Anniversary of the unthinkable
1 year later at Parkland school
Exactly a year after they endured a day of hell, students, teachers and families at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, Fla., gathered Thursday to mourn the 17 people killed in the mass shooting that stunned the nation.
One of them was Linda Beigel Schulman, mother of Scott Beigel, a Long Islandraised geography teacher and cross-country coach who was killed during accused gunman Nikolas Cruz’s massacre.
“I walk down the path today, and it was just like reliving last year when we walked down the path,” Schulman said, visibly emotional.
“This has to stop. I cannot bring Scott back.”
“I’m here because I really would like everybody to understand that today never really had to happen,” she added in a push for stronger gun-control legislation. “Nothing’s going to get done unless we do it.”
Only a few hundred of the more than 3,000 students enrolled at the school could bring themselves to attend on Thursday, the Miami Herald reported.
Those present were dismissed at noon and participated in a “Day of Service and Love,” where they served breakfast for first responders and packed meals for undernourished children.
Therapy dogs, counselors, manicures and massages also were available for anyone in need.
“It might be depressing for some, but for others it may be an opportunity to help,” freshman Keondre Edge, 15, told the Herald.
“Today’s just been confusing,” added Victoria Gonzalez, an 18-year-old senior. “I guess that’s somehow normal for the circumstances. I don’t know, it’s been a lot.”
Meanwhile, the Broward County Public School District — which includes Mar- jory Stoneman Douglas — said it would install a camera-software combination called Avigilon with the capability to track students based on their appearance, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The 145-camera system, to be installed around the perimeters of schools considered to be “at highest risk,” can immediately pull up video of everywhere a student has been recorded on campus, according to the report.
The district is expected to spend upwards of $600,000 in federal and local funds to activate the system if it wins final approval from county leaders over the next few weeks, contracting records obtained by the newspaper show.
Cruz has been indicted by a grand jury on 17 counts of first-degree murder, which could result in the death penalty.