Principal Mandy Gutierrez has been reinstated as head of Robb Elementary School, where 19 students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting in May.
“Ms. Gutierrez’s administrative leave with pay has been lifted and she has been fully reinstated to her position, where she will continue to discharge her duties and continue to serve all the families of the UCISD,” her attorney Ricardo Cedillo confirmed in a statement to ABC News.
Her return comes just days after Hall Harell, superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, suspended her with pay. While a specific reason for her brief leave was not provided, Gutierrez earlier this week ripped a report by a Texas House of Representatives investigative committee on the massacre at Robb Elementary.
On May 24, an 18-year-old gunman unleashed violence inside the primary school in Uvalde, not far from the Mexican border. He killed 21 people before he was fatally shot by a border patrol agent on the scene.
The report, released earlier this month, concluded Gutierrez was aware of security problems at the school, including that a door to one of the classrooms involved in the carnage did not lock. The investigative committee also noted “systemic failures” and poor leadership contributed to the high death toll.
The principal in an interview with CNN on Wednesday defended her actions in the early moments of the massacre, saying she followed her training and the school district’s protocol.
“I feel that I followed the training that I was provided with to the best of my abilities,” she said. “And I will second-guess myself for the rest of my life.”
Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo was placed on administrative leave without pay in June as the district considers the recommendation of firing him. He’s faced fierce backlash for failing to immediately engage with the shooter.
Surveillance video taken from inside the school shows officers milling about in the hall for more than an hour while Ramos remained barricaded inside a classroom.
———
