The cameras leave. The families don't.

After a school shooting, the news cycle lasts about two weeks. The vigils happen. The press conferences happen. The politicians come and go. And then the cameras leave.

The families do not leave. They are still there. They are still grieving. Their other children are still trying to go back to school in the same building, or in a different building that reminds them of the same thing. They are still getting calls about court proceedings they do not understand. They are still trying to figure out how to talk to their surviving kids about what happened. They are still waking up every morning inside the worst thing that has ever happened to them.

Nobody prepares a community for that part. Nobody funds it. Nobody talks about it.

After Parkland, we had someone who stayed. Her name is Lisa Wobbe-Veit and she served as the Family Liaison for our community. She was the single point of contact between the families and the school district. When a family did not know how to navigate the trauma, she was there. When they did not understand the legal process, she was there. When a surviving sibling needed to go back to school and the family did not know how to handle it, she was there. When there were decisions about memorials and the families needed a voice, she was there.

I sat down with Lisa recently on camera to talk about this work in full. You can watch the complete conversation here: 👉 Watch on YouTube

I sat down with Lisa recently and asked her about the work. What she told me was important. She said that in the aftermath of a tragedy, families need communication and connection. Someone who makes regular outreach. Someone who responds to calls and questions. Someone who keeps them informed. Someone who does not disappear when the headlines do.

She also told me something that stopped me cold. The average span of an individual in a recovery role is only 18 months after a tragedy. Eighteen months before someone new steps in. In addition, most recovery coordinators are funded by grants that limit the longevity of their services. And then the support ends. Even though families need care for years. Sometimes for a lifetime.

I know this firsthand. The grief does not follow a funding cycle. It does not resolve on anyone else's timeline. Eight years after Parkland I am still in this fight. I still carry Alex with me to every meeting. The families I know from that day are still carrying it too.

One of the things Safe Schools For Alex advocates for is that the Family Liaison and Recovery Coordinator roles need to be properly supported, properly funded, and properly built into every community's response plan before a tragedy happens. Not as an afterthought. Not as a temporary budget line. As a permanent part of how we take care of the people who survive.

Because the question is never just what happened on the day of the shooting. The question is what happens to the people left behind for the rest of their lives. And right now most communities are not answering that question seriously enough.

I think about Lisa's work often. She represents something most communities will never build until it is too late. I am trying to change that.

For Alex. And for all of them.

— Max Schachter