Lawmakers plan to act on Parkland Grand Jury recommendations

December 12, 2019

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CNS) -- Florida’s schools are not as safe as they could be: That’s the premise of a new grand jury report looking at the Parkland shooting.

The report hampered schools for failing to report crime on campus, not complying with the state’s school resource officer mandate and a swath of other laws passed in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The report echoes similar concerns raised by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission and urges Florida lawmakers to take action by giving the Department of Education more authority to enforce current state law.

MSD Commission member and state Senator Lauren Book said DOE has some enforcement power, but agreed with the report’s findings.

“We gave them some ability to withhold pay from superintendents, but I think that there's more that needs to be done. They suggest criminal charges, sanctions, going after school board members and I think that we need to start looking at that,” said Book.

The grand jury report also highlighted concerns over antiquated police radio systems, which were also raised by the MSD Commission.