TAMPA, Fla. — A musical message about a serious subject is working to deal with an issue often tied to school shootings.
It’s called "Speak Life - The Musical to End Bullying" and it was created by Dan and Rebecca Burd.
“The minute it is done we have seen kids open up and talk about things, we’ve had parents say 'I’ve tried my whole life to talk about these things.' But it breaks down the barriers. And we know that story and music have the power to do that. And we have seen it have an incredible impact on the lives of kids,” said Rebecca Burd.
The Burds use their non-profit to take the show into schools. It’s also available to watch at home.
They say despite all the attention paid to bullying since Columbine, social media has taken things to another level.
“What we are really seeing with the mental health crisis with teens is escalating. We are not seeing it reduced,” said Rebecca.
During the summer we talked with superintendents in our area about school security which was ramped up statewide after the Parkland shootings in 2018.
“State law has been updated and so it makes it even more restrictive for how campus can be accessed really 24 hours a day. I think the community and students will notice that,” said Kevin Hendrick, Pinellas County Superintendent.
“Last year we implemented random wanding at our middle schools and high schools. While it didn’t result in us identifying a lot of weapons on campus, which is a good thing. It did result in reduced vaping,” said Fred Heid, Polk County Superintendent
“Our goal is for every school to have an SRO and a school guardian because school safety is obviously of extremely high importance for all of us,” said Ray Pinder, Hernando County Superintendent.
Meanwhile, parents like Deborah Nicosia, who has two kids in school, says dealing with school shootings is a sad reality.
“It’s very heartbreaking that that’s a conversation we are having that didn’t exist back when I grew up,” said Nicosia.
She says she feels like her kids' school is safe but still says more can be done to prevent the next tragedy.
“I hope this would never happen but I mean it’s a continuous problem that needs to be addressed,” she said.
