Skip to comments.
ENABLING KILLER CRUZ-Leftist school policies aid the classroom-to-grave pipeline.
Frontpagemagazine ^
| February 27, 2018
| Lloyd Billingsley
Posted on 02/27/2018 4:49:34 AM PST by SJackson
If the FBI and local law enforcement had followed established policy, the Valentines Day murder of 17 high-school students by Nikolas Cruz could very well have been stopped. Gaining less media attention, on the other hand, is the role of educational policies in the total failure to protect the students from a known threat.
As the Sun-Sentinel of Floridas Broward County reports, Nikolas Cruz kicked doors, cursed at teachers, fought with and threatened classmates and brought a backpack with bullets to school. In 2014, administrators transferred Cruz to an alternative school for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities but two years later changed course and retuned Cruz to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Cruz was banished for disciplinary violations but never expelled from Broward schools. Legally, he couldnt be.
Under federal law, the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Nikolas Cruz had a right to a free and appropriate education at a public school. As special education lawyer Stephanie Langer told the Sun-Sentinel, You cant just kick kids out of the public schools because you are afraid of them, or because they are hard to educate. In Parkland, Florida, that notion overrode the right of other students to an education free from fear, and as it turned out, deprived them of their right to life as well.
Broward County Schools superintendent Robert Runcie refused to reveal Nikolas Cruzs school records and told reporters he had no knowledge of Cruzs threats while a student. As Runcie told the American Prospect in 2013, he sought to close the racial achievement gap and noticed a huge differential in minority students, black male students in particular, in terms of suspensions and arrests.
Runcie fought against zero tolerance policies and implemented a code that prohibited arrests in some circumstances, and developed alternatives to suspension. Instead of suspensions, students are referred to the PROMISE program, in which they receive counseling then return to school.
Like other programs aimed at shutting down the school-to-prison pipeline, PROMISE aims to help students of color, and this opened the door for Nikolas de Jesus Cruz. Under the regime of political correctness, Latinos and/or Hispanics qualify as people of color, regardless of national origin or skin shade. So Cruz fit the metrics of the program and was not arrested.
In his interview with Broward County sheriff Scott Israel, Jake Tapper of CNN noted that in 2013 the local school board opted to pursue the least punitive means of discipline instead of arresting students for crimes.
Were there not incidents committed by the shooter as a student, Tapper asked, had this new policy not been in place that otherwise he would have been arrested for and not able to legally buy a gun?
What youre referring to is the PROMISE Program, Israel responded, And its giving the school the ability under certain circumstances not to call the police, not to get the police involved on misdemeanor offenses and take care of it within the school. Its an excellent program. Its helping many, many people.
What if he should be in the criminal justice system? Tapper said. What if he does something violent to a student? What if he takes bullets to school? What if he takes knives to schools? What if he threatens the lives of fellow students?
Then he goes to jail, Israel said, to which Tapper responded, But thats not what happened with the shooter. As the world knows, what happened was a mass murder that could have been prevented at several levels, starting with school.
Superintendent Runcies policy kept the violent Cruz safe from arrest but at this writing, nobody is calling for Runcie to resign. Likewise, the mass murder has not prompted changes to the PROMISE program that places students in danger.
Sheriff Israel has thus far retained his job. The lawyer for Scot Peterson, the armed deputy who failed to engage the shooter, is claiming that the officer is not a coward and acted appropriately.
Nikolas Cruz did everything but take out an ad on the Super Bowl to announce his deadly intentions. The mighty Federal Bureau of Investigation failed to follow up on explicit warnings that Cruz would shoot up a school.
After he did, FBI agents claimed deep regrets over the massacre but FBI boss Christopher Wray resisted a call to resign from Florida governor Rick Scott. A ballpark figure for FBI agents who will be disciplined or fired is zero.
In the Parkland, Florida case, political correctness, plus incompetence, plus cowardice, equals 17 deaths and fathomless sorrow for the victims families.
Meanwhile, according to news reports, Nikolas Cruz wants to plead guilty in return for a promise not to seek the death penalty. Prosecutors should drop back and punt on that one. If Nikolas Cruz can take 17 lives and preserve his own, add the criminal justice system to the list of failures.
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: education; florida; flschoolshooting; parkland; police; promiseprogram; schools
1
posted on
02/27/2018 4:49:34 AM PST
by
SJackson
To: SJackson
I wonder if those kids who bullied Cruz, were the same ones spouting anti-NRA rhetoric at the Clown Hall meetings, and were mugging for the cameras a couple of days after the Antifa/ISIS sympathizer murdered 17 of their classmates?
2
posted on
02/27/2018 4:52:20 AM PST
by
MuttTheHoople
(Yes, Liberals, I question your patriotism)
To: MuttTheHoople
Cruz. It seems was the bully.
The local police and the FBI need to be taken to task for not preventing this cretin from getting a gun after a massive bunch of domestic violence charges and public media threats of violence they KNEW ABOUT!
The top peoples heads at the FBI and Sheriff Israels department
need to roll.
3
posted on
02/27/2018 5:00:09 AM PST
by
Vaquero
(Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you)
To: MuttTheHoople
Do we know for certain whether Cruz was doing the bullying rather than being bullied?
4
posted on
02/27/2018 5:07:49 AM PST
by
Bob
(Damn, the democrats haven't been this upset since Republicans freed their slaves.)
To: MuttTheHoople
Does this Sheriff ever say anything that makes sense?
In his interview with Broward County sheriff Scott Israel, Jake Tapper of CNN noted that in 2013 the local school board opted to pursue the least punitive means of discipline instead of arresting students for crimes.
Were there not incidents committed by the shooter as a student, Tapper asked, had this new policy not been in place that otherwise he would have been arrested for and not able to legally buy a gun?
What youre referring to is the PROMISE Program, Israel responded, And its giving the school the ability under certain circumstances not to call the police, not to get the police involved on misdemeanor offenses and take care of it within the school. Its an excellent program. Its helping many, many people.
What if he should be in the criminal justice system? Tapper said. What if he does something violent to a student? What if he takes bullets to school? What if he takes knives to schools? What if he threatens the lives of fellow students?
Then he goes to jail, Israel said, to which Tapper responded, But thats not what happened with the shooter. As the world knows, what happened was a mass murder that could have been prevented at several levels, starting with school.
5
posted on
02/27/2018 5:31:40 AM PST
by
Liz
((Our side has 8 Trillion bullets; the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use.))
To: All
When Pres Trump talked about ****holes, he most assuredly meant Broward County.
6
posted on
02/27/2018 5:32:32 AM PST
by
Liz
((Our side has 8 Trillion bullets; the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use.))
To: Liz
Broward is (was) a subtropical utopian paradise
paradise is lost
7
posted on
02/27/2018 5:40:15 AM PST
by
bert
(K.E.; N.P.; GOPc;WASP .... The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column)
To: SJackson
Under federal law, the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Nikolas Cruz had a right to a free and appropriate education at a public school. As special education lawyer Stephanie Langer told the Sun-Sentinel, This is incorrect. Special Ed lawyer Stephanie Langer needs to go back to law school. That is not what the FAPE law says. He has a right to a "free and appropriate" public education, but it doesn't have to occur inside a public school. It can occur inside a juvenile prison, or even at a halfway house.
To: eastexsteve; SJackson
>
This is incorrect. Special Ed lawyer Stephanie Langer needs to go back to law school. That is not what the FAPE law says. He has a right to a “free and appropriate” public education, but it doesn’t have to occur inside a public school. It can occur inside a juvenile prison, or even at a halfway house.
>
TOO many people need to go back for a TRUE education: Rights don’t require another entity to utilize. Public ‘education’ is neither FREE and the quality neither APPROPRIATE.
But, you are correct on the locations of his said ‘education’.
On the other, our criminal ‘justice’ system, being the Schiff it is, would have wiped his slate clean come 18; which, I bet, still would not have stopped his rampage....merely delayed.
9
posted on
02/27/2018 8:04:16 AM PST
by
i_robot73
(One could not count the number of *solutions*, if only govt followed\enforced the Constitution.)
To: SJackson
So, liberals set this situation up and now want to exploit it to get gun control. This guy could have never legally bought the gun he used if he had been prosecuted for his crimes. Liberals always screw things up and then blame everybody else for the chaos they cause.
To: SJackson
As Runcie told the American Prospect in 2013, he sought to close the racial achievement gap and noticed a huge differential in minority students, black male students in particular, in terms of suspensions and arrests. Did he also notice a corresponding "differential" in criminal behavior by minority students, black male students in particular?
11
posted on
02/27/2018 11:32:42 AM PST
by
MileHi
(Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
To: i_robot73
On the other, our criminal justice system, being the Schiff it is, would have wiped his slate clean come 18; Not necessarily. Depending upon the crime they committed, it not unusual (at least in Texas) to march them right across the street to big-boy prison. My wife, who worked for the Texas juvenile justice system for 13 years, saw it many times.
To: SJackson
13
posted on
02/27/2018 9:34:09 PM PST
by
NetAddicted
(Just look)
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson