Down to just one Angel
Celebrated when they showed up at Stoneman Douglas after the February shootings, numbers have dwindled
The Guardian Angels — in their red berets, logo T-shirts and jackets — were celebrated when they showed up at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after the mass shootings on Feb. 14.
They erected a tent on campus and appeared every day, greeting students and helping with traffic issues.
“Thank God for them, all of them,” one Stoneman Douglas parent said in May. “They are so dedicated to the kids and want to do it for no other reason than to make the kids feel safe.” But that was then. The Guardian Angels’ numbers on campus have dwindled after a debate about their role in protecting students, as well as a criminal investigation into one of the Angels and a closed, 9-year-old allegation that he behaved inappropriately with a child.
The original group of about seven Angels lately totals just one: David “Cobra” Clemente, 60, of Tamarac.
The tent is gone. It violated an ordinance and was removed, Clemente said he was told.
One of the Guardian Angels, Fredrick Romero Davis, 50, a fitness trainer in Coral Springs, has been barred from all school district campuses. Coral Springs police said he is the subject of a criminal investigation, but since the case is open, they won’t say what it’s for. Efforts to reach Davis for comment were unsuccessful.
Before the sun rose Tuesday over Stoneman Douglas, Clemente was at his usual post, at the driveway entrance in front of the school. He placed parking cones in the road to guide parents and keep cars moving after they dropped off their kids. As they arrived, he was greeted with a steady stream of friendly waves and thumbs-up gestures.
On Friday, his 60th birthday, Clemente received hugs and cards from friends he has made on campus.
“This is what I do,” Clemente said Tuesday. “I welcome the parents and students here, five days a week, until the last bell and the last car leaves.”
He said he reports anything suspicious to 911 or to the school monitor as well as to a Stoneman Douglas parents’ Facebook page.
A crowd of Guardian Angels at the high school is “not what’s needed right now,” Clemente said. “There is no need for a whole group of red berets running around. [We’re] just trying to get back to the norm.”
Clemente and Davis underwent background checks including fingerprinting in August to be considered for “Level 2” security clearances that would have allowed them to chaperone overnight field trips, act as mentors to kids or volunteer as coaches. The clearances were granted Aug. 23.
But a week later, after being contacted by local law enforcement agencies — which the district wouldn’t identify — the clearances were revoked for both men. Though Davis was warned not to trespass at schools, Clemente was allowed to continue his efforts outside of Stoneman Douglas.
The school district’s director of safety and security is April Schentrup, a former principal at Pembroke Pines Elementary whose daughter Carmen was among those killed on Valentine’s Day.
Schentrup attended a district meeting on Aug. 29 that included Stoneman Douglas parents, school and district administrators, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the district’s police investigators and Davis and Clemente. It was called by parents in support of the Guardian Angels, the district said.
“I left that meeting on the 29th with more questions than answers,” Schentrup said.
Giving the Guardian Angels Level 2 security and designating them as official district volunteers seemed to blur the lines of the Guardian Angels’ role, she said.
“Volunteers aren’t supposed to be doing security,” Schentrup said.
She also wants to know if any of the other Guardian Angels underwent a background check, even a basic one that would not require fingerprinting, in the months right after the shootings.
The school district said that without the names of the other Guardian Angels it could not say whether checks of any kind were made. Schools spokeswoman Tracy Clark said as far as she knew, Level 2 background checks were done only on Clemente and Davis.
“We don’t know if it was done [for others]. Why not then?” Schentrup said on Friday, the seven-month anniversary of the massacre. “The online application, fingerprinting, etc. wasn’t done with all the Guardian Angels last year. I don’t know why they weren’t screened immediately after the shooting and why they were allowed to be there for months without the basic clearance.”
From February through May, the Guardian Angels wore badges and handcuffs while they were on campus, she said.
“They looked like security, and you can’t do that as [school district] volunteers,” Schentrup said. “I know they provided comfort to some people at the school . ... From the parent and school perspective, we don’t want people there who weren’t vetted.”
Schentrup also was concerned that Guardian Angels may have been texting students when they weren’t cleared as formal mentors who could have access to children’s cellphone numbers. According to Clemente and Schentrup, Davis said during the meeting that he would text with kids, but it’s not clear if that happened while he held the appropriate clearance from the school district.