{"id":363695,"date":"2026-08-05T20:28:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/363695\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T20:28:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:28:47","slug":"broward-to-pilot-campus-guardian-angel-drones-at-high-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/363695\/","title":{"rendered":"Broward to pilot Campus Guardian Angel drones at high school"},"content":{"rendered":"

The drones zip through school hallways, buzzing loudly like a swarm of bees. They can shoot puffs of pepper spray, flash dizzying lights and hurl themselves at 60 miles per hour at their target: a school shooter.<\/p>\n

These non-lethal drones are designed to reach a gunman in 15 seconds. Soon, they\u2019ll be available in a Broward County high school \u2014 though it\u2019s not clear when.<\/p>\n

Over the last two years, Florida has invested over $1 million into a pilot program that installs the Campus Guardian Angel<\/a> drones in schools. Broward County Public Schools, where the worst school shooting in the state\u2019s history took place, is one of three school districts participating in the first round of the pilot program. Boyd H. Anderson High in Lauderdale Lakes is poised to be the first Broward school to have the drones, but the pilot program is \u201cstill in the planning stages and implementation has not begun,\u201d said BCPS spokesperson Keyla Concepci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

Though the state announced last November<\/a> that Broward was part of the drone pilot program, the school district \u201chas not evaluated, endorsed, nor authorized any specific drone capabilities, including the deployment of pepper spray,\u201d Concepci\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n

\"A A Campus Guardian Angel drone flies through a high school as part of a demonstration. The drones are designed to respond to school shooters with pepper spray, flashing lights and loud noise. Some school districts in Florida, including Broward, are participating in a pilot program that will install the drones into schools. Courtesy of Campus Guardian Angel <\/p>\n

In a recent interview, Superintendent Howard Hepburn said there are no details yet on when the drone system at Boyd H. Anderson will be up and running. The boxes that house the drones (but not the drones themselves) were installed in at the school this summer, according to Mithril Defense, the Austin-based company that created Campus Guardian Angel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want to make sure that we continue to enhance the safety and security of our schools,\u201d Hepburn said. \u201cIf there is an emergency on the campus, we want to be able to respond quickly, ensuring that law enforcement has a bird\u2019s eye view of what\u2019s going on in the facility, so they can strategize their response to neutralize any threat to a school that\u2019s going to put our students and staff in jeopardy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talks of enhancing school safety with the latest technology are especially relevant in Broward County, where the memory of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting remains vivid and deeply personal. The time it takes for law enforcement to respond to school shootings \u2014 in some cases because of officers\u2019 refusal to enter the building \u2014 has also been a sore subject for communities that have experienced gun violence. In 2018, 11 minutes went by<\/a> before law enforcement responded to the shooting at Stoneman Douglas because Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office deputies waited outside. In 2022, officers waited for over an hour<\/a> before they entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where a shooter killed 19 students and two teachers.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, students, teachers and staff live with the fear of gun violence in schools. Nearly 400,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, according to a Washington Post tracker.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLaw enforcement does a great job most of the time. They do a fantastic job around the country,\u201d said Khristof Oborski, the Campus Guardian Angel director of tactical operations. \u201cBut the problem is that our law enforcement just can\u2019t be everywhere all the time in the school. We can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A A woman clears debris on June 14, 2024, from a memorial garden at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. An independent arbitrator has ruled the Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office had every right to fire a deputy accused of running away from danger during the mass shooting at the school in 2018. Amy Beth Bennett South Florida Sun Sentinel <\/p>\n

Recent headlines<\/a> about drones in public schools have received mixed reactions from school safety advocates. Some applaud the state\u2019s embrace of new technology. Some say they\u2019d like to see lawmakers embrace gun control, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny school could be the next site of a mass shooting, but at the same time, my immediate question was, \u2018What evidence do we have that this will actually make students safer?\u2019 That\u2019s where I think the conversation should begin,\u201d said Jaclyn Corin, a Stoneman Douglas shooting survivor and the executive director of March For Our Lives. \u201cOf course, we all share the same goal of keeping children safe, but good intentions alone aren\u2019t always enough.”<\/p>\n

How the program works<\/p>\n

Florida lawmakers approved two batches of funding<\/a> for Campus Guardian Angel: $557,000 in last year\u2019s state budget and $564,500 in this year\u2019s.<\/p>\n

For the first round of funding, three school districts \u2014 Broward, Leon and Volusia \u2014 were slated to receive drones to be installed in one school. Besides the three schools in Florida, there are at least six other schools<\/a> in Georgia and Colorado that will be equipped with Mithril Defense\u2019s anti-school shooter drones, according to the Washington Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida remains the national leader in school safety because we continue to invest in solutions that protect students and support a rapid, coordinated response,\u201d then-Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas said in a statement last year. \u201cThe Guardian Angel Program is an important step in expanding the safety tools available to our districts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Campus Guardian Angel drones are housed in storage boxes, which each hold three drones. The storage boxes are installed throughout the school, usually mounted onto walls. The Florida legislature divvied up 40 boxes, or 120 drones, among the three participating school districts, said Taylor Worthington, the Campus Guardian Angel head of enterprise business development.<\/p>\n

Broward Schools chose Boyd H. Anderson for the pilot program due to its large size and complex campus layout. That school received 14 boxes, which will house 42 drones.<\/p>\n

\"A A Campus Guardian Angel drone flies through a high school as part of a demonstration. The drones are designed to respond to school shooters with pepper spray, flashing lights and loud noise. Some school districts in Florida, including Broward, are participating in a pilot program that will install the drones into schools. Courtesy of Campus Guardian Angel <\/p>\n

State lawmakers approved another $564,500 for the drone pilot program this year. Worthington said that pool of money will expand the program to three additional districts. The company provided its recommendations for which districts for the Department of Education to choose. The Department of Education did not respond to Miami Herald questions about the pilot program.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually this summer, when we\u2019ve been participating in conferences around the Florida area, there\u2019s not a single police chief that we\u2019ve talked to that says they don\u2019t want this,\u201d Worthington said. \u201cAnd a majority of the superintendents are also saying they want this. So I\u2019m sure the DOE has a very difficult decision of who to pick for the next three.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafael Villalobos, the newly-selected superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, briefly mentioned the use of drones when he was asked about school safety during his public school board interview last week. \u201cI want to make sure that I can bring in drones to our school district. I want to make sure that we use AI at some capacity to deter future concerns that may be on the horizon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

How the drones work<\/p>\n

In each school, Campus Guardian Angel starts by creating a virtual 3D model of the entire school layout, which it uses for practice runs. The drone system has been tested in virtual and in-person simulations but not in an actual shooting.<\/p>\n

All school faculty and staff will have an app on their phones to use if there is a potential school shooter. (Oborski said the drones are strictly a \u201clast resort\u201d for life-threatening situations, and are not to be used to respond to minor incidents or for surveillance.)<\/p>\n

If a teacher sees a person on campus with a gun, for example, the teacher can tap a button on the app that immediately connects with the Campus Guardian Angel team in Austin to verify what the potential emergency is. That is supposed to take less than five seconds, Oborski said. Local law enforcement is immediately notified, and the drones are deployed.<\/p>\n

\"Campus Campus Guardian Angel is operated by a team of former military and law enforcement professionals and highly skilled drone pilots in Austin, Texas. Campus Guardian Angel was created by Mithril Defense, an Austin-based warfare technology company. MARYNA MARSTON Courtesy of Campus Guardian Angel <\/p>\n

Three drones, flown remotely by highly skilled drone racing pilots, head to exactly where the assailant is in 15 seconds, a fraction of the time it would take for a police officer running on foot to arrive, Oborski said. The team in Austin, made up of former law enforcement officers, former military professionals, trained paramedics and former 911 operators, is available to assist and communicate with first responders, victims and survivors at the school through the drones.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith our system, you\u2019re talking to a human being here in Austin,\u201d Oborski said.<\/p>\n

Ideally, the assailant is too distracted and disoriented by the drones to focus on attacking students and faculty. If a gunman shoots down a drone, which Oborski said is difficult to do, another drone will fly in to take its place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take that as a win because all of those rounds that he had meant to harm children with are now being wasted on our equipment,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Campus Campus Guardian Angel is operated by a team of former military and law enforcement professionals and highly skilled drone pilots in Austin, Texas. Campus Guardian Angel was created by Mithril Defense, an Austin-based warfare technology company. MARYNA MARSTON Courtesy of Campus Guardian Angel A deterrent or a \u2018Band-Aid solution\u2019?<\/p>\n

Worthington and Oborski see the program as both a formidable response during an active incident and a preventative measure that deters potential school shooters from attacking in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sheer thought of this, of how do you get to a point where mass shootings in America, and specifically mass shootings that are targeting children in America, are eradicated. The best way to do that is to create an environment where they don\u2019t even try,\u201d Worthington said. \u201cThey either go do something else that day or they choose to go get the help that they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

As intriguing as the new technology is, some question if this is how so much taxpayer money should be spent.<\/p>\n

\"Anthony Anthony Montalto, 20, hugs his mother Jennifer Montalto as his father Tony Montalto views an image of his daughter Gina Montalto who was killed during the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. Families and friends of the victims gathered outside of Eagles\u2019 Haven for the 8th annual Forever in Our Hearts Commemoration on Saturday, February 14, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Tony Montalto, the president of public safety advocacy group Stand With Parkland and father of Gina, who was killed in the Stoneman Douglas shooting, said he applauds the state for the innovation and thinks the drones can be helpful for police. But he believes money would be better spent on preventative measures, like enhancing behavioral threat assessment programs and purchasing ballistic doors for schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to explore new areas of protecting schools. However, I don\u2019t believe that the drones are the answer,\u201d Montalto said.<\/p>\n

Corin, the March For Our Lives executive director, said technology can\u2019t replace public policy. Ultimately, she said, the real long-term solution to preventing school shootings is addressing the root cause of gun violence, which requires a layered approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I think it\u2019s worth evaluating new ideas always, it\u2019s important not to confuse innovation with proven impact,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Along with new tactics to respond to active threats, Corin said she wants to see lawmakers and school districts prioritize prevention. That looks like stronger firearm storage requirements, more mental health counselors in schools and comprehensive background checks, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t necessarily fault them for looking at new tools, but I do think it\u2019s a Band-Aid solution. It\u2019s important to recognize what this program is designed to do,\u201d Corin said. \u201cIt\u2019s designed to respond after a school shooting has already begun. That means it\u2019s addressing the consequences of a shooting, not reducing the likelihood that one occurs in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The drones zip through school hallways, buzzing loudly like a swarm of bees. They can shoot puffs of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-363695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}