Uvalde shooting: Fear and anxiety as students restart school

Parents and students at an Uvalde school to meet teachers on 30 August

Parents in Uvalde, Texas faced tough choices ahead of schools reopening on Tuesday, with many still fearing for the safety of their children just months after a shooting left 19 students and two teachers dead.

Some have opted for private or online education in the wake of the shooting at Robb Elementary School on 24 May.

Robb's former students have now been split between two other schools.

Local officials have also introduced new security measures in the area.

Ahead of the start of the school year, some local parents said they felt anxious or frightened about their children returning to class. Many in the small, close-knit community were personally acquainted with the victims of the shooting, or their families.

"I'm just nervous, scared," Ashley Morales, the mother of a third grader, told CBS. "Oh my gosh, it's actually going to happen...school is going to start."

Local officials and schools announced a variety of new safety measures ahead of the new school year, including an 8ft (2.4m) fence around a local elementary school, hundreds of additional security cameras and an expanded police presence with more than three dozen Texas state troopers deployed to local schools.

The local school district has also vowed to offer more mental health resources to students. Families were also given the option of sending their children to online classes.

Vincent Salazar - whose granddaughter Laila was among those killed in the shooting - said that for many families in the trauma-stricken town, the new measures are "not going to make people feel safe."

"It's not going to make a difference," he said. "People do not feel safe in Uvalde."

• Texas victims: 'They were sweet kids and lovable'

• The teachers who died trying to save their pupils

Another local resident, Adam Martinez, told the Texas Tribune in mid-August that he opted to send his two children to online classes after his son expressed doubts about the new security measures.

"He told me 'who cares if there's cops? They're not going to do anything anyway, they're scared."

Some residents have told local media that they're exploring home-schooling options rather than send their children back to local schools.

Police in Uvalde have come under intense scrutiny since the shooting.

A report later compiled by the state legislature highlighted a lack of leadership and urgency and described a "lackadaisical" response to the shooting.