Scott calls meetings on school safety, mental health

Gov. Rick Scott’s office on Monday said a series of meetings will be held Tuesday in Tallahassee to address school-safety and mental-health issues after a mass shooting last week that killed 17 people at a Broward County high school. Workshops will be held at the Florida Department of Education, the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Florida Sheriffs Association, followed by a “roundtable” discussion with Scott at the Capitol.

The meetings will not be open to the public but will be livestreamed by The Florida Channel. The meeting at the Department of Education will include discussion of school safety and emergency plans; the meeting at the Department of Children and Families will focus on possible ways to expand mental-health services; and the meeting at the Florida Sheriffs Association will include discussion of ways to prevent people struggling with mental illness from having access to guns, according to Scott’s office.

The meetings are planned after Nikolas Cruz, 19, was arrested on murder charges in the mass shooting last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Tuesday’s meetings will come a day before gun-control advocates, including Marjory Stoneman Douglas students, are expected to converge on the Capitol for a rally and other activities.