Suspect lost special-needs help at school

Errors left him without therapy

MIAMI — Nikolas Cruz was an 18-year-old junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., when a spate of disturbing behavior led to a fateful meeting about the future of his schooling.

Education specialists told Cruz that he should transfer to Cross Creek, an alternative school for students with emotional problems where he had thrived in ninth grade. His mother, Lynda Cruz, agreed.

But Nikolas Cruz was legally an adult, and he wanted to graduate from Stoneman Douglas, according to a new report released late Friday by the Broward County Public Schools. A Cross Creek staffer gave him three options: transfer to the school, sue the school district or stay at Stoneman Douglas — without any of the special-needs assistance he had relied on for years.

The options, the school district’s report found, were insufficient: Cruz by law and district policy should have been able to remain at Stoneman Douglas with specialneeds protections. He didn’t know that but chose to stay anyway, no longer receiving any help or accommodations. It was Nov. 3, 2016.

On Feb. 8, 2017, Cruz’s failing grades forced him to withdraw from school. Three days later, he legally bought an AR-15 assault rifle. It would be used a year later, almost to the day, when authorities say he returned to Stoneman Douglas on Feb. 14 and killed 17 students and staff members.

Cruz, now 19, remains in jail awaiting trial on charges of capital murder.

The new details about

Cruz’s educational record come from a consultant’s report commissioned by the school district to review how it handled Cruz’s education.

The report found little fault in the school district’s handling of Cruz’s special needs. Yet two key errors during his junior year left Cruz without therapeutic services from the district for more than a year before the shooting and prevented him from returning to Cross Creek, the only high school where he had improved his behavior and found some academic success.

“We accept the recommendations regarding procedural improvements, and are pleased with the overall review, recommendations and findings,” Robert Runcie, the district superintendent, said in a statement Friday.

The report revealed that two months after Cruz was forced to leave Stoneman Douglas, he tried to take the school’s earlier advice and enroll in Cross Creek.

The district was required to respond to Cruz’s request for special-needs services within 30 days, the report found. Instead, the district told Cruz that it would need to evaluate his eligibility for assistance — despite his 15-year record in the school system — and that the process could take six weeks.

The process never began: For a new special-needs evaluation to take place, Cruz first had to re-enroll in Stoneman Douglas. An administrator said it was too late in the school year to take him back.