Andrew Pollack

Last updated

Andrew Pollack
Andrew Pollack at Israel suspension.jpg
Pollack in 2019
Born
Andrew Scot Pollack

(1966-02-18) February 18, 1966 (age 57)
New York City, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s)Shara Kaplan (divorced)
Julie Phillips
Children3, including Hunter and Meadow

Andrew Scott Pollack (born February 18, 1966) is an American author, school safety activist, and entrepreneur whose daughter Meadow was one of the 17 murdered victims in the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. [1]

Contents

Pollack is among the Stoneman Douglas High School parents who lobbied for passage of the "Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act" (Florida Senate Bill: 7026). [2] [ dubious – discuss ] Unlike many other Stoneman Douglas survivors and victims' parents, [3] Pollack has endorsed politicians who oppose gun-control measures, and he advocates programs that would arm teachers. [4] He argues that bulletproof glass, metal detectors, enhanced door lock systems, ID checkpoints, and "school marshals" can help prevent school shootings. [5]

Personal life and family

Pollack was born in the New York City borough of Queens, the son of Evelyn (Silverberg), a secretary, and Arnold Pollack, a dentist. [6] [7] Pollack's paternal grandfather was a Russian Jewish immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1933 and married a Polish Jewish immigrant seamstress. [6] Pollack grew up in Oceanside, New York and graduated from Oceanside High School in 1984. [6] [8]

Pollack has three children from his first marriage to Shara Kaplan, sons Huck and Hunter and daughter Meadow. [6] In 1999, Pollack and his family moved from New York City to Coral Springs, Florida, to be closer to Pollack's parents who moved to Florida for their retirement years. [6] Pollack and Kaplan divorced in 2010, and Pollack married Julie Phillips around 2014. [6]

After briefly attending Sullivan County Community College, Pollack opened a debris cleanup business with a high school friend. [6] Pollack later moved to New York City in 1989 and started a scrap metal purchasing business. [6]

Upon moving to Florida, Pollack became a youth lacrosse coach and partnered with his neighbor to invest in real estate. [9]

Meadow Pollack

Meadow Jade Pollack (October 5, 1999 [10] – February 14, 2018) was the daughter of Andrew Pollack and Shara Kaplan. She was named after Meadow Soprano, a character on The Sopranos . [6] A senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, she was murdered in the February 14, 2018, shooting by Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student at the school. [1] Meadow was shot six times and had attempted to avoid the shooter while struggling to get into a classroom. Teachers and students were not able to open the classroom door. Her father told CBN that as the shooter returned, Meadow covered another student (who died in the shooting) in an attempt to protect her. She was then shot five more times, killing her and the other student she shielded, Cara Loughran, a freshman. [11]

Meadow's death prompted her father to found Meadow's Movement, a movement fighting for increased school security to prevent future school massacres. [12]

Meadow had planned to attend Lynn University. [13]

Pollack and his wife, sitting alongside President Trump and others. Andrew Pollack with Trump.jpg
Pollack and his wife, sitting alongside President Trump and others.

Activism

Pollack has met with President Donald Trump and his cabinet, Florida governors Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis, and many legislators. [14]

On February 21, 2018, Andrew and his two sons attended a White House listening session hosted by President Donald Trump that consisted of siblings and friends of slain victims along with survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. He spoke extensively on the topic of school security, claiming that schools do not have the same level of security as airports, stadiums, and embassies. Pollack noted that the September 11 attacks happened once and that measures were put in place to prevent it from ever happening again, also stating, "There should have been one school shooting, and we should have fixed it!" [15]

In 2018, Pollack was reported as actively fighting to release more federal funding to increase school security across the nation. [14]

Republican Governor-elect of Florida, Ron DeSantis, included both Andrew and Hunter on his Transition Advisory Committee on Public Safety [16]

On September 10, 2019, Pollack released his book, Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies That Created The Parkland Shooter and Endanger America's Students, alongside education expert and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Max Eden. [17] [18]

Pollack spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parkland, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States

Parkland is a suburban city, 42 miles northwest of Miami, in northern Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Parkland was 34,670. Parkland is part of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to 6,166,488 people in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broward County Public Schools</span> School system in Florida, United States

Broward County Public Schools is a public school district serving Broward County, Florida, is the sixth largest public school system in the nation. During the 2022–2023 school year, Broward County Public Schools served 254,384 students enrolled in 330 schools and education centers district wide. The district is headquartered in downtown Fort Lauderdale. It is the sole school district in the county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School</span> Public high school in Parkland, Florida, United States

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is a public high school in Parkland, Florida, United States. It was established in 1990 and is part of the Broward County Public Schools district. It is named after the writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas and is the only public high school in Parkland, serving almost all of the limits of that city as well as a section of Coral Springs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfonso Calderon (activist)</span> Spanish-American activist against gun violence

Alfonso Calderón Atienzar is a Spanish-American student activist against gun violence. He is a survivor of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and a founding member of the Never Again MSD movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parkland high school shooting</span> 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, US

On February 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Miami suburban town of Parkland, Florida, United States, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others. Cruz, a former student at the school, fled the scene on foot by blending in with other students and was arrested without incident approximately one hour and twenty minutes later in nearby Coral Springs. Police and prosecutors investigated "a pattern of disciplinary issues and unnerving behavior".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Israel</span> American law enforcement officer

Scott Israel is an American law enforcement officer in Florida, and the former Broward County Sheriff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">X González</span> American activist and gun control advocate

X González is an American activist and advocate for gun control. In 2018, they survived the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history, and, in response, co-founded the gun-control advocacy group Never Again MSD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Never Again MSD</span> American activist organization

Never Again MSD is an American student-led political action committee for gun control that advocates for tighter regulations to prevent gun violence. The organization, also known by the Twitter hashtags #NeverAgain, and #EnoughIsEnough, was formed by a group of twenty students attending Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) at the time of the deadly shooting in 2018, in which seventeen students and staff members were killed by the alleged gunman, Nikolas Cruz, who was a 19-year-old former student of the school and was armed with an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. The organization started on social media as a movement "for survivors of the Stoneman Douglas Shooting, by survivors of the Stoneman Douglas Shooting" using the hashtag #NeverAgain. A main goal of the group was to influence that year's United States mid-term elections, and they embarked on a multi-city bus tour to encourage young people to register to vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameron Kasky</span> American activist against gun violence (born 2000)

Cameron Marley Kasky is an American activist and advocate against gun violence who co-founded the student-led gun violence prevention advocacy group Never Again MSD. He is notable for helping to organize the March for Our Lives nationwide student protest in March 2018. Kasky is a survivor of the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Kasky was included in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People of 2018".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 United States gun violence protests</span>

In 2018, protests against gun violence in the United States increased after a series of mass shootings, most notably at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14 that year. An organized protest in the form of a national school walkout occurred on March 14. March for Our Lives was held on March 24. Another major demonstration occurred April 20, 2018.

Jaclyn Corin is an American activist against gun violence. She survived the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. She is one of the co-founders of March for Our Lives and the organizer of a student protest to Tallahassee, Florida. She has also been a vocal critic of politicians funded by the National Rifle Association.

Lauren Hogg is an American author and activist against gun violence. She survived the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018 and after became a co-founder of March for Our Lives and advocates against gun violence. She is the younger sister of gun control activist and former Marjory Stoneman Douglas student David Hogg. She graduated from MSD High School in 2021, three years after David.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Guttenberg</span> American activist and gun control advocate

Fred Guttenberg is an American activist against gun violence. His 14-year-old daughter Jaime Guttenberg was murdered in the Parkland high school shooting in suburban Fort Lauderdale, Florida on February 14, 2018. His son, Jesse, also a student at the school, ran from the shooting to meet him at a nearby store. He learned about his daughter's death from a friend who is a Coral Springs SWAT officer. Jessica McBride, for the website Heavy, described him as "one of the strongest voices for changes to gun laws in the wake of the mass shooting".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle Kashuv</span> American conservative activist

Kyle Kashuv is an American conservative activist. He survived the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and subsequently advocated for gun rights, notably in opposition to his fellow survivors' March for Our Lives movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Petty</span> American activist

Ryan Blaine Petty is an American school safety activist. His 14-year-old daughter Alaina Petty was murdered in the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on February 14, 2018. Petty is credited with helping to pass the "Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act" Florida Senate Bill 7026 just three weeks after his daughter Alaina was murdered. At the federal level, Petty worked with Senators Orrin Hatch, Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson to pass the STOP School Violence Act and the Fix NICS Act of 2017. He has met frequently with former Florida governor Rick Scott, and many federal lawmakers.

Matthew Bryan Deitsch is an American writer, gun violence prevention advocate and political advisor. Before entering politics, he worked in broadcast media and was a freelance photographer, film director and music producer. After the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in which his siblings witnessed, Deitsch became chief strategist for the March For Our Lives protests and began advocating for gun violence prevention. He is the older brother of activist Ryan Deitsch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunter Pollack</span> American school safety activist and political advisor

Hunter Pollack is an American school safety activist and political advisor whose younger sister, Meadow, was murdered in the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. He is the son of Shara Kaplan and Andrew Pollack, and is a part of the nonprofit organization Americans for Children's Lives and School Safety. Hunter is Jewish.

The Florida Senate Bill 7026 or the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act is a Florida bill to tighten gun control, school security and school safety. The bill bans bump stocks and raises the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, and enacts red flag laws among other restrictions. It also allows teachers who receive training to be armed. The Florida Senate passed the bill 20–18 in March 2018, three weeks after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. The Florida House of Representatives passed the bill 67–50, with House Republicans voting 57–19 and House Democrats voting 10–31. The bill was signed into law by Governor Rick Scott on March 9, 2018.

Samantha Deitsch is an American author and gun control activist who survived the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aalayah Eastmond</span> American activist

Aalayah Eastmond is an American activist and advocate for gun violence prevention, social justice, and racial equality. After surviving the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Eastmond began her activism during the 2018 United States gun violence protests. She has testified multiple times to the U.S. Congress. Eastmond is an executive council member of Team Enough, a youth-led gun violence prevention organization which is part of the Brady Campaign. Eastmond co-founded Concerned Citizens of DC in the wake of the murder of George Floyd to organize protests supporting social justice issues in Washington, D.C. She supports Black Lives Matter and protests against police brutality.

References

  1. 1 2 Levenson, Eric; Sterling, Joe. "These are the victims of the Florida school shooting". CNN . Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  2. ↑ Grinberg, Emanuella; Jones, Athena; Sung, Carolyn. "Florida lawmakers pass bill that would allow school staff to carry guns". CNN . Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Mission and Story". March for Our Lives.
  4. ↑ Klein, Betsy (July 24, 2020). "Parkland dads cast diverging viewpoints in Republican and Democratic conventions". CNN. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  5. ↑ Wilson, Kirby. "Parkland victim's father: School safety now, gun control later". Tampa Bay Times . Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hitt, Tarpley (July 24, 2018). "Andrew Pollack Is the Parkland Massacre's Conservative Face". Miami New Times. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Meadow Pollack, killed in Parkland, was a star with 'a smile like sunshine' | Miami Herald". Miami Herald . Archived from the original on February 18, 2018.
  8. ↑ D'Onofrio, Matthew (March 22, 2018). "Oceanside native and father of slain Parkland victim on a mission to stop school shootings". Long Island Herald. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  9. ↑ Dusenbury, Wells (March 29, 2018). "After daughter killed in Parkland, lacrosse team helps Andrew Pollack 'take mind off everything'". Sun-Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Meadow Jade Pollack Obituary - North Lauderdale, FL". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Father of Florida School Shooting Victim: 'Top Priority Should Be School Safety'". Christian Broadcasting Network. March 28, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  12. ↑ Meadow's Movement (March 7, 2018), Let's Fix It - Meadow's Movement, YouTube , retrieved March 30, 2018
  13. ↑ Chasmar, Jessica (February 16, 2018). "Grieving Parkland father ripped for 'Trump 2020' shirt: 'Blood on his hands'". The Washington Times .
  14. 1 2 "Father of school shooting victim says he's on a mission to improve school safety". ABC News . March 1, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  15. ↑ ""I'm Pissed": Here's The Powerful Speech From A Father Of A Florida Shooting Victim To Trump". BuzzFeed News. February 22, 2018. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  16. ↑ Sweeney, Dan (December 13, 2018). "Now that Ron DeSantis will be governor, are Broward Sheriff Scott Israel's days numbered?". Sun-Sentinel . Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Parkland dad uncovers how district enabled deranged student-turned-shooter". New York Post. September 9, 2019. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  18. ↑ "Parkland dad Andrew Pollack publishes book with new details about shooter's red flags before massacre". Tampa Bay Times. September 10, 2019. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.