Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Critics: Help for Cruz was too little, too late
When Nikolas Cruz turned 18, Broward Schools had to figure out what to do with a troubled student who could legally refuse help.
Their solution was to move Cruz, who had been diagnosed with an emotional and behavioral disorder, from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland to a dropout prevention program where he took classes on a computer and had little interaction with teachers and mental health professionals.
That decision has been criticized by some special education experts who say the district shirked its responsibility to assist a student who was still under its
care. On Feb. 14, a year after Cruz had been kicked out of Stoneman Douglas, he returned to the school and killed 17 people.
“They can’t just wash their hands. They need to keep an eye on the situation,” said Mark Kamleiter, a St. Petersburg lawyer who represents families of special needs children. “If he’s a danger to himself or others, they obviously have to do something.”
That could mean giving him psychiatric help under the Baker Act, offering regular access to counseling, allowing him to stay at Stoneman Douglas and try to improve his behavior, or persuade him to attend a school suited for him.
Still, some say, the school district’s ability to serve an adult student who is unwilling to receive help is limited.
“When you’ve got a kid that’s 18 and the school district offers him services and the kid refuses, your hands are tied,” said Pete Wright, a Virginia lawyer who specializes in federal law related to special education.
But Wright said the school district probably missed warnings when Cruz was much younger. Records show he was disciplined numerous times at Westglades Middle in Parkland for disruptive behavior, and neighbors described him bullying his brother, stealing and being abusive toward animals in elementary school.
“This didn’t suddenly happen just because he reached a certain age,” Wright said. “This type of thing shows itself for many, many years. The seeds are there, the signs are there in the second, third, fourth grade that he’s depressed or having aggressive behavior. Unless the pattern is reversed, there can be horrible complications in the future.”
For part of middle and high school, Cruz attended Cross Creek School, a Pompano Beach school that specializes in students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. He was allowed to attend his neighborhood school, Stoneman Douglas, for two periods a day in August 2015 and then started attending Stoneman Douglas full time in January 2016. Once at Stoneman Douglas, he was disciplined for fighting, using profanity against school staff on three occasions, and an assault, according to his disciplinary records.
In November 2016, the school district recommended returning him to Cross Creek. Cruz didn’t want to go back there; to avoid having to go, he revoked his rights to special education services under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act.
“You can’t make someone do something when the law says they have the right to make that determination,” Superintendent Robert Runcie said.
The district initially let him stay at Stoneman Douglas. It was difficult to expel him while he was receiving special education services, which contain certain protections from the federal government. But once he became a general education student, the district could treat him like any other, but had to wait for a new reason to move him, experts said. That happened Jan. 19, 2017, when he was disciplined for assault. About three weeks later he was moved to the credit recovery program, where students often take online courses in a storefront building.
District officials said they felt this was a better option than expelling him, and they said Cruz agreed to it.
“We found a place for him to be educated,” said Valerie Wanza, a district administrator.
But experts say the district had a moral obligation to do more to help Cruz and protect the safety of students.
“What they did was move the problem to another setting,” said Ann Siegel, a lawyer and director for special education advocacy for Disability Rights Florida. “I hear a lot of, ‘We offered help. He chose not to take it.’ You know he needs services. You have to work at motivating him. You need to do everything you can to help him. Sending him to a course recovery program is not doing everything you can.”
Siegel said credit recovery programs work well for students who don’t like being in a regular school. But she said Cruz wanted to stay at Stoneman Douglas.
Had Cruz not revoked his special education services, he could have challenged the transfer back to Cross Creek, Wright said. A judge or hearing officer would then decide what school he should attend and what protections would be in place for his safety and that of others. But he lost that ability once he revoked the services, Wright said.
Experts say many schools are poorly trained at dealing with students with behavioral disabilities and mental illnesses, and they often focus more on disciplining students than providing help.
“It’s just sad,” said Wendy Ballack, executive director of the Broward County chapter of the Family Network on Disabilities. “He fell through the cracks.”
“You can’t make someone do something when the law says they have the right to make that determination.” Broward Superintendent Robert Runcie