In Parkland, it’s jarring to think of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy as something to be taught in history books, but it’s part of a new textbook’s supplementary workbook which is being used in public schools all over Florida.
It’s a state-approved history book for 11th grade, and for the two Broward County School Board members who lost loved ones that day, the pain is too fresh to feel like history.
PARKLAND SCHOOL TRAGEDY
"And we’re still grieving the death of my daughter, Alyssa, and the 16 others, so the fact that this is now in history books, it’s very painful to just think about,” said school board chair Lori Alhadeff.
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“It seems very strange to me, we’re still living that incident, I mean, even though it may have happened almost six years ago,” said school board member Debbi Hixon.
Her husband, Chris Hixon, died confronting the gunman. A former teacher, Hixon looked at the textbook and said the unit on Parkland is not meant to be a full account of the incident.
“It looked like the lesson was really focused more on documentaries in general, how do you tell a story about a sensitive topic, how do you take into account something that’s really emotional?" Hixon said.
“For me there is not a linear timeline, so it almost doesn’t even register as history,” said Victoria Gonzalez.
Gonzalez is a former student who survived the shooting but lost her boyfriend, Joaquin Oliver. Gonzalez was featured in the documentary "After Parkland," and she’s part of the video students watch for this class, an interview with her and the film makers.
"As painful as the experience is, I’m grateful to share truth and I think it’s important for people to see truth, straight from the heart," Gonzalez said about her participation in the video.
“My concern in Broward County is, does it trigger somebody?" Hixon said.
“Absolutely, it’s very painful to know that my son would be reading about the horrific day where his sister, Alyssa, was murdered,” said Alhadeff, referring to her son who is a junior at MSD High School.
Alhadeff said as a mom and as a school board member, the textbook lesson makes her uncomfortable.
“I think it needs to be revisited, I don’t think it is really appropriate, I don’t really think it captures the whole story and what happened that tragic day, and there’s so much more to it, if we’re gonna actually speak about the history, we need to tell it,” Alhadeff said.
The school district is considering giving teachers other resources to supplement what’s in the textbook, to tell a more complete story of the incident.
Alhadeff also said discussing the topic at all is problematic because she’s worried it could glorify school shootings and might result in kids thinking they could literally end up in the history books for committing a horrific act of violence.
