Parkland honors 17 lives lost, looks ahead
Community shows solidarity at high school
Fla. – Valentine’s Day was far from the minds of those Marjory Stoneman Douglas High students who arrived at school Thursday morning.
They wore “MSD Strong” maroon attire instead of pinks and reds. The flowers they brought weren’t for their significant others but for the memorial garden growing in front of the school in Parkland.
The garden – “Project Grow Love” – is a peaceful place where flowers bloom, candles burn and colorful rocks display these words: “Parkland heals together” and “Love always heals.”
Throughout the morning, as students worked on community service projects on-campus, people of all backgrounds visited the garden to pay their respects. A Muslim couple came to pray. Jay Hamm of Jupiter brought his therapy dogs – Chibby Choo and K Poppy – to cheer up students.
Several men in red sweaters, who call themselves Guardian Angels, kept a watchful eye as families visited the site, where only a year ago a memorial was laid for each of the 17 students and teachers who died in the school’s mass shooting – Feb. 14, 2018.
“We’ve been here since day one,” said David Clemente. He’s the Guardian Angels chapter leader in Parkland. He was joined by a handful of other members Thursday.
“We remain in the background and are a big supporter of the community and keeping the students safe and alive,” he said.
Broward County Superintendent Robert Runcie held a news conference around 9:15 a.m. Thursday in front of the school. He addressed the progress made in the past year to increase school security districtwide. At Marjory Stoneman Douglas the district doubled security staff from nine to 18, added more than 100 security cameras and replaced door-locking mechanisms last summer.
“It’s an ongoing effort and our top priority for us to make our schools as safe as possible for our students and families,” Runcie said.
One day before the first anniversary of the Parkland school shooting, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis called for a statewide grand jury to investigate the Broward County school system and other DISPARKLAND, tricts for their handling of school safety.
School attendance was lower than usual Thursday. “We gave our students and families the opportunity to spend the day in the manner in which they wanted,” Runcie said.
Students who chose to attend school for the half-day participated in service projects on campus. A day of service was observed across Broward schools.
Mom Linda Beigel Schulman also spoke at the conference. Her son Scott Beigel is the geography teacher who died a hero one year ago when he saved students by letting them into his locked classroom.
“Today never really had to happen. I believe reasonable gun control legislation must be passed in all states,” she said.