When David Rojas first heard there were an active shooter at his alma mater, he think it is a faiytale.
“How could someone make a joke that sick?” he thought, after hearing what is the news from uncle and former classmate at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Twelfth grade.
It wasn’t until he activated excellent and saw the freshman building C a building where his favorite teacher is still effective?C the fact that reality begun to sink in, Rojas said.
“I started panicking,” the 21-year-old UF biomedical engineering student said. “I must leave the room I used to be in and eliminate crying outside.”
A require change has emerged after 17 students were killed in the Parkland shooting on Feb. 14. And although gun control was at the forefront of your discussion, the second topic has surfaced both nationally and within Alachua County: the call to address mental health resources for high school students.
Rojas, who himself has struggled with mental health problems like anger management, said there should be a greater increased mental health in school. There’s no better time compared to the given to start giving students direct involvement with counselors, he said.
“It can’t you have to be the coed calling the counselor anymore, it should be vice versa,” he was quoted saying. “They are the ones who should seek us out.”
April Griffin, president of the Florida School Boards Association (FSBA) and an affiliate the Alachua County School Board, said her association is asking the state?for increased mental health helpful information on all Florida schools.
“Funding has become a difficulty for the past few years,” Griffin said. “Mental health is among one of those issues that is important.”
Executive officers are demanding the legislative committees to consider mental medical concerns moving forward, regardless of the odd FSBA only meeting four times yearly, Griffin said. The FSBA hasn’t met for the reason that shooting on Feb. 14.?
?The?Senate education budget?currently allocates?$40 million to give “comprehensive school-based mental health programs,” according to Senate Bill 2500.
While there is no direct mention of mental health especially in the FSBA’s 2018 Legislative Platform, Griffin hopes the annual budget vary pursuing the shooting to seek more psychiatrist and guidance counselor positions, she said.
“I feel that anything you can try to support our students is exactly what discovered do,” Griffin said. “I hope that the funding comes through, with this particular glad that searchers are experiencing a conversation over it.”
Rojas hosted a vigil for Douglas alumni with the University of Florida’s Turlington Plaza two days following the shooting to remember the 17 lives this were lost. Combined in when using the crowd were several guidance counselors, he stated.
“Nobody asked the theifs to be in existence, but they lost there anyway,” Rojas said. “If they’re able to understand or know that some students may possibly not have the courage in to the future as many as them, then top seller a stride while in the right direction.”
