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Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie; Young Leaders Summit & O, Miami Poety Festival

CARL JUSTE
/
Miami Herald
Broward School's Supertintendent Robert Runcie

Guests for Sundial Thursday, April 5, 2018:

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting changed the way school districts think about safety. 

Law enforcement officials, lawmakers, teachers, parents and especially students have been advocating for schools to uphold the highest standards of safety. 

Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie has been working tirelessly to find a way to insure the safety of the children in his district with Stoneman Douglas serving as ground zero. 

When students returned from spring break, they were issued clear backpacks. The new rule has been met with pushback, with many students stating that clear bags are an invasion of privacy. 

Runcie spoke with us about this issue and other safety measures he is willing to experiment with while he tries to find a permanent solution for making schools in Broward safer.

Young Leaders Summit

This weekend, politically active students in South Florida will gather for a Young Leaders Summit. 

Inspired by the political activism of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivors, students say they see a need to keep the momentum going. They organized an event that would teach their peers how to strategize and mobilize to make an impact on their communities. 

There will be two events this  Saturday, one at the Miami-Dade College Kendall Campus and the other at Atlantic Technical College in Coconut Creek. 

Nikita Leus-Oliva and Will Breslin of Coral Gables High School and Chris Badillo from Coral Reef High School helped organize the Young Leaders Summit. They joined us on the program to discuss their involvement and the importance of  participating in politics. 

The Summit will create an opportunity for the attendees to meet like-minded individuals and meet politicians, as several are scheduled to make speeches during the event. The organizers stressed that the event is bipartisan. They want people to come together in their desire to see a change, not get torn apart by partisan political  beliefs. 

The organizers hope the Summit motivates young people to use their voices. 

"Even though many of us cannot vote yet, we will be able to in the next four years, so the people that chose to ignore us should listen more carefully," said Leus-Oliva.

O, Miami Poetry Festival

O, Miami  is an organization that seeks to "build community through literature."

In 2011, O, Miami Poetry Festival was started with the aim of having every person in Miami-Dade County encounter a poem during Poetry Month, better known as April.

P. Scott Cunningham is the founder of O, Miami. He joined the program to tell us about his organization and the events it has going on this month.