A former superintendent of the Taylor Independent School District has been named the interim top educator for Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, five months after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers.
Effective Nov. 1, Gary Patterson will take the helm at Uvalde CISD, taking the place of Hal Harrell, who is retiring in the wake of the May 24 tragedy.
Tim Crow, Taylor ISD’s communications and community liaison, said Patterson will help heal the beleaguered school district.
Since the shooting, parents have demanded resignations and clamored for answers, even as multiple investigations have been launched after officers waited 74 minutes before breaching the classroom where the gunman waited.
The assailant, 18-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos also died by gunfire when a tactical team stormed the room.
In Taylor, according to Crow, Patterson has a great reputation.
“Gary was superintendent here in the ‘90s,” Crow recalled. “He was our 14th superintendent in the history of the Taylor schools, replacing Herman Smith. I was principal at Northside Elementary when he was here, and during the construction of Pasemann Elementary, Gary named me as the principal to open that new school. Later, after a total of 11 years in administration, when I asked to go back to the classroom to teach, he supported me in that decision as well. He was calm and supportive in how he handled the leadership role, so I can see how he would be good for the healing in Uvalde.” Former Taylor ISD Superintendent Mike Caplinger, who held the post from 19791987, said he got to know Patterson after he had moved on to a different school district through informal meals between area superintendents during state conferences.
“We would get with two or three other guys, and I would talk with him about how things in Taylor were going, that sort of thing,” Caplinger said. “I can’t say I got to know him real well, but what I know of him, I found him to be a compassionate, very caring individual.”
Caplinger said he could see Patterson’s personality being a good fit for a school district going through several daunting challenges at once, including handling the ongoing investigations, the construction of a new elementary school campus, and a community still in grief. “(Patterson) has a very calm demeanor, and he is very personable with people,” Caplinger said. “He will take time to talk with you, and I think maybe they were looking for someone that had those types of skills, someone who cared about people, you know, who would look them in the eye, and have some compassion with them, because I think that is the kind of superintendent they are going to have to have. He fits that bill.”
Officials have not said when they are going to name a permanent superintendent
in Uvalde.
