School District’s attorney intervenes during public comments. Shouting match erupts from several in the audience. Harrell’s retirement details not disclosed
The Uvalde CISD School Board met for over two hours behind closed doors in executive session before returning to the open session to announce the board has selected Gary Patterson as the District’s Interim Superintendent. Other business considerations in the board’s executive session was to consider and discuss the retirement of Superintendent Hal Harrell and also to consult with the District’s attorneys on Harrell’s retirement. Following the school board’s private meeting, it was announced that the district would provide Harrell insurance with his retirement. The questions that were not answered by the board were the date Superintendent Harrell would step down and the terms of Harrell’s retirement.
The Special School Board meeting started with the public comments portion of the meeting being cut short. The first speaker at the podium was Jesse Rizo.
“Hire somebody that is not afraid to make Brave decisions. Get people that don’t…” Rizo said as he was interrupted.
” JJ Suarez needs to be fired. He lied to us,” Rizo also said.
The school district’s attorney from the Walsh Gallegos Law Firm intervened shortly after Rizo began talking, informing the speakers they must only discuss issues on the school board’s agenda.
The school district’s attorney cut off Adam Martinez and other parents citing they did not sign up to speak ahead of time. The school district’s attorney also said the comments must only be about items on the board’s agenda. Those slated to speak during the public comments portion of the meeting were only given one minute to voice their concerns.
Martinez said he wanted to address school safety.
“That’s all we are trying to do is invite change. We aren’t violent. That won’t even tell me who’s on the safety committee. I got a message from a lawyer stating they are withholding that information,” Martinez said.
As Martinez began to speak the school board filed out of the Benson Boardroom and into it’s executive session effectively ending all public comments
Immediately following the public comments a grandmother of one of the Robb Elementary students slain during the May 24th massacre started yelling from the floor which turned into a chaotic shouting match.
Patterson had served as the Lake Dallas Interim Superintendent according to the Lake Dallas Elementary School Website. The website also had to the following information about Patterson,
“Mr. Patterson is a well-respected former superintendent, having led East Central Independent School District in the San Antonio area for 14 years. He retired in 2014 and has since gone on to serve as interim superintendent at other school districts such as Pflugerville ISD, La Vernia ISD and Falls City ISD.”
