Latest news with #RobbElementarySchool
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Map Shows Countries Around World With School Phone Bans
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation on Friday banning students from using cellphones at school, marking the latest development in a trend that is growing nationally and worldwide. House Bill 1481 requires public schools and open-enrollment charter schools to implement policies prohibiting students from using a "personal communication device" during school hours. The policy also requires the school to adopt punishments for students found using these devices. Devices will be allowed if they are necessary for an educational program, if the student has a doctor's note, or if it is required to comply with health or safety regulations. Supporters of bans restricting cellphone use in school argue that the devices are distracting students. In Texas, 85 percent of teachers in the Richardson Independent School District reported that they got instructional time back under the district's cellphone ban, according to FOX 7 Austin. Critics argue that the devices are necessary for safety reasons. Students at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde used cellphones to call for help during a school shooting in 2022. Bans on cellphone usage in schools are in effect in many nations around the world, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Ghana, and the United Arab Emirates. The bans often have certain exceptions, including phone use for educational purposes or to accommodate students with disabilities. Some countries, such as Latvia, only ban cellphone usage among younger students. Other countries, such as Mexico, Canada, Indonesia, Bolivia, Spain, and Germany, have regional bans on the use of cellphones in schools. Alabama Arkansas California Connecticut Delaware Florida Indiana Louisiana Minnesota Ohio Oklahoma Pennsylvania South Carolina Texas Virginia Washington Texas State Senator Brandon Creighton, in a statement: "Texas educators have increasingly voiced concerns about cell phones disrupting the classroom, and the data backs them up. Over 70 percent of national high school teachers say that cell phone distraction is one of the major problems that cause disruption." U.K. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, in a statement: "Schools are places for children to learn and mobile phones are, at a minimum, an unwanted distraction in the classroom. We are giving our hard-working teachers the tools to take action to help improve behaviour and to allow them to do what they do best – teach." School boards in Texas were given 90 days to adopt the new cellphone policy. Globally, several countries are reportedly considering nationwide bans on cellphones during school hours. Do you have a story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@ Related Articles Oldest Manager in MLB Bans Players From Using Cell PhonesT-Mobile Data Breach: How To See If You're Eligible For $25,000 PayoutApple iPhone 16e Vs. iPhone 16: Key Features, Pricing, and DifferencesApple iPhone 16e With 'Breakthrough Battery Life' Announced 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Newsweek
a day ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Map Shows Countries Around World With School Phone Bans
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation on Friday banning students from using cellphones at school, marking the latest development in a trend that is growing nationally and worldwide. House Bill 1481 requires public schools and open-enrollment charter schools to implement policies prohibiting students from using a "personal communication device" during school hours. The policy also requires the school to adopt punishments for students found using these devices. Devices will be allowed if they are necessary for an educational program, if the student has a doctor's note, or if it is required to comply with health or safety regulations. Why It Matters Supporters of bans restricting cellphone use in school argue that the devices are distracting students. In Texas, 85 percent of teachers in the Richardson Independent School District reported that they got instructional time back under the district's cellphone ban, according to FOX 7 Austin. Critics argue that the devices are necessary for safety reasons. Students at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde used cellphones to call for help during a school shooting in 2022. What To Know Bans on cellphone usage in schools are in effect in many nations around the world, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Ghana, and the United Arab Emirates. The bans often have certain exceptions, including phone use for educational purposes or to accommodate students with disabilities. Some countries, such as Latvia, only ban cellphone usage among younger students. Other countries, such as Mexico, Canada, Indonesia, Bolivia, Spain, and Germany, have regional bans on the use of cellphones in schools. States With School Cellphone Bans Alabama Arkansas California Connecticut Delaware Florida Indiana Louisiana Minnesota Ohio Oklahoma Pennsylvania South Carolina Texas Virginia Washington What People Are Saying Texas State Senator Brandon Creighton, in a statement: "Texas educators have increasingly voiced concerns about cell phones disrupting the classroom, and the data backs them up. Over 70 percent of national high school teachers say that cell phone distraction is one of the major problems that cause disruption." U.K. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, in a statement: "Schools are places for children to learn and mobile phones are, at a minimum, an unwanted distraction in the classroom. We are giving our hard-working teachers the tools to take action to help improve behaviour and to allow them to do what they do best – teach." What Happens Next School boards in Texas were given 90 days to adopt the new cellphone policy. Globally, several countries are reportedly considering nationwide bans on cellphones during school hours. Do you have a story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How 'Uvalde Mom' director Anayansi Prado captured the heart of a town in trauma
Three years ago, an armed young man entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 students and two teachers. Hundreds of law enforcement officials reportedly stood around the school campus for more than an hour without approaching the shooter. In the midst of the inaction, one mom — Angeli Rose Gomez — pleaded with officers to take action or let her go in to get her two children and nephew. She was apprehended and handcuffed, but ultimately talked her way out of arrest before she sprinted inside the school to grab the kids. Videos on social media captured the moments that Gomez brought her sons and nephew out of the school. The Texas field worker and mother of two was quickly dubbed a hero in national and local publications for her courage. The new documentary film "Uvalde Mom" follows Gomez after becoming nationally recognized — while examining the forces at play in the Uvalde community which allowed for the shooting to take place, as well as the aftermath of such a tragedy. "All I wanted that day was my kids to come out of the school alive, and that's what I got," Gomez says in one pivotal moment in the film. "I don't want to be called a hero. I don't want to be looked at as the hero because the only job that I did that day was being a mom." Read more: Abcarian: The pathetic lessons of the Uvalde school shooting in Texas The feature's director Anayansi Prado was "moved" and "horrified" by what had happened and felt motivated to make a film about the event after seeing members of the affected families on TV. "I saw that there were Latinos, they were Mexican American, that it was a border town, that it was an agricultural farming town, and that really resonated with me and with communities I've done film work with before," Prado told The Times. Prado began reaching out to people in Uvalde shortly after the shooting, but didn't hear back from anyone for over two months due to the inundation of media requests everyone in the city was receiving. The only person to reply to her was Gomez. Ahead of the film's screening Saturday at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Prado spoke with The Times about the process and the challenges of making her documentary. This interview has been edited and shortened for clarity. Was the idea always for this project to be a feature-length film? Or were there talks of making it a short or a series? I've always thought about it as a feature because I really wanted to dive in and understand Uvalde as a character. I wanted to understand the history of the criminal justice system, the educational system. I knew I wanted to make something that was going to be of a longer form rather than just a piece that was about Angeli or something. And a few people told me this would make a great short, but as I uncovered more about Uvalde, I was like, "No, Uvalde itself has its own history, just like a person." Read more: Families of Uvalde school shooting victims are suing Texas state police over botched response When it came to choosing Angeli, was she the first and only person who responded to your outreach? I think the people in town were oversaturated with media coverage, and Angeli was the one that got back to me. What was really interesting is that I learned on that first trip [to Uvalde] about her backstory and I learned about how the criminal justice system had failed her. I saw a parallel there of how the system failed the community the day of the shooting and how it was failing this woman also individually. I wanted to play with those two stories, the macro and the personal. Once I learned who she was, beyond the mom who ran into the school, I was like, "I have to tell this woman's story." How did you go about balancing her personal stuff and the failures that happened on a larger scale? So much of the way the film is structured is reflective of my own experience as a filmmaker. It was a sort of surreal world, these two worlds were going on: what was happening to Angeli and then what was going on outside with the lack of accountability and the cover-up. So that informed the way that I wanted to structure the film. In terms of the personal, it was a journey to gain Angeli's trust. At some point at the beginning, she wasn't sure she wanted to participate in the film, and so I told her, "You don't owe me anything. I'm a stranger, but all I ask is that you give me a chance to earn your trust." And she was like, "OK." From there on, she opened up and, pretty quickly, we became close and she trusted me. I was very cognizant [of] her legal past and even the way she's perceived by some folks. I also didn't want Angeli to come off as a victim and people to feel sorry for her, but I still wanted to tell her story in a way where you get mad at the system for failing her. What kind of struggles did you have trying to get in communication with some of the officials of the city? We used a lot of news [archives] to represent that part of the story. The [authorities] weren't giving any interviews, they were just holding press conferences. So access was limited, but also the majority of the time that we were filming, we were very low-key about the production — because Angeli was on probation and there was retaliation for her speaking to the media. We tried to keep it under wraps that we were filming, so not a lot of people knew about it [besides] her family. Obviously other folks in town [were] part of the film, like her friend Tina and family members. Outside of that, it was too risky to let other people in town know what was going on. Read more: Justice Department report finds 'cascading failures,' 'no urgency' in Uvalde shooting response Ultimately I wanted to make ["Uvalde Mome"] a personal portrait. I was just very selective on the people that we absolutely needed to interview. I'm happy with Tina, who's an activist in town, and Arnie, a survivor of the shooting and a school teacher, [plus] Angeli's legal team. I felt like those were people we needed to tell a fuller story. But we just couldn't be out in the open making a film about her and let people know. What kind of reception have you gotten from people of Uvalde that have seen the film? We had our premiere at South by Southwest, which was great. A lot of folks came from Uvalde and spoke about how, almost three years later, a lot of this stuff is still going on. Every time Gov. Greg Abbott came on-screen, people would scream, "Loser!" It was really moving to have those screenings. As was expected from the folks who are not fans of Angeli, there was some backlash. It's the same narrative you see in the film of, "She's a criminal, don't believe her." It's a town that is an open wound. I just try to have compassion for people. Ultimately, Angeli's story is the story of one person in Uvalde of many that need to continue to be told. And I hope that other filmmakers, journalists and other storytellers continue to tell the story there, especially with the lack of closure and accountability. I'm happy that the film is putting Uvalde back into the headlines in some way; that way we don't forget about it. Had you ever spent an extended amount of time in Texas before? I had been to Texas, but I hadn't done a project in Texas. Because I'm an outsider, it was very important for me to hire a 100% local Texas crew for this film. My crew was entirely Texas-based, from our PAs to our sound to our DPs. I also wanted to have a majority Texas-born Mexican American crew so that they could guide me. We began production in September of 2022 and the atmosphere was very tense. This is a story that is deeply rooted in the Latino community and the tension about the law enforcement in Uvalde. What was it like dealing with that tension and how did you personally feel that when you went into the town? When I got to Uvalde, I saw that the majority of the Latino community had been there for several generations. You would think a town with that kind of Mexican American history, and them being the majority, that they'd be pretty cemented and represented, right? It was really eye-opening to see [how] these folks are still considered second-class citizens. A lot of them are being repressed. And then you have folks that get in positions of power, but they're whitewashed in line with the white conservative agenda. So even those that are able to get into positions of power don't lean towards the community. They turn their back on it. I heard from folks that the history of neglect was what led to the response that day at Robb Elementary. And they're like, "Yeah, that's what happens on that side of town. You call the cops, they don't come. Our schools are run-down." You really see the disparity. This was a Mexican American community that had been there for a long time. It's fascinating how the conservative white community, even if they're the smaller part of the population, they can still hold the power. Get our Latinx Files newsletter for stories that capture the complexity of our communities. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
29-05-2025
- Los Angeles Times
How ‘Uvalde Mom' director Anayansi Prado captured the heart of a town in trauma
Three years ago, an armed young man entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 students and two teachers. Hundreds of law enforcement officials reportedly stood around the school campus for more than an hour without approaching the shooter. In the midst of the inaction, one mom — Angeli Rose Gomez — pleaded with officers to take action or let her go in to get her two children and nephew. She was apprehended and handcuffed, but ultimately talked her way out of arrest before she sprinted inside the school to grab the kids. Videos on social media captured the moments that Gomez brought her sons and nephew out of the school. The Texas field worker and mother of two was quickly dubbed a hero in national and local publications for her courage. The new documentary film 'Uvalde Mom' follows Gomez after becoming nationally recognized — while examining the forces at play in the Uvalde community which allowed for the shooting to take place, as well as the aftermath of such a tragedy. 'All I wanted that day was my kids to come out of the school alive, and that's what I got,' Gomez says in one pivotal moment in the film. 'I don't want to be called a hero. I don't want to be looked at as the hero because the only job that I did that day was being a mom.' The feature's director Anayansi Prado was 'moved' and 'horrified' by what had happened and felt motivated to make a film about the event after seeing members of the affected families on TV. 'I saw that there were Latinos, they were Mexican American, that it was a border town, that it was an agricultural farming town, and that really resonated with me and with communities I've done film work with before,' Prado told The Times. Prado began reaching out to people in Uvalde shortly after the shooting, but didn't hear back from anyone for over two months due to the inundation of media requests everyone in the city was receiving. The only person to reply to her was Gomez. Ahead of the film's screening Saturday at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Prado spoke with The Times about the process and the challenges of making her documentary. This interview has been edited and shortened for clarity. Was the idea always for this project to be a feature-length film? Or were there talks of making it a short or a series? I've always thought about it as a feature because I really wanted to dive in and understand Uvalde as a character. I wanted to understand the history of the criminal justice system, the educational system. I knew I wanted to make something that was going to be of a longer form rather than just a piece that was about Angeli or something. And a few people told me this would make a great short, but as I uncovered more about Uvalde, I was like, 'No, Uvalde itself has its own history, just like a person.' When it came to choosing Angeli, was she the first and only person who responded to your outreach? I think the people in town were oversaturated with media coverage, and Angeli was the one that got back to me. What was really interesting is that I learned on that first trip [to Uvalde] about her backstory and I learned about how the criminal justice system had failed her. I saw a parallel there of how the system failed the community the day of the shooting and how it was failing this woman also individually. I wanted to play with those two stories, the macro and the personal. Once I learned who she was, beyond the mom who ran into the school, I was like, 'I have to tell this woman's story.' How did you go about balancing her personal stuff and the failures that happened on a larger scale? So much of the way the film is structured is reflective of my own experience as a filmmaker. It was a sort of surreal world, these two worlds were going on: what was happening to Angeli and then what was going on outside with the lack of accountability and the cover-up. So that informed the way that I wanted to structure the film. In terms of the personal, it was a journey to gain Angeli's trust. At some point at the beginning, she wasn't sure she wanted to participate in the film, and so I told her, 'You don't owe me anything. I'm a stranger, but all I ask is that you give me a chance to earn your trust.' And she was like, 'OK.' From there on, she opened up and, pretty quickly, we became close and she trusted me. I was very cognizant [of] her legal past and even the way she's perceived by some folks. I also didn't want Angeli to come off as a victim and people to feel sorry for her, but I still wanted to tell her story in a way where you get mad at the system for failing her. What kind of struggles did you have trying to get in communication with some of the officials of the city? We used a lot of news [archives] to represent that part of the story. The [authorities] weren't giving any interviews, they were just holding press conferences. So access was limited, but also the majority of the time that we were filming, we were very low-key about the production — because Angeli was on probation and there was retaliation for her speaking to the media. We tried to keep it under wraps that we were filming, so not a lot of people knew about it [besides] her family. Obviously other folks in town [were] part of the film, like her friend Tina and family members. Outside of that, it was too risky to let other people in town know what was going on. Ultimately I wanted to make ['Uvalde Mome'] a personal portrait. I was just very selective on the people that we absolutely needed to interview. I'm happy with Tina, who's an activist in town, and Arnie, a survivor of the shooting and a school teacher, [plus] Angeli's legal team. I felt like those were people we needed to tell a fuller story. But we just couldn't be out in the open making a film about her and let people know. What kind of reception have you gotten from people of Uvalde that have seen the film? We had our premiere at South by Southwest, which was great. A lot of folks came from Uvalde and spoke about how, almost three years later, a lot of this stuff is still going on. Every time Gov. Greg Abbott came on-screen, people would scream, 'Loser!' It was really moving to have those screenings. As was expected from the folks who are not fans of Angeli, there was some backlash. It's the same narrative you see in the film of, 'She's a criminal, don't believe her.' It's a town that is an open wound. I just try to have compassion for people. Ultimately, Angeli's story is the story of one person in Uvalde of many that need to continue to be told. And I hope that other filmmakers, journalists and other storytellers continue to tell the story there, especially with the lack of closure and accountability. I'm happy that the film is putting Uvalde back into the headlines in some way; that way we don't forget about it. Had you ever spent an extended amount of time in Texas before? I had been to Texas, but I hadn't done a project in Texas. Because I'm an outsider, it was very important for me to hire a 100% local Texas crew for this film. My crew was entirely Texas-based, from our PAs to our sound to our DPs. I also wanted to have a majority Texas-born Mexican American crew so that they could guide me. We began production in September of 2022 and the atmosphere was very tense. This is a story that is deeply rooted in the Latino community and the tension about the law enforcement in Uvalde. What was it like dealing with that tension and how did you personally feel that when you went into the town? When I got to Uvalde, I saw that the majority of the Latino community had been there for several generations. You would think a town with that kind of Mexican American history, and them being the majority, that they'd be pretty cemented and represented, right? It was really eye-opening to see [how] these folks are still considered second-class citizens. A lot of them are being repressed. And then you have folks that get in positions of power, but they're whitewashed in line with the white conservative agenda. So even those that are able to get into positions of power don't lean towards the community. They turn their back on it. I heard from folks that the history of neglect was what led to the response that day at Robb Elementary. And they're like, 'Yeah, that's what happens on that side of town. You call the cops, they don't come. Our schools are run-down.' You really see the disparity. This was a Mexican American community that had been there for a long time. It's fascinating how the conservative white community, even if they're the smaller part of the population, they can still hold the power.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Yahoo
Uvalde school shooting: Where things stand 3 years later
The Brief 19 students and two teachers were killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting on May 24, 2022. A candlelight vigil will be held in Uvalde on Saturday night. Former Uvalde CISD police chief Pete Arredondo and officer Adrian Gonzales are expected to face trial later this year. UVALDE, Texas - Saturday marks 3 years since the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. On May 24, 2022, 19 children and two teachers were killed when an 18-year-old gunman entered the school's campus and opened fire inside a fourth grade classroom. 19 Robb Elementary students were killed in the shooting. Xavier Javier Lopez, 10 Amerie Jo Garza, 10 Uziyah Garcia, 8 Rojelio Torres, 10 Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10 Nevaeh Bravo, 10 Makenna Lee Elrod, 10 Eliahana 'Elijah Cruz' Torres, 10 Eliana 'Ellie' Garcia, 9 Alithia Ramirez, 10 Jacklyn "Jackie" Cazares, 9 Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10 Jailah Nicole Silguero, 11 Jose Flores Jr, 10 Alexandria "Lexi" Aniyah Rubio, 10 Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10 Tess "Tessy" Marie Mata, 10 Maranda Gail Mathis, 11 Layla Salazar, 10 Fourth-grade co-teachers 48-year-old Irma Garcia and 44-year-old Eva Mireles were also killed. Family members said at the time both died trying to protect their students. What's next A public candlelight vigil, organized by family members of the victims, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Uvalde Amphitheatre. A private event will be held earlier in the night. In 2024, the Department of Justice released a nearly 600-page report detailing the 'cascading failures' by law enforcement on May 24, 2022. Nearly 400 law enforcement officials responded to the campus, but waited for 77 minutes before entering the classroom and confronting the 18-year-old shooter. The police response included nearly 150 U.S. Border Patrol agents and 91 state police officials, as well as school and city police. While dozens of officers stood in the hallway trying to figure out what to do, students inside the classroom called 911 on cellphones, begging for help, and desperate parents who had gathered outside the building pleaded with officers to go in. A tactical team eventually entered the classroom and killed the shooter. The report talked about the vast array of problems from failed communication and leadership, to the inadequate training and technology used by police. A private investigator hired by the city cleared Uvalde city police of missteps. Austin-based investigator Jesse Prado presented his findings in March 2024. Prado stated the department did not commit any wrongdoing or violate any policy. Former Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo and school police officer Adrian Gonzales are the only two members of law enforcement to face charges in connection to the shooting. Arredondo and Gonzales were both indicted in July 2024 on multiple counts of child endangerment. Both have pleaded not guilty. Arrendondo, the incident commander, has said he believes he was "scapegoated" for his role in the response. In December, a Texas judge refused to throw out the criminal charges against the former school police chief. Both Arrendondo and Gonzales are scheduled to go to trial in October, according to the Associated Press. This April, Uvalde City Council unanimously approved a settlement with families affected by the Robb Elementary School shooting. The passage came 11 months after the families announced they agreed to a $2 million settlement with the city. Attorneys representing the 19 families of the victims said at the time they were accepting the city insurance payment because the families did not want to hurt the financial status of the city they live in. As a part of the agreement, city leaders promised higher standards and "enhanced training" for current and future police. The city will also build a memorial to the victims and offer resources to support mental health. The city will also pay for the upkeep of the children's graves. A bill dubbed the 'Uvalde Strong Act' passed the Texas Legislature earlier this week. Texas House Rep. Don McLaughlin, who was mayor of Uvalde at the time of the attack and has been actively seeking change to law enforcement policy since, says the bill would correct problems with training that led to police hesitancy in the shooting. The bill would require officers and school officials to meet annually for active shooter response plan development. It also increases officer training specifically for school shooter responses at primary and secondary school campuses. Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign the bill into law. The Source Information in this article comes from past FOX reporting, Uvalde County court records, the Texas Legislature and the Department of Justice.
