How Uvalde’s educators are shaping the future of their community
By: Anne BannisterPhotography by: Taylor Harrison
Being a campus or district leader means tackling an endless series of urgent tasks that challenge your resilience and resolve. These are complex, high-intensity roles requiring visionary leadership, tactical precision, and constant care for an entire community. And that’s just during ordinary times.
But for Uvalde, times are far from ordinary.
The Uvalde community carries a collective grief few can comprehend. This pain cannot be answered with logistics and policies – the path to healing and transformation starts with restoring hope.
Produced & edited by Anne Bannister; cinematography by Anne Bannister, John Jay Moreno, & Karen Wang
“They are the most beautiful people that I’ve ever met. They came to work on May 25th, and they have come to work every single day since, and done beautiful work for kids. To serve them has been a blessing every single day that I’ve been here.” Ashley chohlis, superintendent
“They are the most beautiful people that I’ve ever met. They came to work on May 25th, and they have come to work every single day since, and done beautiful work for kids. To serve them has been a blessing every single day that I’ve been here.”
Ashley Chohlis joined Uvalde CISD as superintendent in November of 2023, a year and a half after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that changed the community forever.
“I know what it feels like to lose your sense of safety and security in your own home, in your own community, and in your school,” Chohlis says, with the shared understanding of someone personally affected by gun violence.
Chohlis, from Sutherland Springs, Texas, lived just two miles from the site of another mass shooting in 2017, and one of her family members survived that tragedy. Chohlis was leading a nearby district and working to heighten school safety measures.
When Uvalde CISD began its search for new leadership, Chohlis felt a deep calling. “I felt compelled to apply for the job and come and do the work necessary to bring back a sense of safety and security in our schools and the community.”
She knows the road ahead is long and Chohlis says, “I want to make sure that Uvalde kids have opportunities and a future.”
She notes with gratitude her team’s strength and dedication. “They are the most beautiful people that I’ve ever met. They came to work on May 25th, and they have come to work every single day since, and done beautiful work for kids,” she says, her voice breaking. “To serve them has been a blessing every single day that I’ve been here.”
In her first semester, Chohlis prioritized listening to the needs of the community and her team. In her first full year at Uvalde CISD, Chohlis is focused on enhancing security measures and wrap-around support services, while maintaining high academic expectations. Her plans include expanding access to physical and mental health care through community partnerships, updating emergency response protocols, and improving instructional materials.
Her vision for the future is one of possibility and promise. “In Uvalde CISD three to five years from now, I hope to have strong systems for teaching and learning developed and implemented … That we are growing learners, that we’re growing leaders. That students feel safe and equipped to do everything they want when they leave us. That’s what I want.”
Ashley Chohlis, the superintendent of Uvalde CISD, and Patricia Merlos, the principal of Morales Junior High, discuss strategies for supporting teachers.
When an organization such as the Charles Butt Foundation invests in public education leaders, it not only impacts the leader, but it impacts our teachers, and it impacts our students. Ashley chohlis, superintendent
When an organization such as the Charles Butt Foundation invests in public education leaders, it not only impacts the leader, but it impacts our teachers, and it impacts our students.
Chohlis’ personal leadership journey reflects a long-standing programmatic goal of the Charles Butt Foundation: to cultivate educational leaders capable of transforming schools and communities.
In 2010, as a first-year principal in East Central ISD, Chohlis participated in the Raising School Leaders Harvard Leadership program, sponsored by the Charles Butt Foundation. To date, the program has served over 1600 school leaders across 20 regions of Texas. The experience, which included a weeklong institute at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and ongoing engagement with a network of Texas school leaders, inspired and empowered Chohlis.
“It was the most amazing professional development of my life,” Chohlis says. “Not only did we learn from the most amazing minds from across the country, but we also got to learn from each other and then continued to learn from each other as a network of leaders across the state … And it continues to this day.”
She fondly refers to her colleagues from the program as her “Harvard besties,” and says they remain a constant source of support. “We can call each other whenever we are stuck to think through the best course of action and the possible ripple effects … It’s being part of a network that will support you infinitely across your career.” The network has helped Chohlis solve challenges like funding shortages and better leveraging testing and measurement data.
In the years since, Chohlis has volunteered with the Foundation, interviewing candidates for the Charles Butt Scholarship for Aspiring Teachers and mentoring Charles Butt Scholars. She hopes to recruit some of these future teachers to Uvalde CISD.
In 2021, East Central ISD was selected to participate in the Holdsworth Partnership, a multi-year initiative aimed at developing stronger leaders within school districts. This program, provided by the Foundation’s sister organization, the Holdsworth Center, assists superintendents and central office staff in creating top-tier talent development systems. Through this training, Chohlis gained valuable insights into scaling leadership capacity within a school district. In 2024, after joining Uvalde CISD, she was selected for Holdsworth’s Superintendent Leadership Program, an 18-month program designed to help superintendents navigate unprecedented challenges.
The first session of the cohort helped leaders own their personal stories. “It was very impactful for understanding people’s motivation, how they lead, and why they lead. I realized I need to weave my leadership story into everything that we do, it’s what creates emotional connections to our path forward.” Cultivating trust and meaningful relationships is key for Chohlis as she helps Uvalde CISD navigate recovery.
Upcoming programming includes training and support for leading with vision and strategy, communication, navigating the external landscape, and building a high-performing executive team – all high-stakes and high-leverage aspects of the superintendent’s role.
Chohlis says the ripple effects of investing in leaders are felt throughout an entire district system. “When an organization such as the Charles Butt Foundation invests in public education leaders, it not only impacts the leader, but it impacts our teachers, and it impacts our students. When you have strong leadership on campus, it’s felt by the assistant principals. It’s felt by the counselors. It’s felt by the teachers. It’s felt by the students and the parents. The impact is far and wide because the leader is the strength, they’re the backbone.”
Top: Dr. Hector Lopez visits students at the New Hope Learning Center (daycare), which is joined to Crossroads Academy High School. Middle-left: Patricia Merlos supports teachers during a professional learning community (PLC) meeting. Middle-center: Sandra Gonzales leads students in song during indoor recess on a rainy day. Middle-right: Dr. Lopez conducts classroom observations. Bottom: Gonzales quizzes students on their learning objectives in Algebra class.
Last summer, the Charles Butt Foundation selected 30 school leaders from small and rural districts across Texas to participate in the latest Raising School Leaders cohort, including three principals from Uvalde CISD: Sandra Gonzales, Dr. Hector Lopez, and Patricia Merlos.
Gonzales and Lopez both have a long history with the school district.
Gonzales has served as an educator at Uvalde CISD for 40 years — as a teacher, instructional coach, and administrator. She currently leads Batesville School, a pre-kindergarten-8th grade campus serving about 100 students in Batesville, Texas, 20 minutes southeast of Uvalde. Some of her students’ families have attended the school for up to five generations. “It’s very much about family and traditions, culture, and just loving one another,” says Gonzales. “That’s one thing that I can say about Uvalde, regardless of what has happened to us, is that we still support and love each other.”
For Dr. Lopez, Uvalde CISD changed his future. He was born and raised in Chicago, where he dropped out of high school. When his grandmother decided to retire to Uvalde, Lopez went with her in search of a fresh start. He enrolled in and graduated from Uvalde CISD’s alternative high school. Now in his 20th year as an educator and 15th at Uvalde CISD, he’s had the opportunity to lead and grow his alma mater, now known as Crossroads Academy High School. Classes are structured as go-at-your-own-pace credit pathways. Students can graduate at any point in the semester after completing all their necessary course credits. Regular “Friday Flowers” celebrations honor any graduations that week and allow teachers to commend students for progress gains, high engagement, or classroom leadership.
Restorative education is the heart of Lopez’s work. He tells his personal story to connect with and motivate students who have also faced adversity, “The fact that I was able to leave an area that I was struggling in and find my success in the community equates Uvalde with an opportunity for success for me, and that’s something I’d like to pass on to our students as much as I can.”
Merlos, the principal at Morales Junior High, has served 25 years as a teacher, counselor, and assistant principal. She is entering her second year at Uvalde CISD. “They told me that the school was the hub, the center place for the community, and it is very much so. You have a mariachi concert or band concert, and everyone comes out, even members of the community that don’t have a child at the school.”
The Raising School Leaders cohort attended the Harvard Institute Achieving Excellence: Leadership Development for Principals (AEL), where they explored leadership strategies and developed action plans to tackle specific problems of practice on each of their campuses. Over the next academic year, the cohort will continue to meet monthly for collaborative support, accountability, and problem-solving.
Each of the Uvalde principals brought unique challenges to the table. Gonzales’ problem of practice focused on scaling coaching and formative evaluations for teachers with a small campus team. Lopez explored ways to drive the academic mission in a community still reeling and healing from tragedy. Merlos sought to balance trauma-informed teaching with maintaining academic rigor.
“We have to meet students’ needs and still teach them math, reading, and social-emotional skills,” Merlos explains.
All three principals returned from Harvard eager to apply their insights, which included building consensus around vision and values, strengthening school culture, enhancing communication with families, and expanding trauma-informed teaching practices.
At the end of August, we sat down with the three principals to hear about their experience at Harvard, key learnings they aim to implement, and what it means to lead a community healing from collective tragedy. Watch highlights from that conversation in the video below:
In three to five years, these leaders envision a Uvalde where students feel safe, well-supported, and fully prepared for life beyond the classroom. They hope the seeds planted today will grow into a future where Uvalde students, inspired by their education, return to strengthen their community.
“By the time they turn 18, 20, 21 we want them to have that dream job and be able to go off and do whatever they want to do, whatever career they choose, they are prepared and competitive,” Merlos reflects.
Lopez adds, “Our mission here is opening pathways to success through perpetual love, high expectations, and restorative education. When I think about five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, I hope that those seeds that we plant on a daily basis, we start seeing them in the form of, ‘I’m coming back to campus as a visitor or retiree down the road.’ At the doctor’s office, I’m being greeted by nurses and staff members who came up throughout the community. Just having that organic building process where folks are educated in this community, connected to this community, and as many as possible feel that drive to come back and give to our community.”
Strong leadership is at the heart of every thriving school community. By investing in leadership, we invest in the future of public education.
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