Five years after the Parkland shooting, many Broward students feel unsafe
Despite security upgrades, the scars of 2018, a new permitless carry law, and repeated mass shootings across America raise worries of future violence in South Florida.
By Kimberley Lawson
Feb. 14 marked the five-year anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting. The tragic event not only affected the Parkland community but made an impact on the world. Since then, schools have tried to ensure safety in the best and most effective ways possible. Although school shootings haven’t stopped, being prepared and attempting to prevent another seems like one of the few things schools can do.
Many students have expressed concerns regarding the increase in security and safety precautions that their schools have implemented since the 2018 Parkland massacre. In July 2018, Broward County Public Schools received about $26 million to go towards the purchase of security cameras, school doors and an overall safety upgrade.
Although Broward County received the money and improved safety in schools, some students feel safer than others. Elementary, Middle, and High schoolers all have different opinions on their school safety.
Jahmari Vassell, a fifth-grader from Hunt Elementary, says that sometimes he feels safe at school, and other times he doesn’t.
“I don’t feel safe at school because there isn’t much security, ” Vassell says. “There’s only one police officer at school.”
He feels that his school should have more police officers and higher fences. One day while he was at school, Vassell recalls, a random civilian hopped the fence and was able to get into the school. Although the person was unarmed and had no dangerous intent, he believes that shouldn’t have been able to happen.
“Another time when I was in fourth grade, another guy hopped the fence and the P.E. coach had to fight him off,” Vassell said.
Similarly to Jahmari Vassell, his twin brother, Aiden, feels the same way about safety at their elementary school.
Many high schools now require students to wear their ID badge to school and throughout the school day. Even with the required badges to get into the school, students don’t believe that is enough to keep them safe. Jahmari and Aiden’s sister, Mickelia, feels that her High School doesn’t pay much attention to ID badges.
“One time, I showed them my ninth grade ID because I forgot my recent one at home, and they didn’t even realize,” 11th-grader Mickelia Vassel said while wearing her school’s color guard uniform. “It had the wrong year on it, and they still let me through. That means they really didn’t look at it.”
After the school shooting occurred, one of the places where security severely increased was Marjorie Stoneman Douglas itself. Unlike most high schools in Broward County, MSD has about three campus police officers and eight security guards.
Qiyi Chen, a student who graduated from MSD in May of 2022, felt the safest when going to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas than any other high school in the area. Some may have felt scared attending the school because it went through such a horrific tragedy, but Chen felt otherwise.
“I mean that’s what they do, they only start to care when a tragedy like that happens,” says Chen, now a freshman at Broward College.
Although Chen did feel safe during the four years he attended MSD, he does believe that extra policing wouldn’t hurt to keep the school safer.
“It’s a school at the end of the day, I’m not going to say add metal detectors and check every student’s bag and pockets as if they are entering through a border custom or an airport,” says Chen. “My suggestion would be police patrolling the area around school and not just on campus.”
Essentially everyone wants to feel safe attending school. Education should not be a life-or-death matter. The schools don’t make the laws, so they can’t prevent people from buying guns, but they can try their best to prevent who comes on and off their campuses. School officials are in charge of the safety in and around their school.
Coral Springs High School is one high school that has a safety procedure guide on the Broward County website. The guide explains the rules and regulations the school has implemented and plans to abide by. They discuss IDs, face coverings, gates, arrival and dismissal instructions, and their safety drills.
March for Our Lives is a movement created and led by students to bring awareness to gun control in memory of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas shooting. The movement still exists and will be coming together with another organization to rally in Nashville, following the recent school shooting. The event took place on April 10.
Students and activists from March for Our Lives protested by standing for twelve hours inside the Tennessee State Capitol following the wrongful expulsion of two black state representatives. Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson both were gun reform advocates.
“We’ve won 250+ lifesaving laws since March For Our Lives was founded, and we’re just getting started,” the organization says on its website. “Guns are now the leading cause of death for young people in America.”
A school shooting should be the least of a student’s worries when going to school or simply sitting in their classroom. Schools around the nation are continuing to improve their security and ensure the safety of the students and faculty.
Despite students expressing their feelings about safety in school, Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill into law allowing Florida Residents to carry concealed guns without a permit. Alongside that bill, another bill making its way to the Florida House would include lowering the age required to buy a gun from 21 to 18.
“It’s literally disgusting to see a bill like that being proposed, especially right after the school shooting in Tennessee,” fifth-grade teacher, Lyndaziah Roberts says. “They need to put more money and more attention into mental health rather than allowing more people with guns.”
