Uvalde residents question the school district’s new safety plans for first school year since mass shooting

Uvalde school board members listen as parents of victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary speak during an Aug. 24 meeting. On Monday, Uvalde residents questioned plans for security at schools months after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary. (Credit: Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune)

The Uvalde school board at a Monday town hall discussed fixing crucial security issues exposed during the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary that left 21 people dead. But every resident who spoke said their plans were still not enough — and many had questions about whether some of the new security measures would be stained with the legacy of failures that contributed to Texas’ deadliest school shooting and the delayed law enforcement response to it.

A Texas House committee’s investigation of the shooting found “systemic failures and egregious poor decision making” by nearly everyone involved who was in a position of power. The House committee’s report painted a damning portrayal of a school district that didn’t strictly adhere to its safety plan and a police response that disregarded its own active-shooter training.