FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The chairman of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission met with Broward County Public Schools officials to discuss ideas to make Florida schools safer, a day after victims’ relatives and Superintendent Robert Runcie clashed during a town hall meeting.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the MSD Commission chair, covered several topics during Tuesday’s meeting at the Broward School Board headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. He indicated three aspects should take top priority at this juncture: teachers and staff need to identify a threat, communicate a threat and then react to a threat.
Moreover, Gualtieri said, how school officials ensure students and teachers stay safe in the event of active shooter situations will vary from district to district.
“It’s not a question of whether this is going to happen again. It’s going to happen again,” said Gualtieri. “The question is when and where, and the ultimate question that we should all be asking ourselves right now today is what are we doing differently today that’s going to cause a different outcome?”
The time for school districts to take action, Gualtieri said, is now.
“Places in this state, a year [after the mass shooting], it hasn’t moved fast enough,” he said.
Gualtieri listed the following recommendations going forward:
- Have a school resource officer on campus at all times.
- Conduct monthly drills.
- Have written active assailant response procedures.
- Keep all gates and doors locked or staffed.
- Have an effective communication system.
- Identify “hard corners” or “safe areas” in every classroom.
Broward Schools officials have taken several safety measures in the year since the Parkland massacre, like allowing any staff member to call a “code red” and ensuring most classrooms have hard corners. They are also working to implement live video streaming to law enforcement officials.
Tuesday’s meeting comes a day after Runcie endured extensive criticism from Broward residents, including families of the shooting victims, during a town hall held in Coral Springs. Some of the hundreds of people in attendance continued to call for the superintendent’s resignation.
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter, Jamie Guttenberg, died in the mass shooting, did not hold back at the meeting.
“I can’t help but blame you,” Guttenberg said. “My daughter is dead, and this community is coming apart.”
Runcie said in response, “I know that no matter what we keep doing, I’ll keep hearing, ‘It’s not enough,’ and I know why I hear that, because I can’t bring your daughter back.”
Tuesday was another emotional day, as school officials viewed video footage showing the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, as their quest to make schools safe continues.
“Just trying to keep pushing forward to make the necessary changes and recommendations that the commission is asking from us as a school district,” said Broward School Board member Lori Alhadeff, who lost her daughter Alyssa Alhadeff during the massacre.
“We have to do more, and we’ll continue to do more,” said Runcie. “This is the top priority for us.”
Gualtieri said some of the proposed implementations will be expensive and will require a mandate from state legislators, but other suggestions are not that expensive and can be done right away.
“There’s a lot that can be done that doesn’t require anything other than somebody saying, ‘Do it, and do it now,'” he said.
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