Dear Canutillo Community,
Our hearts skipped a beat this Wednesday when news broke out that a shooting had taken place at the food court of Cielo Vista Mall – mere yards away from the site of the senseless attack on El Paso that happened on Aug. 3, 2019, at a nearby Walmart. For hours, we all fielded and made calls to family and friends to make sure our loved ones were ok. Unfortunately, for the family of one person, those calls went unanswered.
It’s too early to know exactly what happened, but we do know that one person was shot and killed and three others were injured in what police believe was a “random” act of violence between two groups at the mall.
I had originally planned on writing about the shooting at Michigan State University that left three students dead and five others injured, and how for some students there this was the second time they experienced a mass shooting at their school. But now, with violence once again knocking at our door, it is important for us to address this issue.
Whether your stance on gun control is for or against this issue, I believe we can all agree that no matter what guns do not belong in schools. Our students need to feel safe when they walk into our campuses because a student who is more concerned about his or her safety is a student who is not giving 100 percent of their attention to learning.
School districts continue to tackle the issue of safety and while I’m heartened by the level of cooperation that exists among law enforcement agencies and our schools, I am also worried that an incident of violence is only a matter of time for some of us. Rest assured that we are doing everything we can to prevent it, and that our safety and security team is training and preparing our students, staff and parents on how best to react in case something goes wrong. But it is unfortunate that we have spend precious time and resources on this, instead of high-level instruction.
Either way, I pledge to continue to work to provide the safest-possible learning environments for our students and staff. Our kids deserve as much.
In happier news, I want to welcome our newest CISD Board of Trustees member, Mr. Bobby Simental. The Board of Trustees earlier this week appointed Mr. Simental to fill an unexpired term on the Board. He is a passionate supporter of Canutillo and its students, and he will do a great job of representing the interest of our kids and taxpayers. ¡Bienvenido!
I hope you have a restful and peaceful weekend, Canutillo. Hug your loved ones and tell them you love them.
Sincerely,
Dr. Pedro Galaviz
Superintendent of Schools
Canutillo Independent School District