The inside of the new school has tributes to honor the lives lost at Robb Elementary.
UVALDE, Texas — A huge milestone for the Uvalde community, with the ribbon-cutting of its new elementary school set to take place on Friday morning.
Legacy Elementary School has been a three-year work in progress, set in action after the tragedy at Robb Elementary.
It’s a step towards a new chapter in Uvalde. It was just two years ago that the plan was put into place for a new elementary campus for Uvalde CISD after the 2022 tragedy.
Lessons learned from that devastation have shaped some of the features at this new campus.
The two-story school is almost double the size of Robb Elementary and can serve up to 800 3rd through 5th grade students in 36 classrooms.
Legacy Elementary has upgraded security features like keyless entry points, 9-foot-tall privacy gates, a secure waiting area for visitors and a road for first responders to have easy access to the school.
The inside of the school also has tributes to honor the lives lost at Robb Elementary.
One tribute includes the representation of a large oak tree. The two large branches on it represent the two teachers who lost their lives and the 19 smaller branches are for the children taken too soon.
Uvalde CISD school board member Jesse Rizo, who lost his niece Jackie Cazares in the tragedy, said it’s a mixed feeling for him and the other families seeing the new school opening.
“You cannot allow the shooter to take control of your life and constantly be dwelling on the situation,” said Rizo. “We recognize it but we have to adapt and we have to we have to be better than him. We have to always remember that. That we can’t go back to that darkness anymore. We have to see the light that’s ahead of us.”
These families have a lifelong weight they hold onto after the tragedy, but Rizo says the new school allows everyone to step into a brighter future remembering everyone we lost and the impact they made on the world.
The Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation raised more than $60 million to make this possible. The leftover money will go to the district.
Kids will be able to start the first day of class on Monday, October 20. The ribbon cutting will take place Friday at 10 a.m.