Florida School Shooting: Clear Backpacks, ID Badges Ordered

PARKLAND, FL — When Marjory Stoneman Douglas students return from spring break early next month, they will be greeted by a series of additional security measures. Students will only be permitted to carry their books and personal items in clear backpacks. They will also have to wear identification badges at all times following several troubling security lapses in recent days.

"When students return from spring break, clear backpacks are the only backpacks that will be permitted on campus," Stoneman Douglas parents were told on Wednesday in a letter from Broward Superintendent Robert Runcie. "Students will be provided with a clear backpack at no cost when they return to campus."

See also Florida Troopers Take Up Positions At Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Deputy Accused Of Sleeping Outside Scene Of School Massacre

The heightened security measures were announced five weeks after a gunman armed with an AR-15 assault rifle killed 17 students and faculty members at the school. The announcement also comes as dozens of Stoneman Douglas students make heir way to Washington, D.C. to participate in the national March For Our Lives rally on Saturday.

On Friday, the new edition of Time magazine goes on sale featuring five Stoneman Douglas students in the cover story titled, "Enough." The piece explores efforts by the students to prevent future school shootings in the aftermath of the Valentine's Day massacre at their school. The students were also featured on Sunday's broadcast of "60 Minutes" and in expanded coverage by CBS News all this week.

"“Most of these kids cannot vote, order a beer, make a hotel reservation or afford a pizza without pooling some of their allowance," Time explains. "Yet over the past month, these students have become the central organizers of what may turn out to be the most powerful grassroots gun-reform movement in nearly two decades. For much of the rest of the country, numbed and depressed by repeated mass shootings, the question has become, Can these kids actually do it?”

Back at Stoneman, Runcie's letter also said that the district would be sending additional security personnel to Stoneman Douglas and that students will be required to wear new identification badges.

"Every student will be issued a student identification badge," according to the letter. "Students and staff will be required to wear their badges at all times while on campus."

On Thursday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott sent a contingent of eight Florida Highway Patrol officers to take up positions around Stoneman Douglas after a Broward Sheriff's deputy was allegedly found sleeping in his patrol car outside the school. That happened on the same day that the brother of accused gunman Nikolas Cruz slipped into the school grounds on a skateboard and was arrested for trespassing.

"The district is exploring options for consolidating points of entry for students and staff to include utilizing metal-detecting wands and potentially installing permanent metal detectors," the letter said. "These measures further enhance the single point of entry currently in place for campus visitors."

Runcie ended his letter to parents by praising the response from Stoneman Douglas students and the Broward community.

"While we cannot change the heartbreaking and senseless act of violence at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, by working together, we can change the future," Runcie concluded. "All students deserve safe schools. We are proud of our students' determination to effect positive change in this country — and for the incredible support from the Broward community and across the country."

Image courtesy Time Magazine