Robb Elementary principal pushes back on Texas lawmakers’ report on shooting

Robb Elementary School principal Mandy Gutierrez is pushing back on a number of claims made in a current report from Texas lawmakers that was extremely essential of each legislation enforcement and the Uvalde college district administration’s response to the shooting that killed 19 college students and two lecturers. Gutierrez was positioned on administrative go away with pay this week.

In a letter written to the committee that’s investigating the shooting, Gutierrez denied that the door lock for classroom 111, one of many rooms the place the shooting befell, was defective and that no steps had been taken to repair it, because the report on the shooting alleged.

“In particular, staff and students widely knew the door to one of the victimized classrooms, Room 111, was ordinarily unsecured and accessible,” the report mentioned. “Room 111 could be locked, but an extra effort was required to make sure the latch engaged. Many knew Room 111’s door had a faulty lock, and school district police had specifically warned the teacher about it. The problem with locking the door had been reported to school administration, yet no one placed a written work order for a repair.”

But Gutierrez claimed in her letter that the lock was functioning correctly the morning of the shooting, saying {that a} custodian ensures all classroom doorways are locked each evening and, due to this fact, the one means for the instructor in room 111 to have gotten within the subsequent morning would have been to unlock it.

Gutierrez additionally wrote that the instructor in that classroom — who was severely wounded within the shooting, in response to Gutierrez —had complained on a number of events that their day was interrupted as a result of they must let different lecturers into the room to retrieve objects from a printer that a number of lecture rooms shared however was bodily saved in room 111. 

Gutierrez acknowledges that the shooter gained entry to room 111 however mentioned it will be “inaccurate to conclude that it was because the door to classroom 111 did not lock.” 

“The teacher in charge of Room 111 seems to recall that he complained about the door not locking to me for the last 3 years,” Gutierrez wrote. “Again, taking into account his horrific ordeal, I point out that I am in my first year as Principal, and my predecessor has no recollection or record of those complaints.” 

Gutierrez’s letter additionally addresses the Raptor software the varsity utilized in emergency conditions, which the report claimed didn’t work correctly on the day of the shooting attributable to a weak wi-fi sign. After the Raptor alert appeared to fail, the report famous that Gutierrez “did not attempt to communicate the lockdown alert over the school’s intercom,” and as a substitute referred to as Uvalde colleges police chief Pete Arredondo, who has additionally been positioned on go away, by telephone.

Gutierrez wrote that she was explicitly skilled to not use the general public tackle system in these conditions. “Our training emphasized that using the Public Address System could compound the problem in creating a panic situation with students and an alert to the one or more gunman that was present to do maximum harm,” she mentioned. 

Gutierrez additionally addressed the report’s declare {that a} collection of lockdowns prompted by “bailouts,” a time period used to explain when undocumented immigrants flee a automobile after a crash throughout a pursuit with legislation enforcement, had created a tradition of complacency whereby college workers stopped taking the lockdowns critically. 

Gutierrez mentioned that she “wholeheartedly” denies the declare, and famous that she acquired an “accomplished” ranking on her efficiency evaluation, which particularly famous that she “creates a safe environment” on the college.