Parkland Parent Quits Commission Investigating School Shooting

Andrew Pollack speaking to President Trump during a “listening session” at the White House in February. Image by Getty

By Alyssa Fisher June 7, 2018

Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed in the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, resigned last month from a state commission investigating the shooting, the Miami Herald reported Thursday.

Pollack submitted a resignation letter following the commission’s first meeting in April. Pollack wrote in the letter — dated May 4 and read Thursday morning into the record by commission chairman Sheriff Bob Gualtieri — that he wants to focus on the upcoming Broward School Board elections and on an independent investigation.

“It is my intention to get individuals elected to our school board who will take preventative measures to keep our schools safe,” Pollack wrote. “I will also be spending my time and resources on an independent investigation that will get to the bottom of who is responsible for the atrocities that occurred in our school on Valentine’s Day 2018, the last Valentine’s Day I will ever spend with my daughter.”

Pollack was appointed to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission by Gov. Rick Scott. He has created a messaging campaign to promote safety measures in schools, such as metal detectors. He was among the group of parents whose lobbying helped push a gun-control and school-safety bill through the Florida Legislature this year. He has also sued Scot Peterson, the school resource officer who failed to enter the building under attack.

Pollack’s resignation was announced one day after he walked onto campus and demanded that two school monitors be fired for failing to order a “code red” when they saw alleged gunman Nikolas Cruz walking onto campus carrying a bag.

Contact Alyssa Fisher at [email protected] or on Twitter, @alyssalfisher

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO