A new elementary school is scheduled to open Friday in Uvalde more than three years after 19 elementary students and two teachers were killed in the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.
Fort Worth philanthropic leaders jump-started a more than $60 million fundraising effort to build the campus that replaces Robb Elementary.
Uvalde school leaders plan to hold a ribbon cutting Friday for Legacy Elementary. The new campus is expected to welcome students later in October.
Beverly Powell, a former state senator, assembled a coalition of Fort Worth groups to build the school. Powell plans to attend the opening of Legacy Elementary.
“I’m delighted that we’re here. It’s been a long, long journey, but it’s one of those that really warms your heart,” said Powell, who also previously served on the Burleson school board.
The fundraising effort was filled with love and kindness from across Texas and the nation, Powell said.
On May 24, 2022, a teenage gunman entered Robb and began opening fire, killing the children and educators. Community leaders decided to close that campus after the mass shooting and build a new school using donations.
Tim Miller, executive director of the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation, said the three-year endeavor was a collaborative process that happened only because so many people stepped up.
“We appreciate the generosity of the hundreds of individuals, businesses, foundations and other organizations that contributed the monetary and in-kind donations that have made Legacy Elementary School a reality,” Miller said.
And it all started with Fort Worth.
“Fort Worth, Dallas and the North Texas community made a huge commitment to this project,” Powell said. “I will be forever grateful that they kicked it off in a way that allowed us to go from Fort Worth to Dallas on to Houston, Austin, San Antonio and pulled the whole state together.”
Fort Worth-based architect Chris Huckabee was instrumental in delivering the new school to Uvalde, Powell and Miller said.
Huckabee’s architecture firm designed Legacy Elementary — for free — using principles of trauma-informed architecture that’s meant to help the community in healing.
The design of the school embraces the nature surrounding Uvalde, the city’s culture and memories of the lives lost at Robb, including a mural reflecting the area’s honey farm industry that depicts 19 little bees flying after two big bees.
“It demonstrates the true nature of Texans to always be ready to help other Texans to have the support from members of the North Texas community,” Miller said.
The new school would not have been possible without the fundraising effort, Powell said. As a rural district, Uvalde CISD does not have the same funding resources as an urban or suburban school system.
“So many people came together to provide this for the children,” Powell said. “It inspires an awful lot of hope.”
Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez.
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