Texas school principal reinstated after suspension over Uvalde shooting-report

[July 29, 2022]  (Reuters) - The principal of the Texas elementary school where a gunman went on a rampage in May has been reinstated to her position, ABC News reported on Thursday, citing her attorney. 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks with Mandy Gutierrez, Principal at Robb Elementary School, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in the deadliest U.S. school shooting in nearly a decade, during U.S. President Joe Biden's visit at the school, in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 29, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Mandy Gutierrez was placed on administrative leave, with pay, on Tuesday by Hall Harell, superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District after a report on an investigation by a Texas legislative committee found that she knew about security issues around the school.

"Ms. Gutierrez's administrative leave with pay has been lifted and she has been fully reinstated to her position," ABC said, citing a statement from her attorney.

Gutierrez has not responded publicly to the investigation report.

The report, which marked the most exhaustive attempt so far to determine what went wrong on May 24, said "systemic failures" and poor leadership had contributed to the death toll.

At least 19 school children and two adults were killed by the 18-year-old gunman, who was shot and killed by police.

The report said Gutierrez and other staff knew that the lock on the door of Room 111 - where the shootings took place - was not working properly, but did not place a work order to get it fixed. That broken lock enabled the gunman to easily enter the classroom, it said.

The mass shootings at Uvalde and in Buffalo, New York, claimed over 30 lives and triggered a bipartisan bill on gun safety that was signed into law by U.S President Joe Biden on June 25.

(Reporting by Rachna Dhanrajani in Bengaluru; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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