Two Years After Parkland Shooting, Parents Continue to Push for Increased School Safety

Coral Springs, Florida – In the wake of the 2018 Parkland shooting, parents like Andrew Pollack have dedicated their lives to improving school safety and helping first responders react more efficiently to threats.

Pollack’s daughter Meadow was a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. “She was shot 9 times,” Pollack said. “No one was able to get to that 3rd floor for over 40 minutes.”

Pollack had a zoom conference with the Coral Springs Police Department Thursday to go over what he identified as failures in the system.

It allows dispatchers and officers to have remote access to everything from the facility’s security cameras to the floor plan, and even the PA system. It can also unlock doors to give first responders faster access.

“Imagine being able to give first responders live eyes into a facility before arriving and providing immediate access to doors to the facility when they do get to the site,” said Lee Mandel, CEO of Intralogic Solutions, the company that designed the ALERT system software.

Mandel said the system was designed to help overcome some of the challenges that took place at MSD and help first responders better protect schools, businesses and places of worship during a threat.

“We all know that seconds matter during a response and seconds will truly save lives,” said Mandel.

Pollack’s School Safety Grant organization funded the integration of the software at the Coral Springs Police Department.

The Coral Springs Charter School and Chabad of Coral Springs also received grant money and are the first facilities in the country to implement the technology.

This also fulfills the new requirements of Alyssa’s Law, which was passed in honor of Alyssa Alhadef who was also killed in the MSD shooting. The law requires Mobil panic buttons to be installed on teachers’ and staff members’ phones.