Parkland students return to school they say feels like prison
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After the March 24 March for Our Lives gun protest, Parkland students returned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School but say it feels more like a prison than a safe place.
CNN reports the Principal Ty Thompson implemented new security measures in an effort to make the school safer after 17 people were killed by gunman Nikolas Cruz.
The tragedy terrified the surviving Parkland students and the Florida community, and it set off a new wave of teen activists who have taken center stage to fight for gun reform.
But they admit, their school doesn’t feel very comforting after the horrific shooting.
“I mean, no one feels safe,” said Daniel Bishop, a sophomore. “Who feels safe in Parkland, Florida? No one.”
—Parkland shooter is being flooded with fan mail and commissary money—
“Going to school is really so hard, and now it’s going to be so much worse,” said Isabelle Robinson, a senior. “A lot of the people I’ve talked to are dreading going back.”
Principal Thompson sent a letter to parents and students about the new procedures at the school, asking them “to be patient with these new procedures, and hopefully over time, we will be able to fine tune the process, while maintaining the safety/security.”
“I realize some will want more and some will want less,” Thompson added. “This continues to be a fluid process.”
It’s unsettling for many students to return, especially because they have to walk the halls where many of their friends were shot down. But Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill last month to replace Building 12 where the shooting happened. He allocated more than $25 million to the project.
School Life
—Black students are feeling greater growing pangs as the school’s police presence increase.—
“Every day, students lose more and more freedoms at MSD,” said Kai Koerber, a junior.
“Students of color have become targets and white students have become suspects. We do not welcome the militarization of MSD. It is terrible to see our school lose control over the protection of their students and their families.”
Gov. Scott has assigned Florida’s Highway Patrol officers and Broward County sheriff’s deputies to the school as a method of extra security and protection.
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There are also very few areas students can enter the school and there’s talk of having students carry only clear backpacks as an extra precaution as well. Students also must wear new ID badges.
Metal detectors may also be installed at the school.
“It feels like being punished,” Robinson told CNN. “It feels like jail, being checked every time we go to school.”
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