Broward County school officials boasted a good first day of classes Wednesday, despite the arrest of a school worker who brought a gun to campus.
A 57-year-old employee was arrested after he toted a firearm onto the campus of Olsen Middle School, about 30 miles southeast of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were fatally gunned down and another 17 were injured last Valentine’s Day.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office arrest report said police got a tip from an anonymous caller that the suspect brings a gun on campus and “they don’t believe he is stable.”
Deputies found a .45 caliber Taurus in the suspect’s car in the school parking lot and charged him with possessing a firearm on school property. The school security specialist of over 20 years has been locked up on $10,000 bond.
The district stated he has been “reassigned to home, pending termination process.”
One parent said she hadn’t been notified at all about the arrest.
“I’m kind of worried because I just found out what’s going on. I didn’t know anything,” she said.
The mood was lighter at Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie’s Wednesday afternoon press conference addressing the first day of the new school year after the Parkland tragedy.
“I’m pleased to say that today went smoothly. No significant hiccups or concerns that I’m aware of,” Runcie stated.
“Yes, there’s some anxiety there, and that’s probably true generally in schools across Broward,” the superintendent continued. “I think that the students are happy to get back to their Eagle family.”
Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco called it a “very positive first day.”
Family members and student survivors of the Parkland shooting said the officials’ comments only highlighted their incompetence and insensitivity.
April Schentrup, whose daughter Carmen died in Parkland, was outraged after she said she heard school board member Donna Korn say they had an “amazing school year last year.”
“I’m not amazed at her insensitivity,” said Schentrup, also the district’s director of school safety and security.
“Runcie has proven, time and time again, that he is an incompetent fool who is also a serial liar,” said Kyle Kashuv, a senior at MSD told National Review. “It is possible that this incident wasn’t brought to his attention, which in its own right is a real issue because the superintendent should know about an arrest on one of his campuses about an illegal gun, especially after Parkland.”
“New school year, same old incompetent, complicit Runcie,” Kashuv said. “We must not give them a pass. Not now. Not when we are so close to fixing it.”







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