Florida District to Add Safety Attendants to Monitor High School Restrooms

The Lee County School District plans to hire 11 attendants next school year to monitor high school restrooms and curb safety and security problems.

• By Jessica Davis
• April 04, 2019

High school students in the Lee County School District are hiding in the restrooms to vape and to write threatening messages, according to school officials. To curb these problems, the district plans to hire 11 safety and security attendants for next school year to monitor the restrooms.

According to Superintendent Greg Adkins, the idea to hire restroom monitoring attendants came about after he met with high school principals to discuss their campus security.

"So if we could have a roving individual that could show up in our restrooms at any one time that puts kids on notice that you could be caught by this individual," Adkins said. "So I think it would act as a deterrent."

The district has been trying to reduce the amount of on-campus vaping and keep students from writing fake threats in restrooms. Earlier this year, Lee County School District launched an initiative that warned students they could be arrested for any threat, including fake or joke threats. The district has also been educating students about the health hazards related to vaping.

The safety and security attendants will work seven hours a day for $11.60 an hour. Each position will cost the district $25,025, including benefits, according to school board records.

There are 14 high schools in the district, and officials said three of the schools already have the staff necessary to monitor restrooms.

"We have looked at other school districts, and they are all, unfortunately, facing the same thing," said Rick Parfitt, the district's director of safety and security.