Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has suspended four members of the Broward County School Board following a grand jury investigation on the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
According to the executive order filed Patricia Good, Donna Korn, Ann Murray, and Laurie Rich Levinson would be suspended from office following the recommendations made by the 20th Statewide Grand Jury. The reasons for this recommendation were stated as the board members’ incompetence, neglect of duty, and misuse of authority regarding the shooting.
The grand jury also found that a safety alarm that was meant to be installed in many schools in the area was still not installed. Their findings show that had the alarm been in place many lives could have been saved.
In February of 2018, an expelled student went to Parkland school and opened fire. This resulted in the death of 17 students and staff. Some of the survivors of the shooting founded the March for Our Lives movement, a prominent group working actively to prevent gun violence.
In DeSantis’s press release he said that the alleged neglect of duty by Good, Korn, Murray, and Rich Levinson was “inexcusable,” and that the board members should have known better than engaging in such unacceptable behavior of mismanagement and fraud. He also called the findings evidence of their neglect of duty and failure to complete their tasks.
He also added that this suspension was another step toward bringing justice to the Parkland community.
This is not the only suspension made by the governor recently. A month earlier he suspended a state attorney for “neglect of duty” after failing to enforce laws prohibiting abortion and gender-affirming surgery for transgender minors.
