Rubio Promotes Bogus Claim That Broward School Discipline Policy Led to Shooting
Last week, Sen. Marco Rubio stood on the Senate floor and announced a plan he said could prevent mass shootings like the Parkland massacre that left 17 dead. Despite weeks of pleas from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High survivors, his pitch had nothing to do with gun control.
Instead, the NRA-backed senator pushed a theory that surfaced on an obscure blog, Conservative Treehouse, before making its way to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. The problem isn't wide access to military-style weaponry, Rubio argued; it's Broward County Public Schools' disciplinary policies and a previously little-known program called PROMISE (Preventing Recidivism Through Opportunities, Mentoring, Interventions, Supports & Education).
"A student who has threatened violence, who has exhibited violent behavior, needs to be reported to law enforcement," Rubio told the Senate. "But under Broward County school policies pursuant to something called the PROMISE program, reporting a student, a dangerous student, to law enforcement is the sixth step in their plan."
However, Rubio and his GOP colleagues are not only ignoring the real problem, but also deliberately misleading the public about PROMISE. Although the school district has so far refused to discuss the specifics of killer Nikolas Cruz's education and disciplinary record, Rubio got key parts of the program wrong. A review of the policy and interviews with district leaders make it clear that PROMISE had nothing to do with Cruz's treatment by school officials — in fact, according to Superintendent Robert Runcie, Cruz wasn't even in PROMISE.
Read more: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/marco-rubio-pushes-bogus-claim-that-broward-schools-disciplinary-policy-to-blame-for-shooting-10138321
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Future Ex-Senator Rubio...
