‘MSD Strong’ gather to hope and to grieve
Their message: Never again, and love heals all
PARKLAND, 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 words like these: “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,
“Today never really had to happen.”
Linda Beigel Schulman
Mother of Scott Beigel, a teacher who was killed while trying to save students
who call themselves Guardian Angels, kept a watchful eye as families visited the site where a year ago there was a memorial 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, who goes by the name “Cobra.” 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 in keeping the students safe and alive,” he said.
School safety top of mind
Broward County Superintendent Robert Runcie held a news conference around 9:15 a.m. Thursday in front of the school, where there was a large police presence.
Runcie addressed the progress made to increase school security districtwide this past year. Security camera and intercom systems have been updated. At Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the district doubled security staff from nine to 18, added more than 100 security cameras and replaced doorlocking mechanisms.
“It’s an ongoing effort, and the 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 districts for their handling of school safety.
Runcie said he agreed with the governor’s decision.
“I think it’ll be a good step to help districts around the state better understand where we all are relative to school safety and security,” he said. “My goal is to make the district safer than it was yesterday.”
School attendance was lower than usual Thursday. Stoneman Douglas scheduled a “day of service and love.” Teachers organized community service projects on campus, but attendance was voluntary.
“We gave our students and families the opportunity to spend the day in the manner in which they wanted,” Runcie said.
‘I can’t bring Scott back’
Linda Beigel Schulman spent her day at the news conference speaking about her son, Scott Beigel. He’s 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,” Schulman said.
She says she isn’t a politician and has no plans to run for any office. She’s just a mother who wants to honor her son’s life, and this is the best way she knows how.
“I don’t want anyone to stand in my shoes,” Schulman said.
Though she knows she’ll never see her son again, she hopes that by publicly advocating for tighter gun control legislation, she’ll get people to act.
“We can talk and explain, but you have to listen to us and you have to help us,” she said. “I can’t bring Scott back . ... I’m going to make sure that in his honor and his legacy, we save lives. I want children to go to school . ... where there’s a resource officer, and the school is safe, not like a prison, but safe.”
The Temple of Time
In Coral Springs, a peaceful wooden temple stands out among government buildings and city traffic. Only a 10-minute drive from the school, the towering work of art named The Temple of Time officially opened on Valentine’s Day.
It’s meant to be a haven for those still grieving in the brokenhearted community. Artist David Best is behind the design.
Best, who hails from California, built his first temple 19 years ago in Nevada. He has since created more than a dozen, from Nepal to Ireland. The temples have traditionally been set ablaze in a ceremonial fire after a certain time. The Coral Springs temple, at 9551 West Sample Road, will meet the same fate come May.
Though many in the community are sad to learn the temple will eventually be gone, the purpose of burning it down, Best said, is to cast off the demons of pain and sorrow. More than 500 volunteers, most of them local, rolled up their sleeves to build the temple.
At 10:17 a.m., the time the local school district set to commemorate the 17 lives lost on Feb. 14, 2018, people bowed their heads for a moment of silence.
People embraced. A little girl wiped the tears from her mother’s face. People left messages of pain and love on the walls. A boy placed a tiny piece of wood on a shrine. On it, he wrote heartfelt words. Others did the same. The blocks were offered at the temple. Some left more sentimental items like stuffed bears, flowers and even a baseball cap.
Ruth and George Graham, seasonal residents from New York, visited the temple Thursday. They saw the temple come to life in their Florida town.
“It’s amazing and gorgeous,” said Ruth Graham, 75.
“It’s very poignant,” said her husband, 79.
Dozens of people came and went throughout the afternoon to reflect and remember. Others took the gathering place as an opportunity to urge others to take action.
Bill Hilsenrath, 74, and his wife, Judy, helped pass out petitions to get a constitutional amendment on the Florida ballot in 2020 that would ban the sale of assault weapons, an initiative pushed by family members of victims and David Hogg, now a Marjory Stoneman Douglas graduate, who became one of the most prominent young figures in the movement to end gun violence.
“We had to do something, and this is what we can do,” Bill Hilsenrath said. He has five grandchildren, and all this, he said, is for them.