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Parkland Mom Fights Back: Real School Safety Fixes (Full) · Solving America's Problems

0:00
Sarah: Another full, uncut show from this year
0:02
-- Alex: Welcome to Solving America’s Problems…
0:05
A Parkland mom who buried her 14-year-old daughter after the 2018 shooting
0:11
just forced an entire county—one of the biggest in America—to roll out
0:15
metal detectors in every single high school in a matter of months, even
0:20
when the plan was only a tiny pilot.
0:23
She then looked at the panic buttons that already exist in every bank and
0:27
most government buildings and made seven states put the exact same tech
0:32
in schools—so a teacher can silently scream for help and cops get live eyes
0:37
on cameras before they even roll up.
0:40
Tonight Jerremy and Dave sit down with Lori Alhadeff, the woman who turned
0:44
unthinkable loss into legislation that’s already moving state by
0:48
state, and she’s nowhere near done.
0:52
Jerremy Newsome: Dave, what are we addressing and solving today?
0:58
Dave Conley: In this episode of solving America's problems, we're
1:00
confronting one of our nation's most heartbreaking challenges.
1:03
School shootings with someone who's transformed personal tragedy
1:07
into national movement for change.
1:09
We're joined by Lori Aldehoff, a co founder of Make Our Schools Safe and a
1:14
powerful voice of school safety reform.
1:16
After losing her daughter, Alyssa, in the Parkland shooting, Lori
1:20
channeled her grief into action, successfully championing Alyssa's Law
1:23
across multiple states and creating a model for safer schools nationwide.
1:28
Today, she'll share practical, proven solutions.
1:31
That are already saving lives and that's this week on solving America's problems,
1:36
school shootings with Laurie Aldaef.
1:39
Jerremy Newsome: Every two days in America, another school
1:45
shooting shatters a community.
1:47
In just the past five years, over 1200 school shootings have left more than
1:52
a thousand people wounded or killed.
1:56
Behind each of these statistics is a story and a family that has forever changed.
2:02
Our guest today knows this reality all too well.
2:05
Lori Alhadeff was a K through 12 teacher and soccer mom to three
2:09
children until February 14, 2018.
2:13
When her 14 year old daughter, Alyssa was killed in the Parkland shooting.
2:18
At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
2:22
in the face of unimaginable loss, Laurie chose action.
2:27
She co founded make our schools safe, a national nonprofit dedicated to
2:34
protecting students and teachers.
2:37
She has successfully championed Alyssa's law requiring panic alarms in schools.
2:44
Which is now passed in seven states.
2:48
She also serves on the school board of the Broward County, fighting to ensure
2:52
no other parent experiences her pain.
2:55
Lori before we dive into solutions Could you share what inspired you
3:01
to create Make Our Schools Safe, and what's the organization's core mission?
3:09
Lori Alhadeff: So first of all, thank you so much for having me here today.
3:13
So my story begins on February 14th, 2018.
3:17
It was Valentine's Day, day that was supposed to be filled
3:20
with chocolate and love.
3:23
And I drove my daughter, Alyssa, to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
3:28
I dropped Alyssa off at school.
3:30
She was wearing a black and white dress.
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She was just so beautiful.
3:34
I told Alyssa that I loved her.
3:36
And sadly, that would be the last time that I would see Alyssa alive.
3:43
Later that day, I got a text message saying, shots fired at
3:46
Stoneman Douglas High School, kids running and jumping the fence.
3:50
And I immediately had this sense of loss that came over my body.
3:55
And I knew something was drastically wrong.
3:58
I drove my car as fast as I could to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
4:02
And there were so many people around, nobody really knew what was going on.
4:07
And I found out from Abby, Alyssa's best friend, that Alyssa was shot
4:12
and I fell down and I blocked that moment out in my life for months.
4:18
That most horrific moment in my life that I find out that my daughter
4:23
was shot, but I still had hope.
4:26
I thought Alyssa was still alive.
4:29
And I went with a police officer to the hospital, tried to find Alyssa.
4:37
As a mother, you give birth to your child, you raise your child, and the
4:44
worst possible thing in the world is that your child is killed, murdered.
4:49
And my daughter, Alyssa, was murdered in her English classroom.
4:53
Alyssa was in the direct line of fire for the shooter shot
4:56
into her room, raided Alyssa.
4:59
Alyssa was still alive and she ran to the back of the classroom
5:04
and he went down the hallway.
5:06
He came back and shot again and killed Alyssa and two other
5:11
students in her classroom.
5:14
Later, after the trials were over this year, I went into Alyssa's
5:19
classroom and it was horrific.
5:22
Blood was still on the floor.
5:24
The glass was still on the floor.
5:26
And I could see exactly where my daughter was murdered.
5:30
She wasn't able to make it behind the teacher's desk that
5:35
possibly could have saved her.
5:37
And so after this tragedy, my husband and I started make our school safe
5:43
and make our school safe is focused on protecting kids in schools.
5:48
It's, a fundamental thing that our kids go to school.
5:52
And as parents, we pack our kids lunches, we make sure they do their homework, and
5:59
we send them off to school thinking that it's the safest place for them to be.
6:04
But unfortunately, that's where my daughter and 16 others were murdered.
6:10
Jerremy Newsome: And I, just first and foremost, the ability for you to go, we're
6:16
not going to let this dictate the rest of our lives and live in a place where
6:21
we have no choice, we have no voice, we have no say, so we have no power.
6:24
Thank you for your time.
6:25
Thank you for doing just that, right?
6:28
Working on making other schools safe because you are not only a
6:32
former teacher, but you're also now a current school board member.
6:38
So from that perspective, and as the portion of this real, The
6:44
mission of this podcast is actually solving America's problems.
6:47
And I think media would both agree that this is one of the most ostentatious,
6:50
outrageous problems that very few people are actually talking about openly often.
6:56
And there are probably some very tangible solutions that
7:00
you will also have awareness of.
7:03
It's going to be very, probably easier to implement than many people think.
7:06
I'm very excited for our listeners to hear.
7:08
What those are.
7:09
So I'll circle back to my main question for you, which will be you being
7:15
right now, right on that school board.
7:17
What are some of the things that you know, that are being implemented into
7:20
schools that are making them more safe?
7:23
Lori Alhadeff: So after the shooting in 2018, I know I knew that in order for
7:28
me to make an impact and make change that I need to have a seat at the table.
7:32
So I ran for the school board and I won and I've been on the school
7:36
board for the last seven years.
7:38
Jerremy Newsome: Yeah, you did.
7:39
Good job, Lori.
7:41
Lori Alhadeff: currently I'm the chair of the school board.
7:43
I've been the chair for the last two years.
7:45
And so this is me going on my seventh year as a school board member.
7:50
And so I think the best way to look at it is you need to look at as creating
7:54
layers of school safety protection.
7:57
And the most basic layer is locking classroom doors, making sure
8:02
that classroom door is locked.
8:04
And we are still not learning from this because we just had a school
8:08
shooting and the door was unlocked.
8:11
So it really Upsets me that here we are in 2024.
8:17
We've had so many school shootings and we still have schools around the country
8:23
that are not learning from the mistakes that were made and our school shooting.
8:28
So fundamentally those basic layers of protection, like single point
8:34
of entry, fencing, locking all the doors so nobody can just get in don't
8:39
prop open the door with a pencil.
8:42
You have that human error and you want to make sure that doors are being locked.
8:47
So here in Florida, I believe that we have implemented a plethora of school safety
8:53
bills in the last six and a half years.
8:57
Where we have created the those layers like behavioral threat assessments, if
9:03
there is someone that says they're going to shoot up a school, they do a behavioral
9:08
threat assessment on that student to deem where that school that child is
9:12
a low, medium or high level threat.
9:16
And then based on.
9:18
There's a safety plan for that student, so that student will lose
9:22
the ability to bring a backpack to school or their backpack is going
9:26
to need to be checked every day.
9:28
So there's a lot that we have done.
9:32
We still obviously need to improve.
9:35
And the one thing I would to just say is that safety It's so vitally
9:38
important that there's training, so that there's not human error.
9:42
And in an emergency situation, the body goes into fight or flight.
9:47
So we then fall back on our training.
9:49
So that is why it's so vitally important that our schools are training and what
9:53
to do in these emergency situations.
9:57
Dave Conley: We we, this is our third interview on school
10:00
safety and school shootings.
10:02
And we spoke first to people who have companies on threat
10:06
assessment and technology.
10:08
My, my feeling on it, on the, on one side of it, after we talked to them
10:13
was, wow, that sounds really expensive.
10:15
And then we spoke to teachers.
10:17
And they're, and one of them was in panic mode because she realized
10:20
that she hadn't been trained, that she didn't know what the threat was.
10:23
The what the protocols were and she was going to be going the next day to speak
10:28
to her administration and to her school board saying, Hey, What's the deal here?
10:33
So I, as being a mother, as being a former teacher, as being a part of the
10:39
school board, where do the friction points show up for you for funding, for
10:45
making sure that this is a priority, making sure that students understand
10:50
where are the parts where either parents can help or listeners can help you
10:55
make sure that our school stays safe.
10:58
Lori Alhadeff: So Broward County Public Schools, we're the sixth
11:00
largest school district in the country.
11:03
So funding is obviously going to be a really difficult part.
11:08
And we want to make sure that if we're going to implement, so for
11:12
example, this year we implemented metal detectors in all of our high schools.
11:17
I was actually the school board member that made the motion
11:20
because they want to pilot.
11:22
Putting the metal detectors in three to four schools.
11:25
And I was like, hold on guys.
11:26
If we're going to do that, we should do it for all of our high schools because
11:30
every school is just as important.
11:32
Every student is just vitally important.
11:34
And we want to make sure that they're all safe.
11:36
And guess what?
11:37
They got it done.
11:38
And we got the funding, we, and we implemented the metal detectors.
11:42
The first day was a little rough, but after that we, we figured it out
11:47
and everyone's trained, the students know what to do and we've prevented
11:52
things from getting into our schools.
11:55
One thing I would say is that yes, funding is an issue, but there's
11:59
resources out there like schoolsafety.
12:02
gov. Matthew McConaughey.
12:05
He has an amazing site where schools can apply for grants.
12:11
They'll help them apply for grants.
12:13
And then there's nonprofit organizations like Make Our Schools Safe.
12:17
We've given back over 400, 000 to schools to implement layers of safety protection.
12:23
So as parents, I think that if you see a vulnerability and that's the other part.
12:28
Just a circle back to one of those layers.
12:31
That risk assessment for the school is so vitally important that a safety
12:36
expert person they do a risk assessment for their school so they know what
12:40
those vulnerabilities are and then they know what to what they need to fix.
12:45
Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
12:46
Yeah.
12:46
That's congrats by the way, again, for pushing that to
12:51
get that's happened so quick.
12:52
What was the timeline on that from the.
12:54
You really making that request known to the installation of all metal detectors.
13:00
Lori Alhadeff: It was only like a few months.
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We did it over the summer, the school board passed it, and then the start
13:05
of this school year they they did it at three schools over the summer
13:10
to pilot it, to work out, any of the kinks, to get messaging in place.
13:15
And then the day one of this school year, we implemented the metal
13:19
detectors in all of our high schools.
13:22
Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
13:23
Awesome and who runs and operates those metal detectors?
13:26
Is it the the security guards there?
13:30
Lori Alhadeff: Yeah, so we have a security team that will help
13:34
to run the metal detectors.
13:35
There's also teachers that will be there and everyone is trained so they know
13:40
what to do and then the process and it flows and they've prevented vapes from
13:45
getting in, we have a big vaping problem in our high schools and it acts as a
13:50
deterrent and, at the end of the day.
13:53
We have to do everything possible to prevent guns from
13:56
getting into our schools.
13:58
Jerremy Newsome: Yes, 100 percent agree.
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Absolutely.
14:01
So in addition to that which again, that is a direct impact And also again
14:06
to your point helpful and just keeping out Probably some of the ancillary
14:10
things we'd also want in schools vaping pens Maybe marijuana pens and
14:13
all the things of that nature But if you could make one change overnight
14:17
to improve school safety, no questions asked What would it be ultimately
14:23
Lori Alhadeff: So I would want to pass Alyssa's law nationwide.
14:27
I believe that every school needs to have their panic button so that if in
14:32
a life threatening emergency situation, whether it's a medical emergency, which
14:36
we have 99 percent of the time in our schools, or an active shooter situation,
14:41
every teacher should have their panic button like we have in our banks.
14:45
And they should be able to press that.
14:47
It's directly linked to law enforcement, mass notification in this life threatening
14:53
emergency situation, and we can get help on the scene as quickly as possible.
14:58
They could pull up the cameras in the schools, get eyes on the
15:01
scene, better direct their school resource officer where to go.
15:06
And what to do and get help there.
15:08
On February 14th, I texted my daughter, Alyssa.
15:12
I told Alyssa to run and hide that help was on the way, but unfortunately
15:17
help didn't not get there fast enough.
15:20
So
15:21
Jerremy Newsome: having that law?
15:24
having The implementation of that to me It does seem so easy, right?
15:32
It's essentially You To your point, an app on the phone that all teachers
15:36
should or could have access to.
15:38
What do you feel like is the barrier that's holding us back from just
15:42
making that implementation happen?
15:45
Lori Alhadeff: we passed Alyssa's law now in seven States, New
15:48
Jersey, New York, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Oklahoma, and Florida.
15:53
And we're working to pass Alyssa's law in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania,
16:00
By hopefully the end of this year and more and more states are getting on
16:05
board with implementing Alyssa's law, passing it as a law in their state.
16:10
And then obviously the funding is the barrier.
16:13
How are we going to fund this?
16:15
And state budgets are huge and it can be an app on the teacher's
16:19
phone, an app on their computer.
16:21
It could be a wearable panic button.
16:23
Like they had an Appalachian shooting.
16:25
They had that wearable panic button.
16:27
And at the end of the day, we have to set up priorities.
16:32
Every bank has a panic button where governmental offices, elected
16:36
officials, they all have a panic button.
16:38
So why are we not protecting our kids and our schools?
16:43
Jerremy Newsome: I know Lori.
16:44
Like, why?
16:45
That's what we need to figure out.
16:47
Why?
16:48
Lori Alhadeff: And we need to evolve faster because unfortunately when AR
16:53
15s get into our schools and they start shooting, those bullets are coming
17:00
out so quickly and we have to have a good guy with a gun go in and take
17:05
down the threat as quickly as possible to mitigate risk and loss of life.
17:12
Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
17:12
Again,
17:12
Lori Alhadeff: and
17:14
Jerremy Newsome: I was gonna say, just congrats on having
17:15
it passed in seven states.
17:18
Thank you for listening to those.
17:19
And that's, again, an exciting implementation of not only
17:23
legacy, but actual change.
17:26
Seeing it really take place now in huge states, such as New York and Florida.
17:32
I think that's awesome.
17:33
What has the feedback been from the schools that have
17:36
implemented these systems?
17:38
Lori Alhadeff: so they feel safer and I think it's important
17:42
as, we are terrifying our kids.
17:46
It's they're the lockdown generation and we need to make sure that they feel safe.
17:52
And they know that if their teacher has their panic button that if they need to
17:57
get help, they're going to get help there as quickly as possible to save them.
18:01
And that's so vitally important because our kids need to not
18:06
only feel physically be safe.
18:08
Mentally, they need to be safe and know that help can get there to protect
18:13
them as quickly as possible because their teacher has their panic button.
18:19
Jerremy Newsome: Yep.
18:19
You use the word mental and so I'll pivot for a moment because
18:23
you said mental safety and that is definitely a peace of mind, right?
18:27
That's a calmness.
18:28
That's an awareness piece.
18:29
But you've also heard this a thousand times, the very aware debate between
18:35
hardening schools with security measures.
18:38
and focusing on mental health and provision for children through the
18:43
actual, just the educational component of making all of our children or
18:48
as many of our children feel safe, but provide that mental health
18:54
aspect to stop school shootings.
18:57
How do you see these two different approaches working together?
19:01
Lori Alhadeff: So sadly, we have so many kids every day that are Doing self
19:07
harm that are being Baker acted and we need to do more to provide those
19:12
mental health services for our students.
19:15
Give our kids somebody to talk to because they are crying out
19:21
for help by hurting themselves.
19:23
And it breaks my heart that we're not doing more to, to help these kids.
19:30
And so I believe a couple things are in play here.
19:34
One is, so we've developed Moss Clubs, make our school
19:38
safe clubs and high schools.
19:40
It's a free program and where students that are in these clubs,
19:45
they feel empowered to do more for the safety at their school.
19:50
If they raise money to put a stop the bleed kit in every classroom
19:54
in the school, they feel like they're doing something that they
19:58
are not a victim to the school shootings, to the fear of these.
20:04
They're empowered to make it cool, see something, say something and
20:10
report these threats, whether it's on the app or to their teacher or
20:14
to their school resource officer.
20:16
And so I think there's just so much that the schools can do.
20:20
Can do and that doesn't really cost much money But our students need to have
20:27
those resiliency skills to be empowered to take control of their education
20:34
Dave Conley: Are you so for the make our school safe club programs, what are
20:38
you hearing back from like the students?
20:40
Are they coming up with creative ideas?
20:43
It's their environment to
20:45
Lori Alhadeff: yeah, so Absolutely.
20:47
We have our moss clubs are on instagram and you can actually go and you
20:52
can See what these kids are doing.
20:54
They, some of them have purchased I made a make our school safe coloring
20:58
book and so it would warm my heart.
21:01
One of the clubs they were coloring in the different Alyssa's law pages.
21:06
And one of the things that I always say is, your voice is your power.
21:11
So we have a coloring book page that says your voice is your power.
21:14
And so they were coloring that in.
21:16
And again, I think it's empowering our.
21:19
So I think it's really important that we provide our students with those
21:20
resiliency skills to be able to say no to drugs, say no to alcohol, do the
21:27
right thing, if you have someone that's sitting alone at lunchtime, to go up
21:32
to them and just start a conversation and be a friend, we teach kindness
21:38
and people to be accepting of others.
21:41
And so I think the actions that these students are taking in
21:44
the mosque clubs are actually.
21:47
doing that.
21:49
Jerremy Newsome: Yeah, so looking to the future, are there new
21:52
initiatives or partnerships in the works for make our schools safe?
21:56
Lori Alhadeff: So we have a very specific mission.
21:59
One is passing Alyssa's law nationwide, two is our mosque clubs, and three,
22:04
we raise money with our different fundraisers to give back to schools
22:08
for different school safety projects.
22:11
So that's a lot of work.
22:13
And we but I will continue to go out, tell my story and speak at conferences
22:22
or to, to schools to try to get people to realize that They are not in a bubble.
22:32
We, I was in the Parkland bubble.
22:34
I thought that this was never going to happen to us here.
22:37
I never imagined in a gazillion years that my oldest daughter,
22:40
Alyssa, would be murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
22:44
We live in a very affluent area.
22:47
My biggest concern was taking Alyssa to soccer practice.
22:52
Making sure she did her homework.
22:54
I never thought that we would be affected by a school shooting here.
22:59
I want people to realize that Don't live in a bubble, be prepared, you
23:04
cannot be complacent, don't sit back and never think that this is
23:07
never gonna happen where you live.
23:10
And it's sad, it breaks my heart to, to say that, to be honest, because
23:16
it's unfortunately our reality.
23:20
Jerremy Newsome: Yep.
23:21
Miss Lori, about 6 minutes ago, you mentioned the see something, say
23:26
something reporting system just in regards to not only the teachers,
23:31
but most importantly, the students.
23:34
How do you encourage students to overcome, if they have one, maybe
23:39
like the code of silence that kids will have among themselves, right?
23:43
Us versus the teachers, the perspective.
23:45
Yeah.
23:56
Lori Alhadeff: name.
23:57
And so whether it's a student reporting it or a parent reporting it.
24:02
It can be anonymous.
24:04
So I think that takes away that you're ratting someone out
24:08
or you're telling on someone.
24:10
But, at the end of the day, I think it's just, we have to get over that.
24:16
Concept that I don't know we're not we're hurting someone else's feelings
24:21
because know who the problem kids are and or situations that are happening Or
24:29
somebody that might be so depressed that they might think about killing themselves
24:35
We have to report it so we can get help for those kids that need the help.
24:40
And I always look at it as an additional layer, right?
24:43
Even though the school might have done a behavioral threat assessment,
24:47
now law enforcement's looking at it.
24:50
And that's another, layer that is gonna go and vet out whether that person
24:56
is a threat to themselves or others.
24:59
Dave Conley: Laurie for the work that you do the panic button,
25:02
the programs, have you seen differences between urban schools,
25:06
suburban schools and rural schools?
25:10
Lori Alhadeff: No I really haven't.
25:13
I, Alyssa's law has been passed unanimously in our seven states,
25:20
and it's been passed unanimously Republican or Democrat.
25:24
And as far as different areas, the Moss Clubs are, accepted or, in every area.
25:32
So kids are kids and, kids want to just be safe in school and they
25:37
want to interact with adults, be in a positive, healthy environment.
25:43
We did a skate for school safety event a couple weeks ago and we had 75 kids
25:50
on a Friday come out and ice skate.
25:52
And these are things that parents can do where they live.
25:59
We're starting something called Moss Moms and Moss Dads, where parents can be safety
26:06
advocates for their school in their area.
26:10
They could be advocates for Alyssa's law.
26:13
And we now have on our website where you can take action, send an email
26:19
to your legislator in your area and try to get Alyssa's law passed there.
26:25
Jerremy Newsome: Which is actually what the answer is my questions.
26:26
And That's so heartwarming to know that's it's growing and evolving to
26:30
not only more of a community piece, but just to have the parents interact and
26:34
have them really care about this and the way that they absolutely should.
26:39
Semi fun question, maybe, but what's the most creative school safety idea that
26:45
you've heard or seen from a student?
26:48
Lori Alhadeff: I think one of the things that just getting a simple shoe box, the
26:53
kids got where kids can report something.
26:58
They might feel unsafe about or something that's going on and they can anonymously
27:03
put that, write it down on a piece of paper and put it in that safety box.
27:09
And then, the administration would look at the what's on written on that piece
27:14
of paper and then do something about it.
27:18
Our kids know what's going on, whether it's on their phone, Snapchat,
27:22
texting, they know what is, happening.
27:26
So it's just a simple creative way.
27:29
Doesn't cost anything and they can take action.
27:33
Jerremy Newsome: Yeah, totally.
27:33
And that's, you've been, you said that phrase a few times, it doesn't cost
27:36
anything or cost very little because we're screaming out to the government.
27:40
It's come on, let's use some more, let's use some more of our money to implement
27:45
correct, proper, and, more productive budgeting pieces for just the safety.
27:50
I think that's something that's so obvious to me.
27:53
That's just being, I guess you just use improperly.
27:58
Yeah that's awesome.
27:59
All another quick, fun question for you then.
28:01
So I hear that you're still actively involved in the Parkland soccer club.
28:07
What's your favorite part about staying connected to the youth sports, Ms. Laurie?
28:13
Lori Alhadeff: So a couple of things.
28:14
I used to be a health and physical education teacher,
28:17
but I also played soccer and my daughter, Alyssa played soccer.
28:21
And on February 13th, Alyssa played in her last soccer game in Parkland on
28:30
field eight and Alyssa played amazing.
28:34
I remember when she got into the car, I turned around and I was like, Alyssa, you
28:38
just played the best game of your life.
28:40
She's I know mom.
28:42
And so obviously I have a love for the Parkland soccer club.
28:47
Field eight was named after Alyssa.
28:51
It's the Alyssa Alodef soccer field.
28:54
And the number eight was Alyssa's number on the back of her Jersey.
28:58
And then when you turn the eight sideways.
29:00
It's the infinity symbol, which
29:03
Jerremy Newsome: let's go.
29:04
That makes so much sense now.
29:07
Lori Alhadeff: Yeah.
29:07
And forever, I remember Alyssa and I live for Alyssa and do everything for
29:14
Alyssa and I feel Alyssa Lives inside me, Alyssa's always here with me, and so
29:21
we've also created the Bigs and Little program at the Parkland Soccer Club,
29:25
where one of the older soccer players will match up with the younger soccer
29:29
player, and then they mentor each other.
29:33
And support each other in their games.
29:36
And then we do a juggle for school safety events where they get a special
29:40
t shirt and they do a juggle contest and then help raise money for make our
29:45
school safe in the Parkland soccer club.
29:48
Jerremy Newsome: got it.
29:49
That's heartwarming for our listeners that the number eight.
29:53
So in her logo maker school safe, the two O's in schools are an
29:58
eight infinity symbol, right?
30:00
Which that is one of my favorite symbols, the infinity symbol.
30:04
And I love the tattoo on your arm too.
30:06
That's that part of that logo.
30:08
It's just beautiful.
30:10
Very heartwarming.
30:11
So Miss Laurie, what advice would you give specifically being such a
30:17
powerful advocate for this to parents and or educators in states that haven't
30:24
adopted most of these measures yet?
30:26
Most specifically, right?
30:28
Alyssa's law.
30:29
Lori Alhadeff: So I would speak up, go to school board
30:34
meetings, be a public speaker.
30:37
If there's something that you don't feel safe about in your child's
30:40
school, say something about it.
30:43
Talk to elected officials, talk to your school board members, talk
30:47
to your commissioners, your state representatives and ask them, why don't
30:53
we have our panic button in our schools?
30:56
This is a common sense layer of school safety protection.
31:00
We need this.
31:01
What are you doing about it?
31:03
And put it on them as elected officials to take action.
31:06
That's their job.
31:07
Their job is to make sure that your kid is safe in school.
31:11
And make sure, and I think it's vitally important as a parent to ask
31:16
those questions and demand action.
31:20
Jerremy Newsome: Yep.
31:21
Are there resources or networks that they could connect with outside
31:25
of the school board meetings?
31:26
Yeah.
31:26
Yeah.
31:29
Lori Alhadeff: So you can go to MakeOurSchoolSafe.
31:31
org.
31:31
We have resources on our website, but also SchoolSafety.
31:36
gov is an excellent resource where you can learn more about where you can get
31:43
grants for funding for school safety.
31:45
That, that's the question I continue to ask, as a school board member,
31:49
what grants have we applied for?
31:51
Because we get the grants, We get the funding, we can implement another layer
31:56
of safety protection in our schools.
31:58
Whether it's now putting AI technology in our cameras, that if, a, someone
32:04
takes out a gun, it will immediately box it and send an alert to law enforcement
32:09
that there is a gun in the school.
32:12
Jerremy Newsome: Ooh.
32:12
So they can.
32:14
Wow.
32:14
I didn't even know that.
32:15
So you're talking about AI technology, like in the camera
32:18
representation of certain images.
32:21
Lori Alhadeff: So if someone takes out a knife or a gun, the AI technology will
32:26
recognize that, box it, alert, and send an immediate alert to law enforcement.
32:33
Someone jumps a fence.
32:35
That AI technology will recognize that and alert that.
32:41
Dave Conley: That was our actually our first interview was with companies that
32:43
do exactly that using AI technology.
32:46
They also talked about drones and robots.
32:49
And that was a little creepy to me, but I, wherever, whatever works,
32:53
Lori Alhadeff: apparently Trump has the dog robot
32:56
Dave Conley: saw that.
32:57
Lori Alhadeff: Musk put out, gave him, protecting the grounds.
33:01
Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
33:03
Dave Conley: I don't want one.
33:04
And they're creepy.
33:04
I know.
33:06
Hey, so Lori, I'm, I'm old enough.
33:09
I know neither of you two are, but I'm old enough to know and remember a time
33:14
when that was before Evaldi, before Aurora, before Parkland, before Columbine
33:21
like these didn't seem to happen at all.
33:24
And now we are getting a school shooting every single day.
33:29
Not just the headline grabbers, but also the the ones that are arguments
33:33
that happen outside the schools that are happening, just every single
33:36
day where a child is getting shot.
33:40
Like what and other internet, and it doesn't happen internationally, even in
33:45
countries that have lots and lots of guns.
33:48
I'm.
33:49
I'm trying to understand, I'm trying to figure out like what's happened
33:53
in the last 25 years where, what, systemically, like what's going on,
33:58
like what's in the water is my question.
34:00
And I haven't yet heard anybody say this is what happened.
34:03
Do you have a feel for what, what's going on?
34:06
Why is this getting worse?
34:08
Not better.
34:09
Lori Alhadeff: I think maybe With the internet with kids having playing the
34:17
video games with the guns and they're spending hours and hours playing these
34:22
shooting games mentally it's getting in their head and then they're getting
34:28
access to weapons whether it's their parents giving them a gun for christmas
34:34
as I guess the apalachee shooter got or just Parents not locking up their
34:40
guns and then kids getting access to these guns, I, I don't know, and I never
34:51
lived in this world of gun violence.
34:55
My life has been very vanilla.
34:59
I grew up in country, where we had cows walking around.
35:05
I lived in New Jersey and always lived in a very affluent area.
35:12
And didn't come across gun violence, but I hear you.
35:16
I, it scares me because there are shootings happening everywhere
35:21
and it's like, where are you safe?
35:24
I remember after the shooting, I wanted to have a bulletproof vest.
35:30
Because I didn't feel safe going outside my house.
35:35
I demanded that my kids have a bulletproof backpack to go to school
35:41
after Alyssa was murdered in school.
35:44
So my kids have a bulletproof backpack because I felt like if everything
35:48
fails, if all those layers fail, they would at least have something
35:53
to possibly protect themselves.
35:56
Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
35:57
Which is wild that we even have to have that discussion and ask
36:03
nine that even has to be a thing.
36:06
Bulletproof backpacks.
36:07
Yeah.
36:07
Yeah.
36:09
But it is there.
36:10
And again, at least that is a step in the right direction of instead of just
36:14
sweeping this under the rugs and no one having any conversations about it to at
36:18
least addressing the problem again, just thank you for your bravery on that front.
36:21
And I would love for our listeners to know, Laurie, like, how can they, our
36:28
listeners support make our schools safe.
36:31
org.
36:31
Lori Alhadeff: So they can go to our website, MakeOurSchoolSafe.
36:35
org.
36:36
They can sign up for our email list.
36:38
And we send out weekly emails, how they can get involved.
36:43
You can follow us on Facebook, make our school safe 17, Instagram,
36:48
make our school safe, Twitter at Lori Alhadeff or ex Lori Alhadeff.
36:56
Be a volunteer.
36:57
You could start a Moss Club at your high school.
36:59
We have a Moss Club director, Lexi.
37:02
She's amazing.
37:03
She'll help the students start their Moss Club.
37:06
It's a free program.
37:08
And you can we have a volunteer guidebook.
37:11
You could check that out.
37:13
And I think it's just taking Any step you can to be involved, and it just
37:18
means following us on social media.
37:20
Great.
37:21
But you can make a donation to make our school safe.
37:24
You can become a Moss mom or Moss dad, and just be engaged, be involved
37:30
and be a part of the conversation.
37:32
Because together we will make our school safe.
37:36
Jerremy Newsome: We will.
37:36
Thank you.
37:37
And I'll be making a donation as well.
37:38
Laurie personally.
37:39
But I think there's just the awareness of this started with you and just
37:44
say thank you for your bravery.
37:46
Thank you for your courage.
37:46
Thank you for not stopping where a lot of people will.
37:51
And Understandably but you took the badge of honor to say, I think other people need
37:59
to know that there can be solutions and you are bringing those to the forefront
38:03
and thank you for creating Alyssa's Law and creating a very easy, very simple,
38:07
very seemingly effective and quite safe implementation tactic and tool and system
38:14
so that we can do just that, right?
38:16
Make our school safe, create an amazing learning experience for children,
38:19
create a place that is beautiful, that is simple, It's luxurious,
38:23
it is fun, it is entertaining.
38:26
And most importantly safe for the parents so that we have peace of
38:31
mind, that we have joy, that we have love and safe for our kids as well.
38:35
Lori, thank you for being with us here today.
38:38
Lori Alhadeff: Absolutely.
38:40
Dave Conley: Wow.
38:41
What did you learn?
38:44
Jerremy Newsome: What did I learn on that, Dave?
38:45
Here's the thing, man.
38:46
I am tragically upset that we had to have an interview with
38:52
someone who actually lost.
38:54
Their child to such a tragedy, just such a stupid asinine situation
39:00
for anyone to ever go through, but Lori stepped up to the plate.
39:05
She did not let this stop her and other parents.
39:11
In creating solutions for this problem and the ELISA law to me is
39:18
so far the seemingly most simple solution that I think, and I feel
39:25
could be very quickly implemented in every school across the nation.
39:30
And not only implemented, but at very small cost, without question, would
39:35
at least increase, as Lori mentioned the safety and the feeling of safety
39:41
for teachers and for students, knowing that they have this panic alarm that,
39:47
Lori mentioned is in banks, is in most financial institutions here in the U.
39:51
S., but is not in our schools, which is one more reason and
39:55
rationale Why we really do need to care for our schools more and I
40:01
think this is a great start to that
40:04
Dave Conley: Yeah, I completely agree.
40:05
We've now talked with teachers, we've talked with security specialists, and now
40:09
we've talked with Lori, who's channeled her grief And what struck me about this
40:14
is that it really, it solved immediately in my mind, some of the friction points
40:20
that both the teachers and some of the.
40:23
Executives in, in this world have been saying, which is this is expensive.
40:27
I, an app on a phone doesn't seem that expensive if it's, letting
40:31
the local law enforcement say, Hey, there's something going on here.
40:34
That seems really straightforward.
40:37
And the teacher saying, Hey, we don't have time for this while it's an app, right?
40:41
And we already know that there's training and those things that are necessary.
40:45
And that's one thing that she's frustrated by, but it took, it's elegant and it's
40:51
inexpensive and this doesn't, this takes only prioritization, nothing else.
40:57
Jerremy Newsome: Love that word.
40:58
Yeah.
40:58
Prioritization awareness, a group of individuals coming together and saying
41:03
this needs to be a minimum requirement.
41:07
So then it will be very simple.
41:09
Something that probably could happen in weeks.
41:12
If some mandatory government institution provided such a, to use
41:19
your word, prioritization of impact.
41:21
Right.
41:22
Dave Conley: Absolutely.
41:23
I think, I learned one other thing and it's I'm, I think it's my white
41:28
whale right now because I believe I've asked this three times now, is that
41:32
there was this time before Columbine, before Parkland, before Aurora, before
41:35
Ivaldi, there was this time before.
41:39
That this wasn't happening and I've asked everyone and I've, I've done a
41:42
little bit of digging on the internet and there's no good answers to
41:45
okay, what happened and what's going on and why is this getting worse?
41:49
And I think it's an easy question and a really hard answer.
41:55
I don't think there's any one thing, it's not going to be, Oh, it's social
41:59
media or it's games or it's, social structure, or it's this, that, or
42:05
the other, it's the food we eat or the medicalization of our kids.
42:10
It might be some or all or something that, that we don't know yet.
42:14
And what frustrates me is that we don't have the the company, the organization,
42:20
the government the, anything that's.
42:23
Standing up, it seems and saying, okay, we're going to find out what that is,
42:28
because once we solve that, we don't have to have schools that are fortresses.
42:33
They can be just cathedrals.
42:35
They don't need to, we don't need to spend money on that if we solve that first.
42:39
Jerremy Newsome: Listeners, I hope you also learn something
42:42
today and are reinvigorated that there are people out there.
42:47
There are podcasts out there.
42:48
There are individuals out there that are working on truly creating solutions.
42:53
It's one thing to always discuss and talk about the problems, but it's an entirely
42:57
different energy and appreciation to actually spend time on those solutions.
43:03
And that is exactly what we did in this episode of solving America's problems.