Three Years Later, an Uncle in Uvalde Searches for Solutions on School Board

Three long years ago in a southwest Texas town now almost synonymous with the tragedy something happened in an elementary school so horrifying that it nearly defied meaning altogether challenging any sense of a guiding plan or greater judiciousness in human affairs Nineteen children And two teachers Gone Uvalde a place name to be forever followed by a fraught pause What was stunning then and stunning still was the almost-immediate insistence on meaning from the families who lost their children Parents siblings t os and grandparents suddenly coalesced to push for accountability from both school district leaders and the myriad police agencies whose outrageously disorganized response exacerbated the accident and to push for gun control measures that could prevent such a threat to other parents children in the first place Among that coalition of the bereaved was Jesse Rizo an uncle who lost his niece -year-old Jackie Cazares Rizo became a regular at local establishment meetings exacting in his calls for justice yet calm in his delivery along with Cazares immediate family members and plenty of other leaders Last May Rizo was elected to the Uvalde CISD school board one target of the families diverse demands Manuel Rizo Jesse Rizo Felix Rubio Kimberly Rubio Uvalde families gather at the Texas Capitol on November for a march to the Governor s Mansion to demand gun control act Gus Bova Still employed as an AT T customer institution technician the school board position is unpaid the -year-old Rizo grew up in a family of farmworkers in Batesville specific minutes southeast of Uvalde He left for Austin as a young man where he graduated from St Edward s University before eventually coming back home Three years since the massacre Rizo sees several positive change Inhabitants authorities and school administrators have for varying reasons turned over And he sees family members reengaging with the district They signed the final beam of a new school building that in a different location replaces the shuttered Robb Elementary building where the shooting happened and Jackie s older sister Jazmin for example in recent months appeared in a video with the current superintendent At the same time Rizo remains outraged that the local district attorney s prolonged assessment led to only two police officers facing criminal charges for the shooting response and he eagerly awaits their trials and the further transparency they might bring The Observer spoke with Rizo about leadership anger and what can still be done TO When did you decide to run for school board and why The massacre highlighted a lot of I call them areas of opportunity and when it really dawned on me was when we were at one of the meetings at the auditorium And I ll never forget going up there and I was not a masses speaker at all I was kind of intimidated by the thought of even having to do it But I remember going up there and questioning the board and questioning former superintendent Hal Harrell asking him basically what are your plans And he had this look about him and I knew right then and there that there were no policies that there were no procedures in place for anything remotely close to this Like man they don t have it together And so that was the first time that I thought there s no way that they re gonna survive this one that they the school board needed the help You were part of a group that obviously felt a lot of anger at the school board But you felt like you requested to help I learned a long time ago that you can t come with problems without solutions You have to come to the table with ideas and so that was part of it Man when I would get up to talk I would inevitably ask God that he would send the children s voices through me In other words let their words be spoken through me How would they handle it right Then I knew what I needed to say and a lot of times I didn t even have notes Thinking back the last year on the board what s been the greater part rewarding thing you ve been able to do And what s been the majority of frustrating thing The bulk rewarding thing there s a multitude of things but being able to provide a voice for the people that are either afraid or too shy that want to say things but they just don t have the courage And the other part of that being able to hold each other accountable and what I mean by that is the largest part crucial thing that you have is the child right The children that go to school at all ages The learning the safety being a role model to them to empower them and to say you too can speak out As far as the challenging part it s understanding the language of the school the acronyms I understand the philosophy I understand the methods but when you get to the nuts and bolts of how things work on a day-to-day basis that s a big learning curve And so how do you tackle that I ve been fortunate enough that they ve sought me to be part of advisory committees And I go to as a large number of meetings and campuses that I can and I meet with staff and I just sit there and I have lunch with them or I just listen and listen and absorb as much as I can so that when I m faced with those decision-making things I m gonna make a well-educated decision A little more big-picture we re approaching the three-year mark since the Robb shooting I know you can t speak for everybody but how do you think the families are doing and how do you think Uvalde as a whole is doing As far as the families are concerned you know things are still demanding But I think that we re trying to make sure that we honor their children that we honor the teachers and that we honor the survivors from a school standpoint One of the things I ll speak to this man one of the things where you start seeing the train turn a little is Felicha Martinez and Abel Lopez who lost -year-old Xavier Lopez they ve been volunteering with a school district food distribution effort and Thanksgiving event And at the meetings I ll never forget you know her emotions especially her and now several years later she s giving back to the public both of them And if that s not a testimony of something turning around I don t know what is You had stated at several point We used to be a close society Now it s like we don t know each other anymore Do you not feel that way anymore I think that we re beginning to rebuild and come back together And not too long ago I kind of analyzed like how is it that this is happening And it took a lot of work It took a new superintendent It took a new board The old chief of police is gone assistant chief is gone You have a new city council You have a new mayor And everybody when you go to these meetings you hear the word transparency you hear the word accountability and so everybody s practicing what they re preaching and so we hold each other to that So it s mending The Robb Elementary memorial in Uvalde in July Gus Bova In general what measures of accountability are you still closely watching and waiting for The former UCISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former UCISD officer Adrian Gonzales trial that s coming up and that the group just like the rest of the world sees and acknowledges the absolute failure of the different law enforcement responses You can only do so much as far as accountability legally And that is the only two individuals that were charged with anything which is beyond comprehension I mean there should have been so countless others that were also held accountable prosecuted But I m hoping that these two individuals will be held accountable whether it s a prison sentence or various type of discipline What happened three years ago really affected I would say millions of people because it was basically one of the worst incidents in modern American history Is there still anything for people who don t live there to do to assistance the families or to backing Uvalde as a society Definitely I think exercising something that doesn t cost any money and that s love and compassion You know whether it s through social media or you see them on TV or you run into them anywhere Just a simple gesture let the families know that you re with them and you think about them To me that s really key As far as the gun issue to me it s awareness be aware of your surroundings be aware of your loved ones if you see that they re troubled or whatever don t just ignore it don t let it build up You should not allow these kids and the teachers to die in vain There s gotta be something that comes out of it And whether it s just basic awareness or it mobilizes you or it engages you you become engaged in specific kind of movement you have to follow your instinct You have to follow what you think is right so that somebody else a few other group certain other family member doesn t have to go through this Because it does turn the town inside-out This interview has been edited for length and clarity The post Three Years Later an Uncle in Uvalde Searches for Solutions on School Board appeared 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