Uvalde classroom horror took their daughters and sister. These teachers went back to school anyway.
Velma Duran talks about how the door locks in her second grade classroom at Royal Ridge Elementary School in San Antonio. Duran’s sister Irma Garcia, also an elementary school teacher, was one of the 21 victims of the Robb Elementary massacre in Uvalde last May.UVALDE — Veronica Mata noticed her right away — a mother in her kindergarten classroom on “Meet the Teacher” night who was simply petrified.
“Seeing her face change to, ‘OK, I can send my kid to school, and I know he is going to be OK,’” Mata said. “That just solidified why I went back.” The teacher had taken Monday off to protest at a Uvalde County Commissioners Court meeting. Now, she would rush home after school to do laundry and pack and then drive to San Antonio to get on a plane with her husband, Jerry, and oldest daughter Faith, 21.
The decision to return to teaching was complicated — vindication, pride, love for her daughters and financial obligation all mixed together. Holden Elrod, 8, sits in the lap of his mother, April Elrod, as they spend time together after school in her first-grade classroom at Dalton. Makenna Elrod, who was April’s daughter and Holden’s sister, died in the massacre.“I can’t stay at home. I would lose my mind staying at home,” she said., Mata was shocked and confused, ultimately adding it to her mental list of things the community and school district had taken from her.
The students “don’t say anything. They’ll come, and they’ll give me a hug and they’ll say, ‘Ms. Gaby, Ms. Mata needs a timeout,’” Mata said. “I’ll just go and get some air. And five minutes later I’ll come back in and it’s like nothing.”Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District provided aides to Mata and April Elrod, whoMata and Elrod work on opposite sides of campus and pass each other in the hall, taking students to and from lunch.
“We knew it was going to be hard, and it was, but there was never a question on whether we would come back or not,” McCullough said.
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