The Fort Worth ISD School Board voted Tuesday evening on a resolution to ask Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to call a special legislative session before the school year starts to address mass shootings and gun violence.
"The Board of Trustees of the Fort Worth Independent School District call upon the governor to include common sense firearm policies that protect our most precious Texas resource, our children," states the resolution.
"Uvalde was horrifying for many reasons, including the fact that I lost two extended family members and this has happened way too often in the United States and Texas," said Dr. Camille Rodriguez, a trustee who represents District 1.
"The proposal is in no way partisan, we simply want to work with our state and local officials to address this issue," explained Rodriguez about the symbolic vote.
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One board member did not vote for the resolution, because he felt like it would be political.
"We’re doing everything we can to take care of our kids, but I just saw that as a political move last night and the safety of our kids has to be non-political. I wasn’t going to vote against not trying to take care of our kids, but not going to vote for any politics that comes into school, all we’re trying to do is keep our kids safe, that’s why I abstained," said Trustee Michael Ryan, who represents District 7.
He said he sits on the safety and security committee for the district, and while he couldn't go into specifics, said they are working to make sure each school is secure.
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"There’s a lot of information that we won’t talk to anybody about because we don’t want them to know everything that we’re doing, but at the same time, we want every parent and every child to feel safe," explained Ryan.
It's a topic of discussion for many families, even during the summer months.
"School is about to start, and what have we done in the time that happened in Uvalde until now," said Jake Gill, a father of two and husband of an FWISD teacher. "It's a crazy world we live in and it's scary when you think about your kids going to school and something like that happening."
NBC 5 asked the governor about the resolution during an exclusive interview Wednesday afternoon. The interview with the governor is below.
Abbott said that he and lawmakers are "working right now to make sure that our schools will be safer" and that the state "will be working more effectively with schools and their students to address [the] mental health needs of those who need it."
