New School Safety Dashboard
A new groundbreaking school safety initiative is now available for Floridians. A Parkland parent, with the help of the University of Florida, launched a new comprehensive school safety dashboard. This school safety dashboard was created so that anyone can go to learn more about public school safety. Max Schachter, the Parkland parent, was inspired to create the dashboard after he lost his son Alex on February 14, 2018, when a gunman opened fire on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Max states, “When I sent Alex to high school, I thought that he would come home to me every day. But unfortunately, on February 14, I sent him to school, and he was murdered in his English class, along with 16 other people.” In the six years since the shooting, Max says hiccups and errors in school safety have come to the forefront especially when it comes to data collection and the tracking of safety issues inside Florida schools.
For the last two and a half years, Max has worked with Chris Curran, a University of Florida associate professor of educational leadership and policy and director of the Education Policy Research Center, to create a new comprehensive school safety dashboard. Chris and Max say this dashboard relies on how school districts accurately report information to the Department of Education, so it may not fully represent how safe a school is. But this is meant to spark conversations with parents, schools, school board members, and legislators on how to best help our students and staff within our public school system.
By: Kailey Buecker
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