WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson hosted a school safety roundtable in Washington.

Families impacted by gun violence, government officials and experts weighed in on how to prevent another tragedy from happening again.

"What has happened in this tragedy in Parkland is igniting something out there in the country," said Sen. Bill Nelson.

"If there is anything the federal government can do to act as a clearinghouse for best practice, a funding source for the implementation of those best practices, those are all things that we are going to leave here today and try to achieve,” said Sen. Marco Rubio.

During the four-hour roundtable, participants shared ideas about how to better respond to attacks, identifying signs of threats before they happen and hardening schools.

“After this happened I was just infuriated, because Alex would still be here if we had bulletproof glass windows in his classroom doors,” said Max Schacter, father of a Parkland shooting victim.

Max Schacter’s 14-year old son Alex was one of the first students to be killed during the Parkland shooting. He says he’s turning his grief into action, pushing for the creation of a commission that will identify state-of the art school safety guidelines that can be implemented nationwide.

He thinks that will make it more affordable.

“To create best practices, standards, minimum standards for schools to create and make them safe, then we will have vendors coming to us. It will push the price down,” Schacter said.

There was not a lot of discussion about stricter gun laws at the forum. Parents and advocates say this is something they want, but school safety initiatives are a more tangible approach.

“When you bring in the whole gun aspect of it, it becomes very polarizing and everybody takes sides. But schools safety, we can all agree to come together to make our schools safe,” said Lori Alhadeff, mother of Parkland shooting victim.

Alhadeff’s daughter Alyssa was also killed in the Parkland high school shooting.

She and other parents at the roundtable acknowledged that Congress recently passed legislation that allocates $1.2 billion in resources toward improving school security and putting preventative measures in place, like metal detectors.

But they want more.

 “Our schools are still unsafe. It’s not enough. We are trying to keep the message going, and we’re trying to keep having a voice,” Alhadeff said.

 “This is my life mission, I’m not going to stop until this is done,” Schacter said.