The father of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting victim is calling for a national standard for school safety.
It was after that shooting in Parkland that President Trump formed the Federal Commission on School Safety.
The commission, led by Secretary of Education Betsy Devos, met Thursday in Washington D.C.
The focus: Making school buildings safer, improving active shooter training and identifying overall vulnerabilities in school safety.
Max Schachter, whose son Alex was killed, has devoted his life to preventing school shootings.
“My Valentine’s Day started off perfect. I was out celebrating with my wife and then shortly thereafter at 2:21 in the afternoon my day descended into hell… And it became a frantic search for Alex,” he said.
“My family and I waited 9 hours to find out that we would never be able to tell my little boy that I loved him again. Those were the worst hours of my life.”
He was part of a panel at Thursday’s meeting, along with the man in charge of designing the new Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut after the 2012 mass shooting.
Schachter spoke emotionally about what he’s learned about school safety since his son was killed.
He said after other American tragedies, 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing, we hardened airports and federal buildings.
Now, Schachter says it’s time to harden our schools.
“After Columbine, after Virginia Tech, after Sandy Hook, they also had a commission. Those commissions made recommendations. My question to you is who is going to be responsible for following through after this commission ends? Who will coordinate the best practices that this commission identifies?”
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says the commission will issue its final report later this year.
