UVALDE, Texas — The Uvalde CISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved to suspend the search for a permanent superintendent.
The school board discussed legalities in closed session concerning the superintendent search schedule and process during Monday’s meeting. The board reconvened and voted to delay the superintendent search.
Patterson was hired on to temporarily lead Uvalde CISD after Dr. Hal Harrell retired in October following controversy surrounding the Robb Elementary shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
Patterson has prioritized rebuilding trust with the community and revamping the Uvalde CISD police force as a result of the collectively botched law enforcement response on May 24, 2022.
Jesse Rizo, uncle of Robb Elementary victim Jackie Cazares, stressed his balanced support for Patterson, noting he admires the efforts to connect with the community.
“He met with the families at the most sacred place and that was at the cemetery. He met with a lot of them there. He met with them one on one. He kept an open-door policy,” Rizo said.
But Rizo believes Patterson and district leadership overall could improve on how often they check in on the family members of loved ones killed at Robb Elementary. A community struck by tragedy now waits to see if Patterson will live up to his goals. Rizo hopes for greater transparency when it comes to decision making.
“You had a crisis, you had a catastrophic failure at the school district so you cannot expect someone in four months to come in and turn the boat around and think that it’s all going to be fine when you hire somebody new,” Rizo said. “Learn from those mistakes that were made before you got here. Take your experience and the crisis that you’ve dealt with in the past and apply those in this situation and do the most fundamental thing, check on those families.”
Patterson will continue to serve as interim superintendent at least until the fall.
Uvalde CISD officials did not respond to multiple attempts for comment on the story to explain why the superintendent search was halted.