Anxious mother and father and lecturers arrived Tuesday morning for the primary day of faculty in Uvalde, Texas — three months after the bloodbath at Robb Elementary College that left 19 youngsters and two lecturers useless.
No college students or workers will return to the location of the deadliest college capturing in nearly a decade, which has been shuttered completely and shall be razed to the bottom, however tensions are nonetheless excessive in the neighborhood amid ongoing safety considerations.
Towering new non-scalable fencing round the town’s public college campuses continues to be not completed and regardless of a heavy police presence for the primary day again, households stay on edge.
Ashley Morales despatched her son, Jeremiah, again to class — however solely as a result of she has no different alternative as a working single mom.
She dropped him off outdoors Uvalde Elementary, the place mother and father received’t be allowed inside.
“I’m simply nervous, scared,” mentioned Morales, whose son was a third-grader final yr at Robb Elementary and misplaced three associates within the Could 24 slaughter.
Throughout a latest “Meet the Instructor” evening, she felt a rush of tension strolling down the college corridor.
“Oh my gosh, it’s really going to occur,” she mentioned. “College goes to begin.”
Though college already began weeks in the past in lots of elements of Texas, officers pushed again the primary day of sophistication in Uvalde after a summer season of unfathomable heartache, anger and revelations of widespread failures by legislation enforcement, who waited greater than 70 minutes within the hallway whereas an 18-year-old gunman was executing youngsters and lecturers with an AR-15.
However regardless of pushing again the beginning of the yr, Uvalde college officers mentioned a number of enhanced safety measures stay incomplete, together with putting in 500 further cameras and new locks.
The Texas Division of Public Security has dedicated to placing practically three dozen state troopers on Uvalde campuses — however that's of no consolation to some households since there have been greater than 90 state troopers on scene throughout the assault.
Greater than 100 households in Uvalde signed up for digital college, whereas others pulled their youngsters out of the district and positioned them in personal faculties, together with Sacred Coronary heart Catholic College, the place enrollment for the autumn semester doubled in comparison with final yr.
Adam Martinez advised CNN he received’t be taking his son, third-grader Zayon Martinez, who survived the mass capturing in Could, to class this week.
“I went and talked to my son and I advised him, ‘They’re gonna have extra cops. They’re gonna have greater fencing. And he wasn’t having it,” Martinez advised the information outlet. “He mentioned, ‘It doesn’t matter. They’re not gonna shield us.’”
Martinez mentioned that each his son and daughter determined to check remotely final yr due to fears for their very own security.
Brett Cross, the uncle of 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia, who was shot useless inside his fourth- grade classroom, advised CNN he has struggled with the thought of sending his personal 4 youngsters again to class this semester.
“You need your youngsters to have the ability to go and have that training and every part, however on the similar time, you’re fearful that they’re not gonna make it out by the tip of the day,” he mentioned.
A damning report by a Texas Home committee discovered that almost 400 officers in complete rushed to Robb Elementary after the capturing — however hesitated for greater than an hour to confront the shooter.
Physique digital camera and surveillance footage confirmed closely armed officers, some holding bulletproof shields, loitering within the hallway however not advancing to the classroom.
Steve McCraw, head of the Texas Division of Public Security, referred to as the response “an abject failure.”
Final month, the Uvalde college board fired district police Chief Pete Arredondo, who McCraw and the Home report accused of failing to take management of the scene and losing time by in search of a key for a classroom door that was seemingly unlocked.
Nonetheless, the firing has not quieted calls for for others to face punishment. One different officer — Uvalde Lt. Mariano Pargas, the performing police chief that day — has been positioned on administrative go away.
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