Parents across El Paso told KFOX14 they are reluctant to send their children to school after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Parents said they are worried that when they drop their children off at school, they might not be picking them up.
“I was heartbroken. I cried because most of those students were in fourth grade, my son in third grade,” said Ashley Garcia, a parent of two children ages five and eight.
She said homeschooling is now her only option even if that means her kids will miss out.
“I want them to go. I want them to know what it is to be in school like middle school and high school, but if stuff like this continues and I don’t see no change at all then, of course, I’m not gonna send them back,” said Garcia.
Garcia said when she pulled her kids out of school, they already knew why.
“Yesterday he came upstairs and said, 'I know why you’re scared now, I know why you’re worried'. When he told me he’s all like its cause of what happened to those kids, my heart broke,” said Garcia.
She said the fear of losing her kids is overwhelming.
“I feel like I’m doing my parts what I can as a parent. Some people might not agree, some people will say like it could happen anywhere, but if I could just keep them safer then that’s what I have to do,” said Garcia.
She said she’s not taking her kids back until there’s more security at children’s elementary school and hopes to see more measures being in the future.
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