The father of a slain Parkland High School student wept when asking the Polk County School Board to implement a Guardian Program that would allow school staff volunteers to have concealed weapons.
BARTOW — Andrew Pollack, the father of murdered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior Meadow Pollack, stood in front of the Polk County School Board on Tuesday afternoon and, with tears in his eyes, implored them to arm staff members who volunteer for the newly created Florida Guardian Program on school campuses.
“I’m here today because – look at me,” Pollack said, struggling to maintain his composure. “You don’t want to see another parent like this.”
Meadow Pollack was one of 17 students and teachers who were murdered at the Parkland school February 14 by a former student armed with an AR-15 rifle. Pollack called Coach Aaron Feiss a hero for dying while confronting the gunman on the third floor of the school building. But he said if Feiss had been a volunteer in Florida’s Guardian Program and had a gun, he could’ve stopped the carnage. Pollack said Feiss' widow told him her husband would have approved of the Guardian Program.
“He could’ve saved everybody on that third floor,” Pollack said. “All six – one of them including my daughter.”
Pollack then wept, with his longtime friend Steven Gumiela and Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd standing at his side.
Judd said Pollack had offered to help him when they met, and Pollack drove to Bartow on Tuesday afternoon to speak to the board.
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Judd praised the Florida Legislature for passing the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act last week, a sweeping overhaul of gun and mental-health laws. Part of the law provides $162 million to be divided among 67 counties for school resource officers at each school in the state.
Another provision is the “Coach Aaron Feiss Guardian Program,” which allows school staff to volunteer to carry or keep a concealed firearm on a school campus if the local school board and sheriff’s department approved the measure. Teachers would not be allowed to participate — exceptions to that are for those involved in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), current or retired armed service members and current or retired law enforcement officers. The Guardian Program is similar to Judd’s Sentinel Program, already in place at Southeastern University and recently instituted at Webber International University.
The sheriff gave a lengthy presentation to School Board members on the extraordinary cost of placing an armed law enforcement officer in every public school in the Polk County School District. Judd said it would cost a total of $16.373 million in the first year for recruiting, training and equipping new school resource officers and $11.394 in recurring costs each year.
“The legislature, when I look at it, does not allow enough money to come anywhere close to that,” Judd told the seven-member panel and Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd. Then he added that to put a volunteer member of a school’s staff through mental-health and drug screening, as well as 140 hours of training, would cost $3,866.81 per Guardian.
“You could get 32 Guardians for the cost of one school resource officer,” Judd said. “This is not the first choice or the second choice…it’s the last best option when all other layers of protection – for whatever reason – have failed to make the desired results. Our children are worth it.”
The board did not take any action on the issue Tuesday, but questioned Judd about the specifics of the new law. School Board member Kay Fields wanted to know where the guns would be kept when not in use.
“That’s a security issue and we don’t discuss it publicly because we don’t want the bad guys to know,” Judd said.
“I don’t think private individuals should be allowed to have guns on our campuses,” Fields said, adding that the School District should look at the sales tax, which is up for renewal this year, to see if funding could be diverted for more school resource officers.
School Board member Sara Beth Reynolds said she had initially been against arming fully screened volunteers on public school campuses, but changed her mind following the shooting in Parkland.
“I think this is a huge value to have this in our public schools,” Reynolds said.
School Board member Tim Harris asked whether people would know who the Guardians are on school campuses. Judd answered that, in the event of an active shooter, they would be identifiable by law enforcement, as they are at Southeastern University.
Judd then asked, “Do any of y’all know who the (Guardians) are at Southeastern University?”
All the School Board members simply looked at each other.
School Board member Billy Townsend openly confronted the sheriff, saying Judd doesn’t understand what goes on in schools.
“This is a dangerous issue,” Townsend said. “You can’t be America’s sheriff and a simple lawman at the same time. There are a lot of people who don’t think like you.”
Townsend then asked the sheriff if he is a member of the National Rifle Association, which has been criticized for creating laws and allowing weapons that have contributed to the mass shooting culture that is America's “new reality.”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business," Judd answered.
Some people have questioned the new law’s ability to allow law enforcement officers to incarcerate people on the thinnest of reasons and confiscate their guns, along with any concealed weapons permits the individual might have, until a judge could return the person’s rights. Judd said that part of the law is precisely what gives law enforcement officers the power to disarm someone like the Parkland school shooter.
“The majority of the House and the Senate are doing something,” Judd said after the meeting concluded. “That’s the beauty of a democracy – we’re supposed to have feedback on both sides.”
Pollack said he never refers to the gunman by name – only by 181958, the gunman’s inmate number at the Broward County Jail, where he awaits trial. Prosecutors announced Tuesday they would seek the death penalty for him.
Pollack told board members that it’s hard to say his daughter’s name. He consoles himself each morning by watching a slide show of Meadow, who was set to graduate in June and attend nearby Lynn University. Instead, he visits her grave.
"Hopefully, if you listen, it won’t happen to anyone else,” Pollack said before leaving the meeting.
Kimberly C. Moore can be reached at kmoore@theledger.com or 863-802-7514.