COCONUT CREEK, FLA. (WSVN) - A Florida father has turned pain into purpose, launching a new school safety dashboard years after he lost his 14-year-old son in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Max Schachter is giving back, even when so much was taken from him. His son Alex was among the 17 students and staff members killed in Parkland on Feb. 14, 2008.
In the wake of Alex’s death, his father created a groundbreaking tool: the School Safety Dashboard for Florida. It offers a comprehensive collection of user-friendly, transparent school safety data in the country.
On Friday, he showed off the resource in Coconut Creek.
“So. I have three other kids, and I want to make sure that nothing happens to them,” said Schachter.
Now the dashboard is going national. Schachter spoke at a celebration for the launch ay the Broward College’s pickleboard court.
Schachter’s initiative provides a website, organizing each U.S. state into counties and giving public school safety statistics for each one.
This is something that Schachter said he wished he had access to before the attack, and something he accused MSD school officials of hiding
“The principal was at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, was reporting, not for one year, but for three consecutive years, zero bullying, zero physical attacks, sexual assault, battery, threatening, intimidation,” he said. “Obviously, that wasn’t true. He was shoving everything under the rug, and that is a sign that he did not prioritize safety and security.”
Even when he did come across that data, Schachter said, there were millions of pieces of unorganized information. His group worked to change that.
“I’m like, ‘This is crazy; how can I understand this? I can’t sort it. I can’t compare schools,’ so I said, ‘I’m going to create a dashboard for parents so they can go online and see what is happening in their school,'” he said.
The dashboard is meant to spark conversations and encourage collaborations between families, educators and lawmakers to reduce school violence.
It’s a goal that Schachter has no problem chasing.
“I put my former life on hold, and now my mission is to make schools safer,” he said.
The original website was created in conjunction with the University of Florida and the Florida Department of Education.
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