UVALDE, Texas – A mixed bag of emotions.
“It’s just sad,” Jessica Garcia, a parent to three children who are returning to Uvalde CISD, said. “It’s like still fresh.”
From anxious and sad to excited and happy, emotions were running high on the first day of school for Uvalde CISD.
“I’m excited to see my friends,” Garcia’s first-grade daughter Mia Vera said.
Some parents expressed that they still felt uneasy for the start of the school year. The district returned to class just three months after the tragedy at Robb Elementary school where 19 students and two teachers were shot and killed.
“It’s just the loss of all the kids and the teachers,” Garcia said. “It’s just sad to think about it that they aren’t starting this year. That’s the only thing you know, it’s really fresh. Really fresh.”
One parent dropping off a student at Dalton Elementary school said that the new non-scalable fencing put up around the school eased some of her security concerns.
“Better, a lot better,” Trista Leal, a Uvalde CISD parent said, “So they have it here it gives me more of a peace-of-mind.”
However, another parent of a second grader told us she still isn’t feeling confident about the schools being completely secure.
“I’m nervous because it’s just a new school year and it was a short amount of time to get a lot of security stuff done,” Stephanie Quiroga, Uvalde CISD parent said. “So I know they are still implementing stuff it’s just not all done yet.”
The district is not taking any chances when it comes to safety. Nobody is allowed on campus that is not part of staff, teachers or students, and that included parents dropping off on the first day of school.
Garcia who was dropping off three kids at Dalton elementary said the one thing keeping her positive and giving her hope is that her kids were thrilled to be back at school.
“My kids are excited to go, all of them,” Garcia said.
Her daughter, first grader Mia Vera was happy and ready to see her friends.
“Because I’m going to have so much fun in first grade,” Mia said.