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Families in Uvalde Are Concerned as the School Year Approaches

Uvalde Report BELatina Latinx
Image courtesy of Twitter.

The suffering continues for Uvalde, Texas after the school shooting took place at Robb Elementary School on May 24th, 2022. The community is still recovering.

Since the tragic event, the community has been searching for answers. There are too many gaps raising a lot of red flags. A couple of them include the inaction of police officers and Governor Greg Abbott’s lackluster reaction.

Action is taking place. Recently, the police chief of Uvalde faced consequences for his late response to the shootings. The Uvalde consolidated independent school district’s board of trustees fired Pete Arredondo, the officer blamed for the failed response to the shootings.

Arredondo had been on leave from the job since June 22. 

The meeting took place at a school auditorium, where surviving students and parents were in attendance. Arredondo did not attend the meeting. Instead, he sent his attorney George Hyde on his behalf. 

“Chief Arredondo will not participate in his own illegal and unconstitutional public lynching,” said Hyde.

He then went on to accuse the school of not being prepared for an attack and that the actions of the police were reasonable. Parents were outraged at the comments being made and many screamed, “coward!”

Arredondo‘s statement – read by Hyde –  continued to deny any responsibility for the tragic death of 19 children and two teachers.

It’s important to remember that there was heavily armed law enforcement on the scene within minutes of the shooter entering the school. However, no action was taken at the sounds of gunshots and the pleas from parents begging and screaming for the officers to do something to help their children.

Although the removal of this officer is a step in the right direction, it’s gut-wrenching to see the parents who lost their children face another day of heartbreak. 

Students in Uvalde are scared to return to school

It’s been three months since the shooting and the community of Uvalde, Texas still do not feel safe letting their children go to school. According to NPR, Robb Elementary School is to be permanently closed down, demolished, and rebuilt. However, this has not made anyone feel less distressed.

It’s totally justified that the parents and children of the community are scared to return. Many have opted to attend private schools in nearby communities or just revert to 100% online school.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott hired 30 police officers to guard the new school in Uvalde, Texas. 

But, how many parents are willing to send off their kids to this heavily-armed school? 

Governor Newsom’s take on Texas

California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, has been campaigning “Don’t move to Texas” throughout California. For the last two years, the population of California has declined with many of its residents moving to Texas and Florida.

The billboard unapologetically reads, “The Texas miracle died in Uvalde. Don’t move to Texas,” a direct reference to the mass shooting. 

It’s hard to say if the intention of the ads is as authentic as intended to be. It could be a play for Gavin Newsom to keep more California citizens from moving to Texas. Nonetheless, it draws attention to a calamity at the hands of gun violence. 

Is there a plan?

The events happening to the community in Uvalde, Texas have been nothing less than devastating. The question remains: Is there a follow-up plan? Will police officials be retrained? This could possibly ensure that they are properly equipped to handle life and death situations, especially active school shootings. Too often we hear about police harassing civilians, abusing their power, or, like in this case, not properly taking control at all.

Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the shootings.

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