MIAMI _ Fed up with what they view as another blow to a suffering school community, about 60 teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High protested the sudden reassignment of three assistant principals and the campus security specialist.
Teachers donning their signature maroon #MSDSTRONG shirts lined up in front of the school marquee early Tuesday morning. Some brought handwritten posters reading, "Respect teachers' agency," and "Who is this helping?" and began chants with "Bring them back!"
They received notice at an impromptu meeting Monday afternoon that assistant principals Jeff Morford, Winfred Porter and Denise Reed and school security specialist Kelvin Greenleaf will be reassigned to district sites following the findings of a state panel created to investigate the school shooting that left 17 dead and 17 injured on Valentine's Day. The district did not provide any further information.
"If these people were such a problem, why didn't they pull them out at the beginning of the school year?" asked American history teacher Gregory Pittman.
English teacher Debbie Jacobson held up a yellow flier that read, "I was hired by Denise Reed and Winfred Porter."
"Supposedly we're safer now. Supposedly," she said. Next to her, Debbie Wanamaker, who worked in student services under Porter and is the mother of a daughter who was in the classroom first shot Feb. 14, chimed in.
"How are removing the staff members making us safer?" Wanamaker said. "It's beyond a gut punch, what they're doing."
Spencer Blum, a 17-year-old senior, came outside to support a few of his teachers in the protest. He pointed to the pin on his school lanyard: "We call BS."
"The four people that were mentioned ... they are generally well liked throughout the school, faculty and parents," Blum said. "With this being so sudden, it makes the county seem like they're pointing fingers and that heads need to roll."
And if anyone's head should roll, he said, "Runcie needs to go," referring to Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie.
Denise Engle, a retired nurse, came out to the protest to support Reed, one of her close friends. She said her friend was baffled by the district's decision.
"They have to point the finger, the School Board, and they need to find a fall guy," said Engle, 63, of Parkland. "There is not anyone I know in education more dedicated than Denise Reed."
As teachers filed back into the school for the day, Principal Ty Thompson hugged each one at the door.
