UVALDE, Texas – Update: The meeting has concluded.
The Uvalde CISD school board will consult an attorney during a closed session this week in regards to Pete Arredondo’s delayed termination hearing.
According to the school board’s agenda for its next meeting on Monday evening, the closed session will include an attorney consultation about Arredondo’s termination hearing and “procedural rules, legal representation and updates on legal issues surrounding Robb Elementary property.”
It’s unknown if any decisions will be made on Arredondo’s termination during the closed session.
Before the board heads to the closed session, board members will hear from citizens in an open forum.
The consultation comes after two previous UCISD board meetings postponed his termination, both at the request of Arredondo’s attorney. His fate was supposed to have been originally decided on July 22.
UCISD Superintendent Hal Harrell recommended Arredondo’s firing after being blamed for the botched law enforcement response to the massacre at Robb Elementary School that claimed 21 lives on May 24.
Arredondo was placed on paid administrative leave by the district nearly one month after the shooting. Lt. Mike Hernandez has since resumed his duties.
Since the shooting at Robb Elementary, the Uvalde community has criticized the school board for not holding Arredondo accountable and a lack of security at the school prior to the shooting, The Associated Press reports.
Arredondo is the chief of a six-person department, and he was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the Robb Elementary shooting -- the worst school shooting in Texas history. Law enforcement waited over an hour before confronting the shooter, and the blame has largely fallen on Arredondo.
Regular UCISD school board meetings are held on the third Monday each month, at 6:30 p.m. You can learn more here.