Parents of Palm Beach County students express concern about school shootings

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Florida. Palm Beach County College Parents Said what happened in michigan it is the nightmare they thought about before, and the nightmare they think about too often now.

“You know, you think about the kids that are out there,” Claudia Campbell said.

Campbell can’t help but think of his own daughter, a freshman at Florida Atlantic University.

“I can’t even, it’s like my insides literally hurt,” she said.

The fear of a campus shooter had always lurked in the back of my mother’s mind from Loxahatchee.

“It’s becoming too much of a norm,” Campbell said. “Campuses are wide open.”

She said the fear she felt today was the fear she was tired of feeling.

Jeff Ringrose / WPTV

“I feel like we keep hearing about it, we accept it, we’re all ‘thoughts and prayers’ but nothing changes,” Campbell said. “This is happening more and more often, but when will something happen that will protect not only the children at school, but everyone else?”

This frustration is also expressed by Ray Jackson.

“Time has passed. We have passed the time to say that the time has come, the time has passed,” he said.

Jackson’s daughter is a freshman at Florida Memorial University. He, like Campbell, can’t help but worry after the last headline.

“I know they’re adults in college and we want the experience, but they need us,” Jackson said. — I’m going downstairs after that to check on her.

Jackson said he couldn’t imagine if the shooting had accidentally hit closer to home.

Jeff Ringrose / WPTV

“It scares me that a parent’s last phone call is the last time they talk to their child,” he said.

The fear has now passed Campbell, and Jackson’s own children feel the same way. It’s a fear that parents don’t know how to deal with.

“As a parent, how do you tell your kids it’s okay, you’ll be okay when you know you’re lying,” she said.

Parents hope that fear will turn into action.

“I’m acting as a spokesperson for the other parents so the kids know our conversation is, ‘We love you. There is hope for you.”

Campbell believes the answer lies in a combination of gun reform and expansion of mental health programs. Jackson believes the answer lies in rallying the kids in the community and letting them know there are options.

Both said that this last act of violence must be the last.