The principal of a school in Parkland, Fla., where 17 students were fatally shot last year announced he is resigning.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Principal Ty Thompson said Friday he is stepping down from his position, 15 months after the deadly mass shooting at his school.
Thompson, the principal for six years, has been under investigation by the Broward School District along with others regarding their actions in keeping the school safe before the shooting and had stopped leading day-to-day operations of the school while being investigated. He was not on campus when the shooting happened. But a state commission investigating the shooting criticized Thompson for being unaware about how to handle threats to the school.
Thompson is leaving his post at the end of the school year.
Lisa Maxwell, executive director of the Broward Principals and Assistants Association, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that Thompson is leaving because of the toll of the job on his health and family, not because of the investigation.
“This decision today is all about Ty’s health, his family, and his need to care of himself,” Maxwell said. “He’s spent the last more than a year taking care of everybody else, and now it’s his time.”
