Silent panic alarms may become the next line of defense for schools in Pennsylvania.
A bipartisan plan introduced in the Senate on Monday would mandate installing devices in buildings to speed up law enforcement response during an emergency. Five other states have implemented similar legislation, dubbed “Alyssa’s Law.”
Read the full story
The Florida Legislature has passed HB 1421 which updates and provides additional provisions to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act originally passed in 2018. It passed without a single “no” vote from either legislative chamber.
The bill’s additions clarify expectations for public and charter schools and will institute updated training for school officers.
Read the full story
The assailant in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. in 2018 plead guilty to all charges related to the tragedy at the school. He plead guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
The assailant is facing life in prison and a jury will determine if he will face the death penalty. The selection for that jury will be begin on Jan. 4, 2022.
Read the full story
After almost four years since the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school (MSDHS) in Broward County, the school district reached a $25 million settlement on Monday with the families of 52 people who were killed, injured, or traumatized during the tragic event.
The shooting, which happened in February 2018 when an ex-student open-fired on his former classmates, resulted in 17 people who were injured, and the death of 14 students and three faculty members.
Read the full story
In 2018, the State of Florida launched the Office of Safe Schools within the Department of Education to determine the best practices to ensure Florida’s schools remain safe in the years following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
The office is scheduled to sunset in July 2023, and the chairman of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission in concerned about the office going forward regarding personnel and safe plans not being executed.
Read the full story
The superintendent of the Broward County School District has been arrested and charged with perjury, according to several reports.
“Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie was arrested Wednesday morning by Florida’s top law enforcement agency, according to records,” The Sun-Sentinel reported. “The sole charge is listed as perjury in an official proceeding.”
Read the full story
by Grace Carr Another Florida school is actively taking precautions against shooters by hiring armed combat veterans to patrol its campus, a year after the tragic Parkland shooting. The Manatee School for the Arts, a charter school, will employ two combat veterans to protect the school and prevent any persons attempting to shoot up the school, according to HuffPost. The guards will both carry a handgun and military-style long gun, WWSB TV reported. “If someone walks onto this campus, they’re going to be shot and killed,” said school principal Bill Jones, according to the Bradenton Herald. “We’re not going to talk with them. We’re not going to negotiate. We are going to put them down, as quickly as possible.” One guard with 15 years of infantry experience has patrolled the campus for a number of months, HuffPost reported. A second guard will patrol the campus starting at the end of February. The hires coincide with the one year anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland. Former student Nikolas Cruz entered the high school on Feb. 14, 2018, and methodically walked through the school and opened fire on students in hallways and hiding in classrooms. Cruz…
Read the full story
by Neetu Chandak Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel on Friday after his poor response to the Parkland high school shooting Feb. 14, 2018. Effective immediately, I am officially suspending Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for his repeated failures, incompetence and neglect of duty. https://t.co/tkHzxTHhjH — Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 11, 2019 “Effective immediately, I am officially suspending Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for his repeated failures, incompetence and neglect of duty,” DeSantis tweeted Friday. Israel reportedly told his officers he was suspended, but DeSantis had not announced any such decision, The Daily Caller previously reported. Calls to suspend the sheriff were immediate after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission released a report detailing the failures that happened the day of the shooting. Revelations included police not going after suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz in a timely manner and chaotic radio communication, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. Seventeen people died on the day of the massacre. – – – Neetu Chandak is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Neetu on Twitter. Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. …
Read the full story
By Neetu Chandak A Chicago suburb police chief is making his officers read the nearly 500-page Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting report to prevent the same mistakes made in Florida. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission released the initial report, which made recommendations like arming teachers and investing more into mental health programs, on Jan. 2. Missteps included officers not confronting suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz immediately, the school lacking a clear lockdown plan and inefficient communication systems. “This report on the shooting in Parkland is a game-changer for law enforcement,” Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel said, WBBM Newsradio reported Monday. https://t.co/zRlnekaDMe — Riverside Police (@PDRiverside) January 7, 2019 Weitzel added that while there were officers who were heroic, there were also “large failures.” He felt the report addressed the mistakes, according to WBBM. “We must learn from our mistakes and others mistakes,” Weitzel said to The Daily Caller News Foundation over email. “It’s the only way we can improve our response and tactics.” The Parkland shooting left 17 people dead on Feb. 14, 2018. Officers have a month to read the report and will be followed up with a discussion, the Chicago Tribune reported. Weitzel will have…
Read the full story
by Neetu Chandak A report released Friday showed authorities and school officials either failed to act or were unclear about procedures when confronting the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter on Feb. 14. The South Florida Sun Sentinel released a minute-by-minute rundown of the Parkland shooting in, “Unprepared and Overwhelmed.” The Sentinel acknowledged many teachers and police officers were “heroic,” but Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO) were unprepared. The shooting left 17 people dead. “A gunman with an AR-15 fired the bullets, but a series of blunder, bad policies, sketchy training and poor leadership helped him succeed,” the Sentinel wrote. There were three separate instances of school monitors failing to lockdown the school and calling for a “Code Red,” an indicator for people to hide in classrooms. Suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz was spotted on campus at 2:19 p.m., but a Code Red was not called until 2:24 p.m. Andrew Medina first saw Cruz walk through unguarded gates. Medina had previously predicted Cruz would shoot up the school, the Sentinel reported. David Taylor was another school monitor who followed Cruz on the first floor before turning around at 2:21 p.m. Taylor told investigators he wanted to confront…
Read the full story
by James D. Agresti Misinformation can be deadly, especially when it comes to issues like school shootings. This is because it can build support for policies that increase fatalities and generate opposition to reforms that can save lives. Despite these high stakes, a wide array of media outlets have spread fictions about violence, firearms, and armed security in the wake of the armed rampage that killed 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Value of Deterrence Shortly after the Parkland massacre, President Trump said: “A ‘gun free’ school is a magnet for bad people.” “Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches” would be a “great deterrent” to school shootings. “If a potential ‘sicko shooter’ knows that a school has a large number of very talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school.” After reporting the last of these statements, the Washington Post countered, “Some criminologists have questioned that reasoning, pointing out that some people who plan to commit mass shootings are prepared to die in the process.” Likewise, the New York Timeseditorial board wrote that “many deranged mass murderers expect to die themselves during their killing sprees. It’s almost laughable to believe that the president’s…
Read the full story
As the nation grapples with yesterday’s massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, stories of heroism have already emerged — stories that offer a ray of hope for a grieving community and for all of us. One of those stories concerns assistant football coach Aaron Feis.
Read the full story