Members of Stand with Parkland meeting with President Trump.
By: Sharon Aron Baron
As the second anniversary of the school shooting massacre approaches, members of Stand with Parkland met with President Trump on Monday to discuss school safety measures.
The meeting was focused on the School Safety Clearinghouse, which aims to provide recommendations and best practices for how to improve building designs and help guard against school shootings.
Since last summer, Tony Montalto, Max Shachter, Ryan Petty, April Schentrup, and Tom Hoyer have been working on the website — and even beta-testing it themselves.
Max Schachter who first envisioned the clearinghouse idea said, “The creation of the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse and SchoolSafety.gov is the most comprehensive federal effort to provide schools guidance on how to protect America’s students.”
Stand With Parkland Members Tony Montalto, Sen Marco Rubio, April Schentrup, and Jennifer Montalto. [courtesy Stand With Parkland]
Backed by Sen. Marco Rubio, several parents became involved with the clearinghouse last May and worked through the summer, where they were part of a roundtable discussion with over two dozen agencies in July.
“One thing Washington does exceedingly well is help us with safety standards,” said Tony, President of Stand with Parkland. “This collection of best practices is the way to go — it tells schools what they need to do, but lets them determine how best to do it.”
He said it will help millions of school children be safer in school and the site would even help a school official who’s not well-versed in school safety.
On Monday, Tony, Jennifer, and their son Anthony Montalto, Lori and Ilan Alhadeff, Debbi Hixon, April Schentrup, Gena and Tom Hoyer, Ryan and Kelly Petty, and Max Shachter and his father, Steve met in the Oval Office along with members of Congress.
Not all the 17 victim’s relatives were invited. According to Tony, Stand with Parkland determined the invitations were based on those who have been working since the inception to develop the clearinghouse.
“Had some of these measures been in place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School two years ago, 17 beloved souls would still be with us today,” said board member Ryan Petty. “Every school in America can do things today to make their schools safer, and Stand with Parkland is proud to have championed this excellent tool to make that happen.”
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