On Sunday, Broward County district officials admitted that the Parkland, Fla., shooter had been assigned to a controversial disciplinary program designed as an alternative to arresting students who commit crimes. But shortly after the shooting, as local officials tried to deflect blame from systemic incompetence and shift it onto the gun control campaign, the school district’s superintendent repeatedly claimed that the shooter had “no connection” to the program.
Two sources told WLRN on Sunday that the claim by Superintendent Robert Runcie, that the shooter had no involvement with the alternative disciplinary program called PROMISE, was false.
The sources said the shooter was referred to the PROMISE program in 2013 after he vandalized a bathroom at Westglades Middle School.
Tracy Clark, spokeswoman for Runcie, later “confirmed” that the shooter was referred to the PROMISE program after the vandalism incident in 2013.
Here’s the kicker: He was referred to the program, but there are still questions as to whether he completed it.
“It does not appear that the shooter completed the recommended three-day assignment/placement,” Clark told WLRN. She would not speculate as to why.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office seemed to corroborate Clark’s comment, saying through a representative, “The school board reports that there was no PROMISE program participation.”
The PROMISE program has come under heavy fire for treating troubled students who commit crimes at school or school-sponsored events with kid gloves rather than getting tough.
Runcie has defended the program, saying that nearly nine out of 10 students who attend and complete the program don’t commit another offense that sends them back to PROMISE. He also continues to maintain that PROMISE and the Parkland shooting had nothing to do with each other.
One of the Parkland survivors, Anthony Borges, who was shot multiple times for saving close to 20 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and was the last remaining person to be released from the hospital, is suing the Broward County school district, in addition to several other individuals and government entities.
Other critics, like Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, have echoed similar criticism saying the PROMISE program is a “perverse incentive to hide student criminality.”
Whether the critiques of the PROMISE program are fair or not (again, it seems the shooter didn’t actually go through the program), this revelation confirms that Broward County officials repeatedly hid information that could have possibly brought blame on their handling of the situation.
