SAN ANTONIO — Some police officers who responded to the shooting at Robb Elementary will return to their posts at Uvalde schools when classes resume Tuesday.
Mike Hernandez, previously second-in-command of the school police department, will act as interim chief. He replaces Pete Arredondo, the only responder so far fired for their response to the May 24 crisis.
Hernandez is well-known in Uvalde. He served as a city policeman for 21 years.
He also mounted an unsuccessful campaign for sheriff in 2020, losing by just 60 votes. Hernandez is among the school police officers who participated in active shooter training weeks before the tragedy.
Three other officers who responded to the shooting will also return to work for the district, according to UCISD's website. The school has also hired two additional officers, each from out-of-town.
Parents and community activists had previously asked UCISD board members to suspend the entire school police department, pending a third-party investigation into their response to the shooting.
That audit has not yet begun.
The Texas Department of Public Safety will station 33 officers across district campuses all year. During an August 29 board meeting, superintendent Hal Harrell could not say whether any of those troopers were at Robb on May 24.
The troopers, whom Harrell says will be in charge of school security, conducted training at Uvalde schools Sunday and Monday.
Mo Canady, executive director for the National Association of School Resource Officers, said all law enforcement officials guarding Uvalde schools need to earn back the community's trust.
"It's going to be a tough hill to climb, there's no question about it," Canady said. "It starts by taking that first step and trying to rebuild relationships, one relationship at a time."
He says parents, students, and staff are safest when they can trust the law enforcement officials on their school campuses. Officers will need to "be real" with stakeholders about the shooting, he says.
"Many more acts of violence have been stopped through relationships and good communication than have been in a situation after shots are fired," he said.
Canady also noted that officers who guard Uvalde schools will be judged for their handling of criticism and scrutiny.
"When we don't do our job or we do it improperly," he said. "We can certainly anticipate backlash from the community. It then becomes a matter of: How do we respond to that?"