Education Week - August 31, 2022 - 14

FBI investigators knocking on their doors.
But for Rodriquez and others, all the risk was
worth it.
" What drove us? It was the love of our children, "
she said. " We didn't want them to continue in menial
labor and a lack of opportunities to get higher
education.
" Schools are everything. If our kids do not have a
good education, what's their future going to be like? "
she said. " And I know that almost every parent in
Uvalde can say that they will give their last breath to
give their kids the best education they can. "
A site of growth
and progress
The quality education Mexican and Mexican
American parents and students fought for in the
1970s finally did begin to emerge in Robb Elementary
and the other local schools-albeit over an extended
timeline, say former educators and parents.
And that progress is a source of considerable pride.
Take the number of Hispanic educators in the district.
In the 1970s, just a handful of Hispanic teachers
worked in the district, mainly because few speakers
of Spanish were licensed. As of the 2020-21 school
year, Hispanic teachers accounted for about 64 percent
of the district's teacher workforce, according to
state data.
Maria Castañon Hernandez, 58, saw the shift in
representation even within the counseling department
of Uvalde High School.
A former Robb Elementary student and a product
of Uvalde schools, including the local junior college,
Castañon Hernandez worked as a teacher for 15 years
before becoming a high school counselor in 2003. At
that time there were two white counselors and two
Hispanic counselors including herself.
By the time she retired in 2018, the entire counseling
team was Hispanic, and so was the school's principal.
She
attributes that growth in representation to both
the 1970 lawsuit, which ultimately required the district
to be more conscious in its staff hires to match
the diversity of its student body, and the opening of
the Uvalde campus of the Sul Ross State University
in partnership with the local Southwest Texas Junior
College. It offered education programs that could essentially
grow a local pipeline of educators.
Thanks to the lawsuit, which yielded a consent
agreement with the district that was modified several
times, Castañon Hernandez recalls how weaker
schools in the district were monitored. Every year,
the district submitted paperwork tracking things such
as the rate at which Hispanic students were enrolled
in Advanced Placement courses, and how many were
involved in athletics, cheerleading, and clubs.
And over time, she witnessed growth in access to
academic and extracurricular opportunities as both
an educator and a mother. Her eldest took four years
of mariachi in high school in the early 2000s, something
Castañon Hernandez could only dream of
when she was a student at the same school.
Her elementary alma mater, Robb Elementary,
even got a whole building addition that looked fresh
and modern-a far cry from the days when the school
was poorly maintained.
In more recent years, the Uvalde district has
boasted a growing participation rate in its career
and technical education program. Demand for a
dual- language program, which started around 2014,
rapidly surged so the district opened a dual-language
academy for the 2021-22 school year.
Over the years, though, the Hispanic student population
has grown from roughly 50 percent of the district
in the 1970s to close to 91 percent in the 2020-21
school year. That change has left some residents,
such as Rodriquez, wondering if the progress in offering
quality education to Mexican American students
reflects the reality that Hispanic students are now a
clear majority more than it does a good faith effort to
do right by this community.
Amid the progress, some gaps have remained.
14 | EDUCATION WEEK | August 31, 2022 | www.edweek.org
The quality
education
Mexican and
Mexican
American parents
and students
fought for
in the 1970s
finally did begin
to emerge in
Robb Elementary
and the other
local schools-
albeit over an
extended
timeline, say
former educators
and parents.
And that progress
is a source
of considerable
pride.
An aerial view of Robb
Elementary School
in Uvalde, Texas. The
school, the site of one
of the worst mass
school shootings in U.S.
history, will be
demolished and
rebuilt.
Toward the end of her career, Castañon Hernandez
saw a steady rate of dropouts among Hispanic students
in particular, and a new emphasis on serving
the mental health needs of students alongside their
academic needs.
" We had a deep concern on the number of students
that suffered from anxiety, which caused absenteeism,
and that would turn into failing classes, "
she said.
And even as the academic opportunities in Uvalde
school grew for Hispanic students, the political
power of the town's Hispanic population didn't see
the same level of steady progress.
Residents point to success stories from the local
schools, such as students accepted to Ivy league
schools and one who won a MacArthur Fellowship.
But, they noted, many of these individuals ended up
moving out for bigger opportunities across the country
and state. The avenues for career growth in town
have remained limited, former residents said.
" It's been a community of struggle, " Morales said,
who now lives in Houston working for a labor union.
" We never had the good jobs, we were always doing
the work down there. The big jobs were probably
working at H-E-B (a major Texas grocery store chain)
as a cashier. "
It begs the question of how schools can get such
talent to stay and invest in improving the lives of
Uvalde's Hispanic community.
" We have to inspire young people to get involved in
their communities, " Rodriquez said.
For now, the generations that paved the way for
success take pride in how far things have come. A
testament to that work occurred in 2017, when the
desegregation lawsuit was finally dismissed, 47 years
after the initial filing.
Castillo, who left Uvalde for some time but has
since returned to his hometown, points to the drastic
change in the aspirations of Robb Elementary's latest
student cohort.
Gone are the days of Hispanic students regularly
being told they had few options after high school.
Students at Robb Elementary like 10-year-old Alithia
Ramirez wanted to go to art school in Paris.
And classmate Maite Rodriguez had set her sights
on Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi and a
career as a marine biologist.
A site of horror
Now a new reality has set in.
Alithia and Maite's dreams, along with those of
17 of their classmates and two teachers, were cut
short on May 24 by an 18-year-old gunman. And
once again, Uvalde parents-and especially those
whose children attended Robb Elementary-
find themselves grappling with the question of
what they must do to protect their children's
futures.
This time they must do so in the most literal sense
of the word, confronting the reality of unlocked
classroom doors, police failures, and gun policy.
As families and the press continue to piece together
exactly what occurred that day in the halls of
Robb Elementary, those from generations past share
in the pain-and shed light on what may come of the
tragedy.
" If anything good comes out of it-and I know
people are hurting-there'll be some activists that
come out of this that will demand change, that'll run
for office and speak up, " Morales said.
Past and current residents are calling for a shift in
conversations around school safety, more transparency
from law enforcement, and tangible action on
gun control laws, among other things.
" It's so overwhelming that we have to fight to
make things better, " Rodriquez said.
The conversations are likely to mimic some of the
questions asked back in 1970, such as what approach
will effectively bring about change.
Activist parent groups have formed, and there
have been several debates at city council and school
board meetings over the fate of Robb Elementary's
principal and that of the officers present the day of
the shooting.
But Uvalde and Robb Elementary are now also
part of a much larger story about the future of school
safety policy.
" This is not 1970 anymore, where the school walkout
really was only consequential to this one community, "
said Guajardo with the Museum of South
Texas History. " What happened in 2022, that mass
shooting is consequential for Uvalde, and it's consequential
for the country. "
All eyes are on this town now as it publicly grapples
with one of its darkest, profoundly painful moments.
" We have come a long way, " Rodriquez said. " And
Uvalde will be a better community because we must
do it in memory of these victims. "
Residents agree Robb Elementary's building cannot
stand as is. They cannot inflict more trauma on
students by making them return to the scene of the
attack, they said.
A newly created foundation will collect funds to
build a new elementary school for the district. Students
will be able to attend virtual classes this fall if
returning in person proves too difficult, according to
the district.
But whether there will be a memorial erected in
Robb's current site-or a museum built capturing
both the tragedy and the history that came before
it-is still unclear.
Amid the questions and cries, residents past and
present hope that time will help heal these profound
wounds.
Coverage of race, opportunity, and equity is supported in
part by a grant from The Wallace Foundation, at www.
wallacefoundation.org. Education Week retains sole
editorial control over the content of this coverage.
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Education Week - August 31, 2022

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