UHS Graduation; We will take every precaution: We will have metal detectors and officers there as well as extra officers
Uvalde Superintendent Gary Patterson delivered his report Monday night, May 15 during the Uvalde CISD board meeting.
Patterson said that graduation will go on as scheduled on May 26th and Monday, May 22nd will be the last day for students.
“Graduation will take all the necessary precautions. With the rise in the threats and the internet chatter, I’m afraid we’re going to need to take all the necessary precautions,” Patterson said.
He continued by saying, “We’ll have metal detectors there and will have enough officers there. We can funnel our crowd into four different locations and get them in pretty quickly and we’ll have extra officers there.”
In Patterson’s report, he discussed social media threats, one of which promoted 90% of parents to pick up their children from schools by the end of the day on Friday, May 12th. School Districts in Del Rio and Eagle Pass also received threats that day. He said that the district received the report at 6:30 AM. ” I want to thank the parents and staff for the way they handled that situation,” he said.
Patterson went on to say teachers covered for other teachers worked through conference periods and lunch periods to help get the kids in and out.
“Today we wanted to keep a close eye on attendance all day. Patterson also stated that Monday’s May 15th attendance was down at the district’s campuses with attendance at 60% at the Junior High and 58 to 60% at Dalton, 49 % at Batesville, 62% at Uvalde Elementary and UDLA and the High School were around 76%,” he said.
“These internet threats are designed to spread fear and anxiety and stress and disruption and they succeeded on Friday for sure,” Patterson said.
“We believe these students are safe in school,” Patterson said. In regards to decisions to release students early from school, his concern is if the students will be going home without anyone being home.
As far as parents who may choose to not send their children to school the superintendent asked that those parents communicate with the school. He stated those students will not be punished, but there are tests and end of year school work that needs to be done. “No-one is going to get punished except if they don’t do their work,” he said. He continued by saying if they, the students, are missing assignments to please contact us as we will find a way to get that work in.
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