UVALDE 鈥� Brianna Gonzales, fresh off her nursing shift, sat quietly alongside her two sons in Uvalde High School鈥檚 auditorium this past week as school district officials laid out for parents new safety measures for the upcoming school year.
Gonzales has decided to keep her two sons, a kindergartner and a fifth grader, in the district. But it wasn鈥檛 the easiest decision. Her oldest was at Robb Elementary on May 24, the day an armed teenager entered the school and killed two teachers and 19 children. Fortunately, she had taken her son home before the shooter entered the building.
But a summer of conflicting government narratives has set Uvalde parents on edge, particularly after a that 376 law enforcement officers showed up at Robb on May 24 but did not engage the shooter for more than an hour.
Parents are now trying to plan for the back-to-school season and facing tough choices over their children鈥檚 education and safety. Some are keeping their kids in the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District when school starts on Sept. 6. Some are choosing homeschooling and others are looking at private schools.
鈥淚 just didn鈥檛 see what the point of going to another district would do for me,鈥� Gonzales said. 鈥淚f it could happen here, it could happen there.鈥�
Gonzales, like other parents in this working-class community, doesn鈥檛 have the time or money to look for other options right now. She has a full-time job and she鈥檚 usually up earlier to get herself and her kids ready for the day. Their dad works out of town and is usually home only during the weekends, she said. That rules out trying to get her kids to nearby districts or pay for private school or even consider online school.
鈥淐OVID affected them a lot and I saw how that affected their education and I don鈥檛 want them to have to go to virtual again,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have the time of day to do things with them for school so I feel like I would be failing them on that part of their education.鈥�
At least in Uvalde, she said, the district is working toward making the school more secure as the first day approaches.
In the high school auditorium, the Uvalde schools superintendent, Hal Harrell, laid out for parents and students the district鈥檚 plans to make schools here secure as well as offer more access to mental health resources. He discussed the district鈥檚 partnership with , also known as TCHATT, which helps identify behavioral health needs of children and adolescents.
The district is also contracting , a company with an app that allows staff and students to log how they are feeling. , a nonprofit organization focused on connecting students with resources, is also sending teams to the district to provide additional behavioral health support to students.
The district is upgrading security on its seven campuses. Fencing is being installed at some schools. But Harrell couldn鈥檛 promise that Uvalde High School would be secure with fencing before the first day because of the sheer size and openness of that campus.
There will be 33 Texas Department of Public Safety officers deployed across the Uvalde school district throughout the school year. The district is also accepting applications for campus monitors, who would check locks on doors and gates and provide reports to the administration. Some 500 cameras will be installed at campuses before the first day of school.
The district has spent about $4.5 million so far in security upgrades, with some of the money coming from donations and grants.
Uvalde CISD will offer an for students who want to stay in the district but not attend in-person classroom instruction. Students who opt for online instruction will receive brand-new iPads, Harrell said.
The Texas Education Agency is in the process of approving Uvalde鈥檚 virtual school and making sure it complies with , the virtual education bill that passed during last year鈥檚 second special session.
The bill also caps the number of students in the district that can be enrolled in a district鈥檚 online alternative. The school district will need a waiver from TEA if more than 10% of all enrolled students want to be in the online school.
But for Gonzales, Uvalde鈥檚 new security plans seem to satisfy her, and her children will return to the district鈥檚 in-person classes.
鈥淸Uvalde is] implementing new security features, having the troopers there 鈥� that brings another sense of added security,鈥� she said.
Gonzales made the decision two weeks ago to send her kids back to Uvalde CISD. It鈥檚 something that parents here don鈥檛 usually question in this small town of 15,000, about 85 miles west of San Antonio, she said.
As a lifelong Uvalde resident, Gonzales wanted her children to have the same experience she did attending district schools. She also wants her children to regain a sense of normalcy after two years of school disruption from the pandemic.
But as a result of the shooting, Gonzales still has a sense of fear and concern as the first day approaches. She bought her oldest son, who is 10, a cellphone. She hadn鈥檛 planned to get him a phone until he was 13. She also plans to buy them bulletproof backpacks, which she sees as an investment.
鈥淟ast year it was just 鈥業 have to buy school clothes鈥� and that was it,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his year is completely different.鈥�
Adam Martinez, the father of two students, will send his kids to the online school that Uvalde is offering. It wasn鈥檛 his first choice but as he spoke with his kids, it was obvious they were still scared.
鈥淚 was telling my son, 鈥榯here鈥檚 gonna be a tall fence, and they鈥檙e gonna have state troopers on all the locations,鈥欌�� Martinez said. 鈥淎nd he told me, 鈥榃ho cares if there鈥檚 cops? They鈥檙e not going to do anything anyway, they鈥檙e scared.鈥欌��
Others, though, still have not regained the trust of the school district. Angeli Gomez, a parent who had two children at Robb the day of the shooting, was handcuffed that day trying to get answers from law enforcement about her children.
Now, she and 19 other women have been in touch with a woman in San Marcos who has offered to homeschool their children for free.
Uvalde鈥檚 mayor has said Robb Elementary will be demolished and another school will be built in its place. But until that happens, no student will have to return to the school. Instead, students will be spread out to different Uvalde CISD campuses.
One of those is Flores Elementary. Gomez doesn鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a good idea to transfer the children from Robb there.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to stuff our kids 鈥� third, fourth, fifth and sixth [grade] 鈥� in Flores, since they want to demolish Robb, but Flores won鈥檛 fit our kids,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e gonna have, what, 33 kids in a class? They鈥檙e not gonna pay attention or learn.鈥�
Jeremy Newman, deputy director of the Texas Home School Coalition, advised that parents considering withdrawing their kids from the public school system in favor of homeschooling don鈥檛 need to recreate what a public school does.
鈥淧eople feel like they have to be a master in all academic subjects,鈥� Newman said. 鈥淭he parent鈥檚 job is not as much to transfer knowledge from their head to the students鈥� head as it is for them to provide a learning environment where the student wants to learn.鈥�
For people who haven鈥檛 been in charge of homeschooling their child, it can be an overwhelming task to find the right resources for their child. Newman suggests they contact , which helps families who have always homeschooled or those who are just starting out.
The number of families homeschooling at least one child has tripled in Texas since the start of the pandemic, Newman said. According to Texas Education Agency data, nearly 30,000 students between grades 7-12 withdrew from Texas public schools to homeschool in the 2020-2021 school semester, a 40% increase over the prior year.
Topping the reasons people are choosing homeschooling are safety and academics, he said.
Still other Uvalde parents will send their children to Sacred Heart Catholic School, one of three private schools in the city. Principal Joseph Olan said interest in his school has increased from previous years. During the last school year, he had about 55 students enrolled. This year, that number has ballooned to 120, and he expects it to grow as the school year goes on.
The school has received donations to put up a fence around the campus, bulletproof the windows and door and install a new security camera system.
鈥淭hese are the primary reasons why families are coming,鈥� Olan said.
It鈥檚 not clear how many students Uvalde CISD will be losing this next school year. In Texas, schools are funded based on the number of students enrolled and the daily attendance on campus. a base allotment of $6,160 per student each year. Any dip in enrollment means less money for the school district.
Diana Olvedo-Karau, who works in the school district鈥檚 transportation department, said homeschooling in Uvalde has not been common. But more people are talking about it now.
Olvedo-Karau is concerned over the funding the district will lose if children are pulled out, but she understands why parents might do it.
Uvalde school officials did not immediately respond to The Texas Tribune鈥檚 request for enrollment numbers for this upcoming school year.
Uvalde parent Tina Quintanilla, 41, plans to use a private online school company, , for her daughter鈥檚 instruction this next year. She also has a son who requires special education classes, and she still hasn鈥檛 found a school for him. Quintanilla is a graduate of Uvalde High School, home of the 鈥淔ighting Coyotes & Lobos,鈥� so the decision to look at alternatives wasn鈥檛 easy.
鈥淚t鈥檚 heart-wrenching because we鈥檙e coyote pride here,鈥� she said, referring to the high school鈥檚 mascot. 鈥淲e鈥檙e loyal and true.鈥�
Reporter Ariana Perez-Castells contributed to this story.
