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Uvalde students return to school for the first time since May’s deadly shooting

An eight-foot fence frames the pathway to the office of the new, temporary campus for former Robb Elementary students and staff.
Camille Phillips
/
Texas Public Radio
An 8-foot fence frames the pathway to the office of the new, temporary campus for former Robb Elementary students and staff on the Friday before the first day of the 22-23 school year. Uvalde CISD converted an old campus previously used for offices and an alternative school. The shadow of Robb looms large over the new year, despite the new location.

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Tuesday is the first day back to school in Uvalde, Texas since a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in May.

The shooting at Robb Elementary School shook the town and the nation when news of the high death toll first broke, and then again when people learned it took law enforcement more than an hour to confront the shooter.

The return to school is a chance for students to see friends and get back into routines. But it also brings back the fear and trauma for those touched by the tragedy.

Going virtual

Adam and Raquel Martinez have four children and another on the way. Their 8-year-old son Zayon was at Robb Elementary during the shooting.

“They went on lockdown, and he was under his desk for quite a while waiting and he was crying and kids were crying. And apparently, they heard some shots that sounded like fireworks,” said Adam Martinez, sitting at his dining room table the week before school started.

For the first few weeks afterwards, Zayon was somber and didn’t play much. To help him cope, his parents got him a guinea pig.

An 8-year-old boy in a colorful t-shirt smiles and hold up a white and tan guinea pig.
Camille Phillips
/
Texas Public Radio
Adam and Raquel Martinez got their 8-year-old son Zayon a guinea pig to help him cope after the shooting at Robb Elementary. Zayon was in his class at Robb during the shooting.

“He had been wanting some type of pet,” said Martinez. “It’s really helped him because he’s always playing with it.

Zayon named the guinea pig Max. As the summer passed, Martinez said his son started joking again and playing more.

“But there are some things that trigger him, like loud noises. He wants the door locked all the time and before he never really worried about the doors being locked,” Martinez said.

Zayon also has nightmares and trouble sleeping. And he’s not alone. Many kids and parents are still scared.

To help the community feel safer, the Uvalde school district is putting up 8-foot fences around the schools. They’ve hired campus monitors to roam the halls and check doors to make sure they’re locked and 33 state troopers will be stationed at the schools this year to provide extra security.

Those measures made Martinez feel better about sending his kids back. But Zayon and his 12-year-old sister Analiyh told their parents they’re scared because they don’t trust the police to protect them.

Raquel and Adam Martinez eat lasagna in their home in Uvalde the week before the first day of school.
Camille Phillips
/
Texas Public Radio
Raquel and Adam Martinez eat lasagna in their home in Uvalde the week before the first day of school. Raquel is 7 months pregnant and had a craving for the dish.

“They're worried that if it happens again, it's going to be the same scenario where they don't go in there, they don't protect them. So, it doesn't matter how high the fencing is, or how many police officers are there. They don't feel comfortable right now,” said Martinez.

The Uvalde school board fired the school police chief who was in command during the shooting, but the district’s other officers are still on the job. And it’s likely some of the state troopers assigned to guard Uvalde schools this year were also on the scene in May.

“I wish I could tell them ‘Well, those cops are gone, son. They won't be back,’ you know? But I can't. They're the same cops, those same cops are gonna be there,” Martinez said.

So, Adam and Raquel decided to enroll Zayon and Analiyh in the district’s new virtual option instead.

Texas Public Radio is supported by contributors to the Education News Desk, including H-E-B Helping Here, Betty Stieren Kelso Foundation and Holly and Alston Beinhorn.

“If you're scared, you can't learn,” Adam Martinez said. “When you're in an unsafe environment it's going to be hard to interact with other children. When you're constantly looking around making sure that nothing happened.”

The Martinezes plan to reassess whether to return for in-person classes after the first semester. A lot of the Uvalde school district’s security upgrades aren’t done — fences are only up around two of the eight campuses, for instance. And the district’s own investigation into its officers’ actions that day hasn’t even begun.

Returning to school

On May 24, Angeli Gomez fought her way past the police line at Robb to get to her sons during the shooting.

This summer, she joined a group of women who call themselves Fierce Madres. They organized after the shooting to help push for change.

Sitting outside her grandma’s house on Friday, Gomez said she was originally planning to keep her kids home from school, but towards the end of the summer her sons said they wanted to return.

“I can't hold them back, because they just want to go catch up with friends and really do sports again,” said Gomez.

But the decision weighs on her.

A woman with a campaign t-shirt and sunglasses on her head stands in front of a tree with a chainlink fence behind it.
Camille Phillips
/
Texas Public Radio
Angeli Gomez spent the Friday before the first day of school going door-to-door in support of a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives that is in favor of stricter gun laws.

“Just thinking about it feels like I’m going to cry,” said Gomez. “It feels like I'm letting them go and they could not come home tomorrow. And it would be my fault for letting them go back.”

Gomez is a single mom and works long hours in the field harvesting onions and cucumbers and chiles. She said it would have been really hard to figure out child care if she signed her sons up for virtual instruction. And a lot of parents are just like her.

“(I’m like a lot of single moms.) I can't stay home. I have to work,” Gomez said. “So, then who's gonna watch our kids?”

The first day of school brings back all the fear she experienced during the shooting. Earlier that day, it was a celebration. The school held an awards ceremony to honor students. Families were there, taking pictures of smiling kids.

Gomez knows those pictures could have been the last ones she ever took of her children.

“Not even 30 minutes later, you're getting a call that they're shooting up the school. It's just I don't know, it was just crazy. It was just bad,” Gomez said. “And it's just so hard to think about school again now and not think about what happened.”

As classes start Tuesday, the Uvalde school district will have comfort dogs on campus to help kids when they get overwhelmed. Teachers and staff have been trained how to respond to children experiencing grief and trauma.

But it just may be the parents who have the hardest time letting go. Especially those who should have one more child going back to school.

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Camille Phillips can be reached at camille@tpr.org or on Instagram at camille.m.phillips. TPR was founded by and is supported by our community. If you value our commitment to the highest standards of responsible journalism and are able to do so, please consider making your gift of support today.