The principal of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, has been suspended in the wake of a damning report on the May 24 shooting at the school that killed 19 students and two teachers.
An attorney for Principal Mandy Gutierrez told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that Gutierrez has been placed on paid administrative leave by Uvalde Superintendent Hal Harrell. The attorney did not provide a reason for Gutierrez’s suspension, which comes on the heels of a Texas House committee report that noted a “culture of noncompliance” at the school prior to the massacre.
UVALDE SCHOOL BOARD URGES TEXAS GOVERNOR TO MOVE TO RAISE AGE FOR SEMI-AUTOMATIC RIFLE PURCHASES
“These parents are still hurting. And they want answers,” Daniel Myers, a pastor, told the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District board during a Monday meeting, according to ABC News.
School board member Luis Fernandez acknowledged that “everybody messed up” in the aftermath and leading up to the shooting.
Gutierrez is at least the second school district employee to be suspended after the shooting.
School district police Chief Pete Arredondo was placed on unpaid administrative leave last month amid the state investigation into the law enforcement response to the shooting. The school district has recommended Arredondo be fired, and in July, he resigned from his position on the Uvalde City Council.
The 77-page Texas House committee report on the Robb Elementary School shooting found that the door the gunman used to enter the building wasn’t locked like it should have been, and the door to one of the classrooms he entered was likely unlocked as well.
The classroom lock was known by Gutierrez and other school employees to be faulty, but no work order was ever placed to fix it, according to the report.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The start of the Uvalde district’s school year was pushed back three weeks on Monday, until Sept. 6, so officials can replace Robb Elementary School’s classrooms and other educational resources, according to the Associated Press.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Uvalde school district for comment.
