Parents Of Two Parkland Victims To Run For Office
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The parents of two girls killed in the Parkland school shooting announced they are running for Broward County School Board Tuesday morning.
Alyssa Alhadeff's mother, Lori, and Alaina Petty's father, Ryan, filed this morning at the Broward County Elections Office. 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.
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 Nicolas 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.
