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Thousands of people support students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in a rally for gun control at the Florida capitol (2/21/18).The Florida legislature is poised to pass some of the most sweeping gun control and mental health reforms in more than 20 years. The moves come as lawmakers face pressure from students affected by the Valentine's Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.On Valentine's Day, a 19-year-old in Parkland opened fire on his former classmates at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He killed 14 students, three adults, and injured 14 others. There were warning signs, yet, all, including a tip to the FBI, were missed.That day, school safety measures in place, like school resource officers, restricted access and fencing--all failed.In the wake of the shooting, students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas have mobilized, calling on the legislature to take greater action to prevent school and mass shootings. Lawmakers, it seems, are finally listening.https://youtu.be/6PRPEfu7WPg

Fla. Officials Still Working To Implement Components Of New School Safety Law

A classroom of empty desks
Pexels

With a new law in place, Florida officials are still working to implement a lot of its components to ensuring the safety of Florida’s schools to avoid tragedies like the mass school shooting in Parkland.

Included in the new law is the creation of the Office of Safe Schools within the Florida Department of Education. The Department’s Vice Chancellor of Florida’s K-12 schools Jacob Oliva recently talked about that to members of the Florida Children and Youth Cabinet.

“Part of that office’s role is to going to be to provide professional development to school districts and active shooter trainings, and to develop and implement school safety specialist training programs for school safety specialists,” he said, at the time. “So, every school district now will have a designated school safety specialist that will have some requirements for training that they will have to attend to and then they would be the overseer of some of the work with some of the school safety training and implementation of plans within the local school districts.”

Last month, Damien Kelly was appointed as the Office of Safe Schools’ director. He previously worked for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as a public corruption inspector.

For more news updates, follow Sascha Cordner on Twitter: @SaschaCordner.

Sascha Cordner has more than ten years of public radio experience. It includes working at NPR member station WUFT-FM in Gainesville for several years. She's worked in both radio and TV, serving in various capacities as a reporter, producer and anchor. She's also a graduate of the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications. She is the recipient of 15 awards from the Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and Edward R. Murrow. Her award-winning stories include her coverage on the infamous “Dozier School for Boys” and a feature titled "Male Breast Cancer: Lost in the Sea of Pink." Currently, Sascha serves as the host and producer of local and state news content for the afternoon news program "All Things Considered" at WFSU. Sascha primarily covers criminal justice and social services issues. When she's not reporting, Sascha likes catching up on her favorite TV shows, singing and reading. Follow Sascha Cordner on Twitter:@SaschaCordner.