Officials at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland unveiled on Thursday their plans for a new building to replace Building 12, where 17 people died and another 17 were injured during the February 14, 2018 shooting.
According to Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie, the new, $18 million building will be ready in August of this year, just in time for the 2020-21 school year.
“Our goal is to make our buildings the safest in the country,” he says.
Runcie adds that there is still no firm date as to when the 1200 building will be demolished. That decision is up to the state attorney, as a result of the pending trial of suspect Nikolas Cruz.
“Anything that we do on this campus certainly will require a substantial about of community input and direction,” Runcie explains.
He also outlined security updates to all the district’s campuses, including more security guards, more security cameras that live feed video to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, as well as an intercom system that can be heard all over the campuses.
“The building will be important to our MSD students, teachers and our school community. It will provide brand new space for students and teachers,” says School Board member Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa was killed in the shooting.
“It is also one more step we are taking to heal and to move forward from the tragedy of February 14, 2018,” Alhadeff adds.