Canutillo ISD ignores ABC-7’s open records request following a senior prank involving water guns
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- ABC-7 submitted a complaint to the Texas Attorney General's Office against Canutillo Independent School District. This comes after the district failed to respond to our open records request.
ABC-7 asked the district to release surveillance footage of an incident that involved what school officials described as a senior prank using water guns in the school's gym. The incident happened on March 28, just one day after a school shooting in Nashville that left six dead.
In early April, Canutillo ISD's communications director, Gustavo Reveles, said a group of seniors at the school had participated in 'senior assassin,' a game that involves players being assigned a target that they're supposed to tag out. The game is popular amongst teenagers and banned by some schools.
"We were able to confiscate these guns. We saw the incident happen, and the students faced appropriate disciplinary action," Gustavo Reveles said in an April 5 interview with ABC-7. "So what we have here is a case of students participating in a student prank, a senior prank that was just in bad taste and really goes against the student conduct."
On the day of the April 5 interview with Reveles, ABC-7 asked him if he viewed the gym's surveillance video and he said yes. We also asked if there was anyone in the gym other than the seniors, who were playing the game, and he said no.
ABC-7 filed the open records request on April 5.
Under the Texas Public Information Act, a governmental body has 10 days to release the information, however, public information is supposed to be released promptly. If a governmental body believes the information is not public, it can ask the Texas Attorney General's Office for an opinion.
We've reached out several times to Gustavo Reveles since the April 5 request. We also reached out to the Superintendent Pedro Galaviz on Tuesday, May 16.
So far, ABC-7 has not received a response.
According to the Canutillo High School’s website, graduation is May 31.
