The mother of a student killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting earlier this year has won a spot on the Broward County School Board, according to unofficial election results.
Lori Alhadeff, a former teacher whose daughter Alyssa was killed in the shooting, won the District 4 seat handily on Tuesday, propelling herself onto the school board that oversees the high school where her daughter was killed.
But not all parents affected by the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, who were running for office saw success on Tuesday.
Ryan Petty, whose 14-year-old daughter, Alaina, was killed in the shooting, narrowly lost a chance to vie for the school board seat, according to unofficial election results.
The two ran in tandem as a tribute to their lost children and pledged changes to the county school board.
“The tragedy happened six months ago,” Alhadeff told CNN before Election Day. “School started, and we need to make those changes now. We can’t make another mistake.”
“If we get on the board together, we’ll both bring that energy that will impact all the schools around the county,” Petty added. “We’ll get this. We’ll get the change made.”
In an interview with the Miami Herald Alhadeff promised “more leadership, more transparency and more accountability to the Broward County school system” if she wins.
The Feb.14 shooting spurred both parents and students into politics. In addition to Alhadeff and Petty, a host of students from Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were killed, turned to the political arena to make a point about gun laws. The students, led by Emma González and David Hogg, helped organize the March for Our Lives in Washington an event that brought out hundreds of thousands of protesters nationwide to rally around tightening gun laws.
Both parents pointed to the fallout from the shooting as the moment they realized they needed to run for office.
“After Losing my daughter Alyssa in the Parkland Shooting, I realized the only way to make change is to do it myself,” Alhadeff tweeted earlier in her campaign. “Thats why I’ve decided to run for Broward County School Board District 4.”
