High School Gun Incident Draws Harsh Comments During ECISD Board Meeting
Arnoldo Mata
Edinburg TX – During this week’s board meeting, ECISD Board Trustees criticized the district’s response to the recent in which a gun was confiscated from a student at Edinburg North High School.
“I would like to ask a question and also to make a statement and address administration on recent events at a secondary school and other E-C-I-S-D events,” Trustee Dominga Vela said. “I want to be perfectly clear to administration that clear, concise and correct information be disseminated to our students, teachers, staff, parents, and community. That the information is checked and verified by all before it is disseminated. The right hand must know what the left hand is doing, and I hereby ask administration at all levels to be responsible.”
“As to what occurs at ECISD, our community is very upset with us, with these and other events that have occurred. Someone needs to be held responsible at all times and at all levels as to what happens here in our beloved district. We owe it to our students, our staff, our teachers, our parents, and our community.”
Vela, however, did not specify what specific information she was referring to during her comments.
Trustee Leticia Garcia also spoke out about the response to the incident. “I also would like to express to the student staffs and parents for the incidents that have happened not only in the elementary, but in the high school and the most recent, the high school. We in the district need to follow protocol and everyone has the protocol in their offices. This happening that there was a gun on the premises. They recovered it. They should have locked down. There was no excuse.”
“There was a nine millimeter caliber Glock 17 pistol with a magazine loaded with 10 rounds of nine millimeters ammunition. How was that not considered imminent danger? We should have reacted, and we should have done a lockdown. That was serious. That was not a play pistol with an orange little front cap in it.”
“This was a nine millimeter pistol, and the mere fact that he had a clip with rounds in it, that should have alerted everybody to react immediately calling 9 1 1, calling our superintendent and locking down that school. Why it wasn’t done, I don’t know, but it should have been. There’s been trainings for all of this and preparation.”
“Lastly, is that the student volunteered the information when he was being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He took, he on his own, shared this information. We didn’t have to go anywhere outside the scope to know that immediately. There should have been a lockdown.”
Board President David Torres said, “We will be discussing those items in executive session and going through it in a fine tooth comb. Yes, thank you for talking about those situations.”
While the Board did go into executive session, there was no action in response to the incident nor was anything announced with respect to what may have been discussed during the closed door session about the incident at the high school.