Texas-based grocery chain H-E-B and its owner, the Butt Family, say they will give $10 million to the Uvalde district to build a school to replace Robb Elementary, the site of a mass shooting last month that killed 19 children and two teachers.
The Texas Tribune reports that the donations were made to the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s new nonprofit arm, the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation, which is seeking donations to make the district’s schools more secure, help build the new school and build a memorial park at the Robb location.
H-E-B was founded by the family of Charles Butt, who is chairman of the grocery store chain, the largest privately held employer in Texas.
Students who had been set to attend Robb Elementary in the fall — about 550 students — will be placed at two other Uvalde elementary schools.
Uvalde district superintendent Hal Harrell said he hopes the new school can open in 2024.
The timeline for demolishing Robb Elementary is still to be determined. The goal is to replace the Robb Elementary building with a memorial park.
Robb was where most students in second through fourth grade attended school. Including Robb, Uvalde has five elementary schools.
Most of the students who went to Robb will be relocated to Flores Elementary. Flores is where most of the fifth and sixth graders are enrolled.
Students entering second grade will stay at Dalton Elementary, which serves mostly students in pre-K through first grade.
