes for SROs at Gainesville High School, Gainesville Middle School and Woods Mill Academy.
The City and the School Board would equally share the $6,000 cost with the Gainesville Police Department handling the acquisition.
The Board had originally planned to vote on the gun plan in October, but governance councils at each of the three schools involved wanted time to review the pros and cons of having the weapons on their campuses.
(See earlier story linked below.
Board weighs technology upgrades for all schools
The Board had asked Technology Director Keith Palmer how much it would cost to make all the schools in the City School System on a technological par with the system's newest school, Fair Street.
Fair Street was opened just this year and employs cutting edge technology in their effort to provide a better education. So, Board members asked at a previous Board meeting, what would the cost be to bring that level of technology to the other school buildings.
Palmer looked at the Board and said, "I'm not here to ask you for $6 million. I'm just letting you know what it would cost."
"It takes my breath away," Chairman Calkins commented.
Palmer pointed out that the largest portion of the cost would be to provide tablets for each student, as is the case at Fair Street; $4.2 million of the projected cost is for 7,000 tablet devices.
David Syfan asked about the possibility of providing the technology and wifi bandwidth needed to service the 7,000 tablets and, "students brought their own tablets
Thursday
April 18th, 2024
2:27PM
