New elementary school is ready to open in Uvalde, Texas

The Uvalde (Texas) district has completed constructon of a $62 million elementary school that is replacing the campus where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in 2022.

The San Antonio Express-News reports that classes at Legacy Elementary School are scheduled to begin later this month. The campus will serve grades three, four and five and is about two miles from the school it is replacing, Robb Elementary.

Robb Elementary was the scene of a mass school shooting on May 24, 2022. A 18-year-old gunman, a former student at the school, entered the building and fatally shot 19 students and two teachers; 17 others were injured.

In the aftermath of the tragic attack, district leaders decided that students would not return to Robb, and a new campus would be built to replace it.

The 116,000-square-foot Legacy Elementary is twice the size of Robb Elementary and can accommodate 800 students. The campus includes a wooden memorial tree sculpture with 21 branches, representing the teachers and children who lost their lives.

The $62 million to pay for the new school came from  donations, grants, and other community support.

The Robb Elementary shooting provoked outrage across the nation because of the delayed police response to the attack. Nearly 400 officers from multiple agencies responded, but it took 77 minutes to confront and kill the gunman.

A 2024 report by the U.S. Justice Department says a near-total breakdown in policing protocols hindered the response to the shooting. The department was especially critical of the reluctance of officials to confront the killer during the first few minutes of the attack.