NAELA Past President Howard Krooks Writes Thoughtfully About Effect of Parkland Shooting on His Family
Seasoned Elder Law attorneys often make the news, but today the sober reason was because I was reading two of Elder Law guru Howard Krooks‘s Op-Ed pieces for a Florida newspaper, about his son’s fortunate escape from the Parkland School shooting and the aftermath for his family and for many, many others, especially those with more tragic outcomes.
Howard, who is a CELA and past president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), writes in part:
Now it’s Wednesday morning. We decide Noah will go to school today. Zachary Cruz [the brother of the school shooter] is being held on $500,000 bond. He will undergo a psychological evaluation. His home in Lake Worth will be searched for weapons. And Gov. Rick Scott has requested that an armed law enforcement officer “secure every point of entry” at the school.
Good, I think. I feel safe now sending my son to school. Not.
My wife came home this morning from dropping off Noah, sobbing. “Why are you crying?” I ask. “Because I just dropped our son off at school, and I don’t know if he will be safe. Will he come home this afternoon? Will we ever see him again? And what if we beef up security at MSD so that nobody unauthorized can enter the campus — but our other son’s middle school is right next door, so the person can just go there and wreak havoc on the middle school campus, instead?”
She is sitting on our bed, head in her hands, filled with fear. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is real.
We need to do better. The legislation Gov. Scott signed on March 9 was a start. But it was just the beginning of the sweeping structural change needed in this country to send our children safely to school each day.
We in Parkland want to remain positive. We want to move forward. And we want to honor those who lost their lives or were injured on that terrible day. But most of all, we want to use this tragedy to bring about positive change. . . .
Thank you, Howard. For the full Opinion piece, see A Parkland Father’s Plea for Help, and his earlier article, As School Shooter Stalks, Texts Between A Father and Son, both in the Sun Sentinel.