Uvalde school superintendent says he’ll retire — timeline to be decided

The embattled Uvalde school superintendent, Hal Harrell, made his retirement plans public Monday, and his board wished him well and voted to hire the San Antonio-based Walsh Gallegos law firm to conduct a search for his replacement. No departure date was set. A group of Harrell’s supporters came out to thank him but stayed outside the small meeting room, which was filled with his detractors. That crowd, which included parents of children killed at the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, applauded Harrell’s decision to retire. Some had called earlier for his firing. Some said they had been willing to work with him and didn’t want to be blamed for his departure. Days earlier, the district had suspended operations of its police force and placed a lieutenant and a top school official on paid leave.

The shake-up came after public outrage about the district’s hiring of a former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper whose performance was under investigation by the state agency. Harrell has navigated the tumultuous aftermath of a massacre that left 19 children and two teachers dead. He moved to fire the district’s police chief but took months to do it, a pace harshly criticized as too slow, then restarted classes last month amid incomplete work to build fences and install security infrastructure. Through it all, he was supported by a unanimous board, but voices of support from the public at its meetings were rare. “Hal reached this decision to retire on his own and I respect that,” said Kimberly Rubio, who lost her daughter Lexi in the shooting, during public comments at Monday’s meeting. But Rubio said Harrell’s supporters outside had only showed up “now when a job is at stake” and had “stayed home when families had been defending transparency and accountability.” “How dare you attack those of us who lost our children in the worst way possible?” she said. “Go home and hug your kids and be glad you can, because I’ll be at the cemetery. Because that is the closest I can get to my baby.” Harrell spoke briefly before the meeting with the group of supporters, calling the moment “overwhelming,” and asking them to pray for the families of the shooting’s victims. “My heart goes out to each and every one of you, and all the families. I pray for them daily,” he said.