USA TODAY International Edition
Students in Parkland make an emotional return
Comfort, not curriculum, on the minds of faculty
PARKLAND, Fla. – More than 3,000 students — or 95% of the school — returned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Wednesday for the first time since a gunman claimed 17 lives in the halls on Valentine’s Day. They were greeted by grief counselors, therapy dogs, an outpouring of support from teachers — and about 50 heavily armed police officers.
The counselors and friendly animals were there “to provide a lot of love, a lot of understanding” and to help students “ease back” into their school routines, said Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie.
The police were there to provide protection and reassurance, but the sight of weapons on campus was an eerie reminder to some of what they had endured.
“This is a picture of education in fear in this country. The NRA (National Rifle Association) wants more people just like this, with that exact firearm to scare more people and sell more guns,” said David Hogg, who has become a leading voice in the students’ movement to control assault weapons. “I know one of those bullets could be shredding through me if I was misidentified as a
“This is a picture of education in fear in this country. The NRA wants more people just like this.”
David Hogg
school shooter,” he added.
One common feature of an American high school was missing: backpacks, like one used by expelled student Nikolas Cruz to smuggle in his AR-15, assault weapon two weeks ago. Principal Ty Thomas said in a tweet that “our focus is on emotional readiness and comfort not curriculum: so there is no need for backpacks.”
Security tight as students return
It was an emotional — almost surreal — moment for students, staff, police, parents and teachers as they passed through a security cordon against a backdrop of cars circling the school amid a line of TV trucks and media vans.
Runcie said 3,123 students showed up, only about 170 fewer than on a normal day, for an attendance of 95%. On Wednesday, and for the remainder of the week, only a half-day of classes were scheduled to help students ease back into their old routine.
The superintendent said 150 counselors were on hand to provide emotional support, along with 40 therapy dogs and other animals. Also on hand were principals from other Broward County schools in a show of solidarity.
But the signs of the mass shooting also were in evidence. In the empty seats of students killed in the melee were candles, teddy bears or flowers.
A group of residents sang Let it Shine outside the school; crossing guards and local officers hugged students.
A “Welcome Back Eagles” banner covered the main entrance, and the walkway leading onto the campus was lined with flowers, photographs and other memorials to those killed.
Wednesday’s class schedule started with fourth period, so that students and teachers could return to the people they were with during the shooting.
Candace Caine dropped her daughter off at school and said she was counting the minutes until she could see her again. “She struggled last night and couldn’t sleep. She was moaning and groaning the whole time we were getting to school but she did it,” she said.
Her daughter, Maddy King, a sophomore, was in the freshman building where the 19-year-old Cruz opened fire.
Casey Sherman, 17, a junior, told the Associated Press she thought the schedule was a good idea so kids can “get it over with,” and not worry all day.
“We did go through a tragedy,” said Sherman, who walked in holding hands with her boyfriend. “It was terrible but if you let it stop you ... it’s not how you go down, it’s how you get back up.”
A school transformed
It was a school transformed since Cruz began his rampage near the end of classes Feb. 14. Over seven minutes, the gunman killed 14 students and three teachers before fleeing.
The ordeal hurled the school into the center of a debate over how to stop a series of mass shootings.
It thrust students including Hogg, Emma Gonzalez and Cameron Kasky into the national spotlight as they ignited a nationwide movement by young people calling for gun control measures and an end to mass killings. Almost overnight, they organized marches for March 24 in Washington and around the country and turned up at debates with senators and and on national TV.
Douglas sophomore Charlotte Dixon said some of her friends are having a hard time returning to classes. But they are encouraged by the attention to gun laws their actions have brought.
“I’m so glad that people are stepping forward and talking about keeping it relevant … because it shouldn’t happen to anyone ever again,” Dixon said.
Action in Florida’s capital
In Tallahassee, relatives of the Stoneman Douglas victims kept up the pressure in Florida’s capital Tuesday with testimony during a legislative hearing to discuss a bill that would, among other things, raise the age limit to buy long guns from 18 to 21.
The bill also would create a program that allows teachers who receive law-enforcement training and are deputized by the sheriff’s office to carry concealed weapons in the classroom, if also approved by the school district. The school’s superintendent has spoken out firmly against that measure.
Florida’s House Appropriations Committee passed the bill 23-6.
Collins and Carloni report for the Naples Daily News.