Officials with Broward County schools confirmed Sunday night that Parkland gunman Nikolas Cruz was assigned to the deferred disciplinary program supported by President Obama.
The acknowledgement comes after Superintendent Robert Runcie repeatedly claimed that Cruz had “no relationship” with the program.
According to WLRN, two school sources said Cruz “was referred to the so-called PROMISE Program for a three-day stint after committing vandalism at Westglades Middle School in 2013.”
The PROMISE Program was put in place to reduce reduce punishment for crimes among students in the hopes of cutting the “school-to-prison pipeline” for minorities. It lets “students who commit certain misdemeanors — there’s an official list of 13 — at school to avoid getting involved with the criminal justice system…[by attending] the alternative school, where they receive counseling and other support.”
Officials do not believe Cruz ever completed the PROMISE assignment. Tracy Clark, a spokesman for Superintendent Runcie, confirmed that he showed up to the alternative school on day one, but that was it. She refused to “speculate” on why he did not return and complete the three days.
Superintendent Runcie said he remains committed to the PROMISE program.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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