Oklahoma parents and teachers heartbroken and frustrated by Uvalde school shooting

For Robert Ruiz, Uvalde is another south Texas city with a warm community, celebrated Hispanic culture and a festival worth the 90-minute drive from his hometown of San Antonio.

The south Texas region is a place where Latino roots run generations deep and where trust is strong in the local schools, said Ruiz, an Oklahoma City developer, education advocate and administrator at Oklahoma City Community College.

The vibrant area Ruiz called home plunged into grief and terror Tuesday when a shooter killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.

The response from family in south Texas has been “shock and trauma,” Ruiz said. But, he said the shooting hit close to home not just geographically.

As his daughter drove to Norman North High School the morning after the shooting, Ruiz thought of all four of his children, how each struggled with mental health in their teens and how all four are closer in age to the 18-year-old Uvalde shooter than to the victims.

“It’s really difficult knowing how much things have changed for our children,” Ruiz said. “I don’t remember things being so hard for me and my peers when we were growing up.

“When we were growing up, people used to tell us how hard they had it. I think a lot of parents feel the same way — we're dealing with things that our children are going through now that we never had to go through.”

Parents and teachers in the Oklahoma City area expressed a sense of devastation and hopelessness at the sight of another school shooting, an event now tragically frequent in the United States.

Tracking by Education Week shows 27 school shootings have taken place this year across the country.

In 2020, firearm-related injuries became the leading cause of death for American children and adolescents age 1-19, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Policy battles over attacks 'disheartening'

Oklahoma City Board of Education member Gloria Torres said she’s more than heartbroken at the news from Uvalde. She’s frustrated.

“Lawmakers who have the opportunity to make a difference don’t see it as something that they can make a difference in,” Torres said. “That's very disheartening when we’re looking at policies.”

Torres, a grandmother of school-aged children, said she takes some comfort in the security vestibules installed in Oklahoma City schools and the extra funds the district dedicated to school counselors, social workers and mental health support for students.

The district's focus on mental and behavioral health has been particularly acute since the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when students experienced greater isolation and societal upheaval.

“That’s exactly what we’ve been investing in, reintegrating our students, knowing that they’re going to come back in with challenges,” Torres said. “We’re not waiting for something to happen in our own buildings, in our own community.”

Oklahoma City mother Kristin Wright finds herself more emotional at school shooting news since becoming a parent two years ago. Now, she comprehends what it might be like to lose a child to preventable violence, she said.

Wright said America needs gun reform. She noted police and armed guards reportedly weren’t enough to stop the gunman from entering the Uvalde school.

“Are we really free in this country if we can’t go to school, concerts, the grocery store, church, or the movies without the fear of being gunned down?” Wright said. “These are all questions that keep me up at night.”

Uvalde tragedy sparks memory of Norman hit list

Norman mother Pixie Quigley said reports of the Texas shooting sent her into an emotional tailspin. She said it also gave a sense of validation for her role in sharing images of a February school shooting threat and a hit list of students’ names written on bathroom stalls at Norman High School.

Quigley received the images from Norman High teacher Richard Cavett, who asked her to inform news media of the threats. Cavett later told The Oklahoman he leaked the pictures because he feared the school would bury the information.

Norman Public Schools reported the threats to local police, but the person responsible has not been found. Cavett is facing possible termination from Norman High.

“You have teachers who are brave enough to put their jobs on the line and put out a warning like that,” Quigley said. “What teacher is going to try to put out a warning next time?”

Teachers also struggled with the horrific scenes from Uvalde, said Katherine Bishop, president of the state's largest teacher union, the Oklahoma Education Association.

“When something this devastating happens, no matter the distance how far, it affects every educator. It rocks your soul,” Bishop said. “Our schools are designed and are supposed to be this haven of safety, of learning.”

The violence has been “exhausting” to see, and so has the gridlock on gun-control legislation, said Yukon High School teacher Alex Shirley.

The notion of arming teachers as a measure against school shooters, as Texas’ attorney general suggested Tuesday, is “insanity,” said Shirley, who is also a parent of two.

“I trained to educate people, not shoot weapons,” Shirley said.

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nuria’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma parents, teachers voice heartbreak at Uvalde shooting