Parents of Parkland school shooting victims to run for school board
MIAMI -- The parents of two girls killed in the Parkland school shooting announced Tuesday they are running for Broward County School Board, CBS Miami reports. Alyssa Alhadeff's mother, Lori, and Alaina Petty's father, Ryan, filed papers to run at the Broward County Elections Office on Tuesday.
Alhadeff is running for District 4 and Petty filed for candidacy for the at-large seat, District 8.
Alyssa and Alaina were both killed in the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Fifteen students and two teachers were killed when gunman Nikolas Cruz opened fire at the school. Since then, some survivors of the shooting have become advocates for gun control, and organized a national rally called the "March for Our Lives" a month after the shooting.
Both parents say they plan to continue fighting for school safety, increased transparency and increased accountability. Each was spurred to run because of the tragedy.
"On February 14th when Alyssa was brutally murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school I did not want any other parent to go through the pain and anguish I go thru every day," Alhadeff said. "I did not want any child to ever have to say to their mother, mommy, am I going to die today when I go to school?" she added.
"Like many other families, we will dedicate ourselves to change the system that would allow somebody like Nikolas Cruz to fall through the cracks," Petty said.
Both candidates plan to center their races around school safety and both say their work on changing gun laws in Florida is a start. "The laws that we passed in Florida have been used over 130 times to keep firearms away from those who would hurt themselves and others," said Petty, "That's why I'm filing to run for school board."
They're also calling for transparency and accountability. "I asked our elected leaders several pointed questions at the CNN town hall the week after my daughter was murdered," recalled Alhadeff. "I'm still not satisfied with the answers to the questions I asked back then."
Both candidates will likely face incumbents in the race.