US: Principal of Robb Elementary School suspended after Uvalde shooting in Texas

The principal of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas was suspended on Monday, 25 July, nearly two months after 19 students and two teachers were killed in a shooting incident in a school in May. Mandy Gutierrez, the principal of Robb Elementary School, has been put on paid administrative leave by Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) Superintendent Hal Harrell, her attorney Ricardo Cedillo confirmed in a statement to The Independent. Cedillo further said that Gutierrez needs to give answers to questions asked by Superintendent Harrell "before the end of this week."

The suspension of Mandy Gutierrez as principal of Robb Elementary School comes a week after the Texas House Committee which carried out the probe into the shooting incident in the school released its report. According to the investigation, Mandy Gutirrez was aware that the door to one of the classrooms was not getting locked properly and she did not get it fixed, The Independent reported. The report revealed that the principal of Robb Elementary School, her assistant who was responsible for carrying out orders of maintenance work, the teacher in Room 111 and other teachers as well as many students in the fourth-grade building were aware of the door locking problem of Room 111. 

Gutierrez acknowledged knowing about door locking problem

Gutierrez in testimony to the committee acknowledged that the school administration was aware of the issue of door locking and the matter had been reported around 2022 spring break time. Notably, Mandy Guttierez was appointed as the principal of Robb Elementary School at the start of the 2021-2022 school year. However, she had worked in the school for more than 20 years. As per The Independent report, Mandy Gutierrez is now the second UCISD employee placed on leave after the school police chief Pete Arredondo who has been blamed for inappropriate response to the shooting incident in school as he did not reportedly send law enforcement officers into the classroom to confront the shooter. 

As per the report, around 400 law enforcement officials reached the shooting site at the school, however, “egregiously poor decision-making” caused more than an hour of chaos before the shooter who killed 21 people was confronted and killed, according to AP. The 80-page report has criticised both the state and federal law enforcement agencies. The report highlighted that the gunman fired around 142 rounds inside the building and he had reportedly fired around 100 shots before the officers entered the site. According to the report, hundreds of law enforcement responders who reached the spot were better trained than the school district police. 

Image: AP