Parents and students preparing for the first day of school at Uvalde

Uvalde – In just one week, Uvalde’s students will be back in the classroom for the first time since their last school year ended in tragedy.

For months, parents have called for safety and security changes after the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School, which killed 19 students and two teachers. 6.

Next week’s schedule was put to the test on Tuesday night as parents and their students traveled to and from Uvalde Elementary School to meet teachers’ night.

“He’s a little more nervous than usual, but he’s got a good teacher,” said Angela Potter, mother of two UCISD students.

Lucas Potter is in 3rd grade. He was at Rob Elementary School on his May 24th.

Angela Potter is worried about sending Lucas and his brothers back to school next Tuesday.

“I thought it was impossible, and suddenly it happened,” she said.

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An eight-foot-high, non-extendable perimeter fence partially surrounds the campus of Uvalde Elementary School. According to Superintendent Dr. Hal Harrell, the work is 90 percent complete for him. He said the gate still needs to be built and installed.

It’s the same at Dalton Elementary School, but if you go down the road to Morales Middle School, you won’t see the new perimeter fence.

“I went to Morales yesterday and nothing improved as I saw,” said Anson Bills, father of three UCISD students. “We made him virtual this morning. Yeah, that’s how I feel about it.”

Fencing work has begun on three of the eight campuses, according to the district’s website.

Uvalde High School will be measured to create a timeline of when the fence will be installed.

“I trust this fence. It’s a school board that can’t be trusted,” Bills said, clutching the fence at Uvalde Elementary School.

Meanwhile, work on safe front yards on each campus has lagged behind, Harrell said. He said it was only started at Uvalde Primary School, UDLA, and UHS.

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“When school starts, each entrance is assigned a DPS officer,” says Harrell.

The district purchased 500 security cameras. It has been fully installed at Uvalde High School and has begun to be installed at Morales Middle School, but has yet to be installed on the other campuses.

“Again, the work will not be fully completed by Tuesday, but we will continue to work on this until it is done,” Harrell said.

With school just around the corner, some are optimistic about the efforts so far.

“Hopefully it makes him feel a little safer,” said Angela Potter, pointing to her son.

Many are skeptical.

“If I had to pull[my son]over, I would. And now all I see here is the fence,” Bills said.

According to UCISD, 136 students are enrolled in the virtual academy. The application process is open until August 31st.

The number of transfer schools this year has not yet been released, of the Texas Department of Education There were a total of 416 transfers from school districts in the 2021-2022 school year, according to UCISD data.

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