Parents Of MSD Victim Criticize Superintendent For Lack Of Action, Transparency After Shooting
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – The parents of Carmen Schentrup walked into the Broward School Board building Tuesday with heavy hearts and specific complaints about the way the school district and School Superintendent Robert Runcie has handled the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas shooting.
They are frustrated by what they see as a lack of communication and a lack of transparency from the district regarding what led to the shooting, how the district has responded to it and what's being done to make schools safe.
With a picture of her beloved daughter, Carmen, in front of her, April Schentrup spoke at Tuesday's Broward School Board meeting. She criticized Superintendent Robert Runcie and questioned why security staff remains in place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
"The same administration and security staff that allowed the worst tragedy in Broward schools history are still in charge of MSD security and discipline today," Schentrup said. "Where's the urgency and accountability?"
April is a principal at a Broward school. She said Runcie curtailed her time to grieve Carmen's death when she asked for an interim principal to replace her so she could mourn the loss of her daughter.
"Mr. Runcie was quick to say that being a principal was not a full time school….had to return to their school," Schentrup said.
She told the board that she learned Stoneman Douglas staff received time of to mourn while her vacation time was initially docked for time off before being reinstated. Carmen's father, Philip, also spoke. He said words from Runcie in the days after shooting rang hollow.
"Mr. Runcie sat at my kitchen table and told me and my wife that he school district and the school itself did nothing wrong. An outrage given that I was burying my 16-year-old daughter," Philip Schentrup said.
He said he believes the district is not being forthcoming with the families of the Stoneman Douglas victims and the district as a whole.
"I believe the district is dragging its feet not because it did so many things right but because it did so many things wrong," he said.
The Schentrup's are not the only Parkland parents to criticize the superintendent.
Andrew Pollack's daughter, Meadow, was murdered at Stoneman Douglas. He's been critical of the Promise program backed by Runcie. It's an intervention program in the Broward school system to deal with troubled youth and keep them out of the criminal justice system. Nikolas Cruz was referred to the program in middle school but didn't complete it. CBS 4 News spoke to Pollack at a recent event.
"We need to get the Superintendent's contract cancelled. Send him back to Chicago. Cancel all these lenient policies that he brought here that led up to February 14," Pollack said. "That led up to this horrific act that got my daughter murdered."
Runcie did not address the specific complaints at the meeting Tuesday. He only said that the district's outside investigation into the shooting should be completed next month. Schools spokesperson Tracy Clark sent us a statement Tuesday evening.
"First and foremost, we are devastated for April and Philip Schentrup on the loss of their daughter, Carmen, as we are for all the parents and families who lost a loved one in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy," Clark wrote. "Due to her tragic loss, the District has offered and continues to work toward, providing Ms. Schentrup flexibility with her job as Principal of Pembroke Pines Elementary. In addition, as the District continued to develop new procedures for reporting employee requests for time off following the tragedy, all time used by Ms. Schentrup between February 15 - March 30 was reinstated to her, as was done for other employees. The District also amended the start of a Board-approved intermittent leave of absence to Ms. Schentrup for the least possible impact to any accrued leave time she had available."
The statement also focused on efforts the district is making to develop a District-wide Security Risk Assessment for schools to compete for millions in state funding as well as increasing the presence of School Resource Officers on campus.
But all of that is not nearly enough for the Schentrup's. The couple said they are concerned by allegations that there were systemic, ongoing failures in school security at Stoneman Douglas prior to the shooting such as the school's single point of entry often being breached and gates left unsupervised. Cruz accessed the campus through an open gate before carrying out his deadly shooting. The Schentrup's also said the school's principal cancelled a meeting they had scheduled to discuss security. It all adds up to frustration.
"17 are dead," Philip said. "17 more are wounded. What will it take for you to act?"
