After touring MSD crime scene, lawmakers pledge cooperation on school safety

They put aside their trepidation and walked back in time to Feb. 14, 2018, into the 1200 building on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School campus, to envision the terror personally.

“You can read about it all day long, you can debate it all day long, but it’s not the same as going and walking through the school,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat of Parkland and an alumnus of the school.

“Safety has to come before education, because you cannot teach dead kids,” said Max Schachter, who lost his son, Alex, in the mass shooting event.

It was Schachter’s idea to have members of Congress tour the crime scene, which has not been left mostly untouched since the massacre happened. Moskowitz and Republican Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami made it happen. They gathered a bipartisan group of nine lawmakers, and along with most of the Broward County School Board and family members of the victims, they saw where 17 people took their last breaths.

Following the tour, the group held a closed-door meeting to discuss school safety issues.

“There’s massive disagreements that wasn’t solved today in the room, on how to address it and what to include, but I think what we all share is a commitment that the status quo isn’t acceptable,” Moskowitz said.

“The key here is to not just come and see, the key is can we then put aside some differences, put aside the perfect to try to get some good things done and I’m optimistic,” Diaz-Balart said at a news conference. “So we can figure out where in that center we can actually agree on some things that will actually make a difference.”

The rare display of bipartisanship was appreciated by the victims.

“I’m rejuvenated in thinking that there’s a lot of agreement here that we can come together on to make our schools safer and prevent this from ever happening again,” Schachter said.

“I have hope that after today, the congressmen and the congresswomen will go back to Congress and take action,” added Lori Alhadeff, who lost her daughter, Alyssa, in room 1216.

“We have to put aside our differences and find a way to get things done,” said Tony Montalto. His daughter, Gina, was among those who were murdered.

The New York City Police Department sent a delegation to tour the building, to learn from the mistakes made in Parkland and to reinforce their mission.

“100%, make no mistake about it, we’re committed because of what took place here and all around the country,” said Inspector Kevin Taylor of the NYPD.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York called today an important first step.

“We’re beginning a conversation, a bipartisan conversation around a very specific issue," Bowman said. "We just had a shared experience that will transform our lives for the rest of our lives, to see the blood of children on the floor in a school, together, is going to change the way we interact and collaborate with each other going forward."

The visit was so effective that Moskowitz said he plans to organize more tours for lawmakers.