Florida school district investigating Stoneman Douglas principal
A Florida school district is investigating the principal of the high school attacked by a gunman last year as part of the district's probe of the mass shooting, CBS station WFOR-TV reports. Ty Thompson will continue to have a role on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School's campus but will no longer be in charge of day-to-day operations.
"There is going to be, I think, a large outcry from the school," Stoneman Douglas teacher Greg Pittman told WFOR-TV. "The students have already planned to do protests if this was to happen in the past."
Broward County Public Schools said Thompson would still be participating in recovery efforts, construction oversight and school events. "Since the tragedy, Thompson has provided stability to the school and community, and has been considered by many to be instrumental in helping with healing and recovery," the school district said in a statement.
A father whose daughter died in the shooting told the station he was happy the district's investigation was widening. Ryan Petty was a member of a commission that conducted its own investigation into the massacre.
"We did question Principal Ty Thompson's leadership in the days and weeks and months leading up to the tragedy," Petty told WFOR-TV. The commission found that Thompson was "disengaged from the threat assessment process."
Stoneman Douglas parent Carman Miller, whose daughter was in the school during the shooting and survived, questioned the district's move. "Why does he have anything to do with what happened?" she told WFOR-TV. "I don't think any of the staff have anything to do with what happened."