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Education Secretary DeVos: Arming Teachers Should Be An Option

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students missed nine days of school after the Feb. 14 shooting. Here they are on the first day back,. MATIAS OCNER / WLRN
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students missed nine days of school after the Feb. 14 shooting. Here they are on the first day back,. MATIAS OCNER / WLRN

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says she's interested in hearing suggestions to improve school safety from students at a Florida high school where 17 people were killed in a mass shooting.

DeVos visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Wednesday.

She said some students told her their healing process after the Feb. 14 shooting was a "day-to-day situation." She said their faces lit up when they talked about therapy dogs that have been brought to campus to help them.

After meeting with students, DeVos told reporters that arming some teachers should be considered an option but not a requirement.

As a model, she cited a program in Florida's Polk County where teachers or other employees at two private universities have trained with the sheriff's office so they can carry concealed weapons on campus.

Hear Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd on 90.7's Intersection

 

Jail records show the 19-year-old accused of killing 17 people at a Florida high school is being held in solitary confinement.

The Broward Sheriff's Office has released a report of officers' observations of Nikolas Cruz to local news stations.

The observations start Feb. 17 and end Feb. 24. Officers described Cruz as being cooperative but avoiding eye contact. They said he "often sits with a blank stare."

The report said Cruz appeared to laugh and exhibited "awkward" behavior during and after a visit with an attorney. He also has had one "family visit."

The report said Cruz also requested a Bible to read in his single-person cell in the infirmary.

Cruz has been jailed since he was arrested shortly after the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.