Parkland students, staff protest reassignments

Scores of students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Tuesday protested the reassignment of four staffers in the wake of the shooting rampage Feb. 14 at the Florida school that left 17 people dead.

The protesters chanted, “Bring them back” and carried signs that read, “Don’t revictimize us.”

Lisa Maxwell, executive director of the Broward Principals and Assistants Association, said her group was filing suit to keep the administrators from being moved to district office jobs.

“These are people who risked their own lives to save kids,” Maxwell told USA TODAY. “This is an unconscionable decision.”

Broward County Public Schools announced Monday that three assistant principals and a security specialist at the school in Parkland would be reassigned. The decision came after investigators presented findings on the shooting to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission.

“BCPS is examining material received from the commission to review the response by staff to the tragedy and preceding events,” the school district said in a statement. No specific reasons for the reassignments were revealed.

Some students told the commission they had complained that the suspect, former student Nikolas Cruz, was dangerous. Commissioners heard testimony concerning confusion among the school’s leadership during and immediately after the shooting.

The full interim report from the commission is to be presented in January. The report will be used “to improve school safety and services to students,” the district said.

Maxwell said assistant principals Jeff Morford, Winfred Porter and Denise Reed and security specialist Kelvin Greenleaf were not told why they were transferred, calling that a violation of due process.

Porter was named the district’s assistant principal of the year two weeks before the shooting.

“They were not even given the decency of being told why,” Maxwell said. “They were told there was an investigation but never told they did anything wrong. And they didn’t.”

Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jamie was killed in the shooting, told the Sun Sentinel newspaper that the reassignments were long overdue. He credited the families of victims with raising concerns the commission outlined in a video presentation.

“We have been communicating all of this for almost nine months, as soon as we learned everything,” Guttenberg said. “It was only after they couldn’t ignore the video that they took action.”

Maxwell said she understood that victims’ family members want to see people held responsible and that Cruz’s court proceedings have dragged on.

“I understand their agony,” Maxwell said. “But these people (administrators) didn’t run away. They ran toward the building, and they got kids to safety.”

Cruz, 20, is being held without bail on murder charges. Prosecutors seek the death penalty.

“These are people who risked their own lives to save kids. This is an unconscionable decision.” Lisa Maxwell Broward Principals and Assistants Association