Florida students set to return to scene of rampage

Thousands of students at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are preparing to return to classes this week amid an intensifying controversy over law enforcement efforts to halt the slaughter Feb. 14.

A “variety of support services” were available at a campus orientation Sunday for staff, students and families less than two weeks after the rampage left 17 dead and more than a dozen wounded.

Cameron Kasky, 17, a survivor turned activist, urged people to be kind to one another, “even if it’s not easy. We all mess up; there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Fellow student Jaclyn Corin tweeted, “Going back to school for the first time ... this movement is for the 17.”

Monday and Tuesday will be staff planning days, and classes resume Wednesday on a modified schedule. The full class schedule resumes March 5. The freshman building, where the carnage took place, will remain closed, and tentative plans call for its demolition.

While officials worked to reopen the school, scrutiny of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel and his force grew. Gov. Rick Scott ordered the state Department of Law Enforcement to investigate after reports that deputies may have balked at entering the school. Israel denied reports that police who responded found deputies who failed to enter.

“Going back to school for the first time ... this movement is for the 17.”

Jaclyn Corin