Manatee County School District sued over school security officials

School security, a topic that has received mixed reviews from Manatee County School Board members and the community, is back in the spotlight.

Citizens for Sunshine attorney Andrea Mogensen filed a lawsuit against the district for hiring 33 community security officials to serve area elementary schools.

The Sarasota-based nonprofit group advocates for public officials to abide by transparency practices spelled out in the Florida Sunshine Law standards. The group has sued the city of Sarasota in previous years for suspected violations of the open-book law.

The group disagreed with the school district’s selection process for choosing a group to provide the security services and believes the board violated the Sunshine Law.

School Board members have discussed the issue of school security guards for more than three months at their public meetings.

Currently, unarmed security officers are still in place at each k-5 institution.

Manatee County School Board members will discuss the allegations at their next meeting, Oct. 14.

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].