PARKLAND, FLA. (WSVN) - A Broward County task force released a report that looks into school and public safety since the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
On Monday morning, the Broward League of Cities Task Force announced just how safe the public and schools have been since 17 people were killed in the Parkland shooting.
“Our kids are not gonna be safe until we’re hardening the schools,” said Max Schachter. “I mean, you saw mistake after mistake after mistake. Security monitors not doing their job, not protecting our kids.”
The Broward League of Cities created the School and Community Public Safety Task Force to come up with solutions. They met community leaders to try and enact measures to help protect students in the future.
The group, which began meeting in March, came up with recommendations to make students and school staff safer.
During a news conference held Monday, Sunrise Mayor Michael Ryan read some of the task force’s recommendations.
“Require all access points to campuses to be monitored and secured, to expedite projects that are underway, including single point entry, surveillance camera upgrades, development of additional fencing, metal detector deployment and making sure all classroom doors can be automatically locked,” he said.
Among their other suggestions, which would go into effect beginning in the fall, are code red drills every semester with active shooter training. They’re also asking the county to provide window coverings, possibly magnetic, on all classroom doors to conceal students during a shooting.
“A lot of the findings are common sense policies and procedures that have already been in place,” said April Schentrup. “Some of them don’t need additional funding. They just need support.”
The task force also suggested all classrooms should have safe spaces, such as a closet or a restroom, where students would be protected from gunfire.
“You’ve got to have multiple layers of protection inside the school, and at Stoneman Douglas, it was extremely wide open,” said Schachter. “It was multiple entries and multiple exits.”
“There needs to be accountability held with our student situation, our children’s situation, because that single point of entry was not upheld; it was not secured,” said Schentrup.
Schachter’s son, Alex Schachter, and Schentrup’s daughter, Carmen Schentrup, were among the students killed in the Parkland massacre.
Carmen would have graduated from the school on Sunday. The commencement ceremony, held at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, paid tribute to her and three other seniors who were killed in the shooting. They are Nicholas Dworet, Joaquin Oliver and Meadow Pollack.
Broward County Superintendent of Public Schools Robert Runcie outlined new school security measures for the next school year, which include:
- At least one officer at every school
- Enhancing active assailant training
- Upgrading surveillance camera systems
- Requiring ID badges for students and staff
- Locking classroom doors at all times
- Expanding mental health services
- Single entry point for campus visitors
The task force came up with hundreds of recommendations. If you would like to read them in their entirety, click here.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.