By Aaron Miller-
Superintendent Hal Harrell has retired from his post following the suspension of the entire police force in the aftermath of the school shooting at Robb Elementary School earlier this year.
After meeting in a closed session for more than an hour, the school board unanimously approved a motion to conduct a superintendent search.
The school district announced Harrell’s impending retirement in a staff memo on Friday. And in a Facebook post relayed on his wife’s account Sunday evening, Harrell said his decision to leave the district after 31 years in education was “not made lightly and was made after much prayer and discernment.”
Harrell will continue in his post until a new superintendent can be chosen, he said in the post.
“Recent developments have uncovered additional concerns with department operations,” a district press release said. Lt. Miguel Hernandez, acting district police chief, and director of student services Ken Mueller were placed on leave. Other officers employed with the department will fill other roles in the district, according to a press release. Mueller decided to retire, the release said.
The release did not detail why those officials were placed on leave, and emails to the district spokesperson went unanswered.
Included on Monday’s school board meeting agenda were “deliberations concerning suspensions and terminations.” After the closed-door session, the school board did not announce any suspensions or terminations.
Harrell’s announcement was met with mixed reactions from parents and activists. A crowd of Harrell’s supporters gathered outside the district administrative building Monday evening, dressed in the district’s colors, maroon and white, many holding signs thanking Harrell for his service.
Others have been calling for Harrell’s removal for months, saying he should be held responsible for the district’s failure to adequately prepare for school shootings. In emotional public testimony during the Monday meeting, several community members and victims’ family members called out Harrell, saying he failed to show leadership in the weeks after the shooting.
“You had an opportunity to be a beacon of hope and change,” said Marissa Lozano, whose sister Irma Garcia was one of the teachers killed in the shooting and whose brother-in-law Joe Garcia died suddenly two days later. “Instead you’ve decided to cower and refuse to hold anybody accountable.”
Following a review conducted into the horrifying killing at the Rob elementary school in which 21 people, including 19 children, were killed, the district has announced two police officers will go on “administrative leave” and the entire department’s activities will be suspended.
Uvalde’s district police chief was fired in August over the hesitant response by hundreds of heavily armed law enforcement officers to the killings carried out by high school dropout
In an announcement on Friday, Uvalde’s Consolidated Independent School District (CISD), admitted “recent developments have uncovered additional concerns with department operations”.
“Officers currently employed will fill other roles in the district.”
school district at the centre of the mass shooting at a primary school in Uvalde, Texas, has suspended its entire police force.
Following a review conducted into the massacre at Rob elementary School, in which 21 people, including 19 children, were killed, the district has announced two police officers will go on “administrative leave” and the entire department’s activities will be suspended.
Uvalde’s district police chief, Pete Arrendendo, was sacked in August over the hesitant response by hundreds of heavily armed law enforcement officers to the killings carried out by high school dropout
A state-led investigation is currently under way into all events that day, but in an announcement on Friday, Uvalde’s Consolidated Independent School District (CISD), admitted “recent developments have uncovered additional concerns with department operations”.
“Officers currently employed will fill other roles in the district.”