Target date set for return of MSD belongings frozen in time at crime scene
PARKLAND - Except for the chain link fence and vines growing on the wall, everything is just as it was on February 14, 2018, at the 1200 building on the 45-acre Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people died.
It was the end of the day in room 1214, the classroom of longtime teacher Ivy Schamis.
Schamis taught a popular Holocaust course for juniors and seniors.
They were finishing a discussion on the Berlin Olympics when bullets were sprayed into the classroom. Students Helena Ramsay and Nick Dworet were killed.
Schamis testified at the Parkland shooter's sentencing trial which ended last week. A jury sentenced him to life in prison.
"I was devastated," Schamis said.
CBS Miami spoke to her this week.
After teaching for nearly two decades at MSD, Schamis moved with her husband to Washington, D.C., following the tragedy.
She still talks to students who survived the tragedy.
Some have sent her pictures of tattoos with her classroom number engraved on their skin. Another is a faceless painting of Helena Ramsay and Nick Dworet.
"I loved that classroom and it had so many great memories for me before February 2018. It's like leaving your home. I really wanted to go back and gather not just my thoughts, but my things."
Schamis is one of many survivors who would like to reclaim some of what they left behind when they suddenly had to flee from the building.
The classrooms are frozen in time with books, computers, and cell phones left in place. The building has remained a crime scene with BSO having control of the premises.
Broward school board member at large Debra Hixon is the point person on getting the belongings back to their rightful owners before the building is demolished.
She says the district will be in charge of cataloging everything and putting it in a location where teachers and former students can retrieve them.
"They have started discussions on it. They are aware there are people who want items out of the building, so they are working on it," she says.
But first, Hixon says former BSO deputy and school resource officer Scot Peterson's trial, now slated to begin in February, has to be over.
Peterson is charged with child neglect for not confronting the shooter. He s denied any wrongdoing.
The target for returning belongings is next spring and Schamis plans to be there.
"Obviously, the lives of those lost are the most important thing, but if there is an opportunity to retrieve my things, there are Holocaust journals and things from my students. I loved teaching and I loved that classroom," she says.