Uvalde victims' parents say suspension of district police a good start, but not enough
UVALDE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — The Uvalde School District has a school board meeting Monday, following its decision to suspend it's police department.
A part of the Monday meeting's agenda covers discussing and considering the superintendent's retirement and transition. In a closed session with an attorney, the district will also have deliberations about suspensions and terminations.
This follows a week of several announcements from the district. On Friday, the Uvalde School District made the decision to temporarily suspend all activities of its police department. In a press release, the district said that "recent developments have uncovered additional concerns with the department operations."
They also said two officers were placed on administrative leave and others will "find other roles in the district."
Victims' family members reacted to the decision.
"It was a good step that you suspend the entire police force while you figure out what role they played that day," the mother of Lexi Rubio, Kimberly Rubio said. "But I want to be brought along through the entire investigation process."
Many of them have been asking for school security to be held more accountable during protests outside of the school's administrative building.
"It's something called transparency and it's something called accountability," the uncle of Jackie Cazares, Jesse Rizo said. "So we are pleased with this, but it's not over yet."
Frustrations grew after it was reported the district had hired a former state trooper who responded to the shooting as a school resource officer.
"DPS informed that school district that she had actions inconsistent with training and department requirements pending investigations and so that school district had full information about the status of the person they choose to go ahead and hire," Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.
She was fired Thursday. In August, the district's former police chief Pete Arrendondo was fired.
During the mass shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead, officers waited more than an hour to enter a classroom to try and take down the gunman. Families said they still have a lot of questions.
"I want to know what time did the officers get there," Rubio said. "What information were they told and how did they respond with that information?"
The district says for now it has additional state troopers who will step in to help secure campuses.
Uvalde CISD hired a private firm to evaluate the police response to the shooting. Their investigation is ongoing.
