Tallahassee, May 26.– After the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida lawmakers took steps to tweak the state’s mental health system. They added hundreds of millions in funding for school safety officers. A historic 2018 bill even included several gun control measures that passed with Republican support.
Still, as Floridians join Americans across the country in mourning the deaths of the 21 killed in a school shooting this week in Uvalde, Texas, some wonder if more could or should be done to improve school safety.
Democratic state Rep. Christine Hunschofsky was mayor of Parkland when a school shooter took the lives of 17 people there, and she worked closely with Republican leaders on school safety measures in the months and years after. She understands parents’ worries about how safe their children are in school. “That’s tough, because I get it,” she said. “I think there has been work done to make the schools safer. I think it’s important that all communities and all parents and everyone get involved and be vigilant. ... It’s about all of us looking out for each other in this process.”
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