Hope and Resilience: Kerrville ISD Returns to School After Tragedy
After the tragic flood that struck the Kerrville community, the district journeys through healing and finds a way back to normalcy at the start of the school year.
In the early morning of July 4, a catastrophic flood in the Texas Hill Country claimed the lives of 119 people in Kerr County.
Heavy rains caused the river to rise 36 feet, according to The Texas Tribune. In addition to the lives lost, the flood caused extensive property damage, forever affecting the lives of Kerr County residents.
Kerrville ISD was quick to respond to the crisis. Bus drivers from the district braved dangerous conditions to help evacuate those stranded in flood-impacted areas. The drivers included teachers, coaches, and principals. Among them was Superintendent Dr. Brent Ringo, who hopped into his pickup truck to help—a memory forever seared into his mind.
“I’m not going to ask the bus drivers to go out there and not go myself,” Ringo says. “So I went out in my pickup. It was 5:25 p.m., and when I saw the name pop up, it was the owner of Camp La Junta. I thought, ‘That’s odd. She’s calling me at 5:25.’ She said, ‘Hey, my camp is devastated. It’s gone. I’ve got 400 campers and counselors. We’re all accounted for, and we need out of here. If nobody comes, it’s going to be dark, there’s no lights, and we don’t have food.’”
Crossing Junction Highway, flood damage was visible everywhere.
“You’d see cars that aren’t even near the river that [were] mangled and destroyed,” Ringo says. “Pickups mangled and destroyed. Homes gone. Parts of homes gone. Then we came up to Schumacher Crossing, which is a low-water crossing, and the gravel road had been washed out. There were 4- to 6-inch drops in the road from the debris that came through.”
“Our community is going to take years to recover from this, but I think that sense of hope and resiliency was there. We really felt this sense that this experience has drawn us closer together.”
Brent Ringo
Dr. Brent Ringo is the superintendent of Kerrville ISD, where he leads with a hands-on, community-focused approach.
The roads were treacherous for Ringo and the bus drivers, but they pressed on to Camp La Junta.
“Our busses were bouncing through that bridge,” he says gesturing with his hand. “When I say bouncing, they were bouncing up and down. These drops, the debris, and getting to the camps—we didn’t know what we would see.”
The arrival at Camp La Junta was somber, with children lined up, ready to be evacuated.
“These campers at Camp La Junta were wearing T-shirts and shorts, and many of them had no shoes,” Ringo says, “It’s what they went to bed in, and they were muddy because they had gotten out of their cabins, locking arms. They’d been on side of the hill since 3 a.m. that morning with no running water. Our first responders had dropped off water bottles, but they had no food.
“Our drivers were the first sign of normalcy they’d had all day. They greeted them, smiled at them, hugged them as they boarded the busses, and let them know they’d be seeing their families soon.
“I had, I think, 18 boys in my pickup at one time.”
After asking a sheriff’s deputy if any others needed to be evacuated, he contacted the National Guard. Officials responded, saying three girls from Camp Mystic still needed to be evacuated.
Ringo was already aware of the devastation at Camp Mystic, which had made headlines across the country.
“I went to every bus driver available before we pulled out of La Junta and told them, ‘Hey, we’re going to go up the road to Mystic to support those campers,’” he says. “The reaction was somber. That was the camp with missing campers. La Junta had all 100 kids accounted for.”
“As the National Guard brought the girls to us, it was really emotional. The girls were crying. They were singing Christian songs, even as they boarded one of our busses. Those were the girls that went viral—singing as another camper filmed.”
The viral clip, posted by Annette Lawless, reporter for KWCH, shows the girls from Camp Mystic singing during their evacuation.
The Kerrville ISD bus drivers were recognized at the district board meeting on July 21. The drivers included Vince Clark, Micky Pelletier, Don Randall, Geri White, Hal Poorman, Thomas Gough, Monica Umfress, Jeff Kubacek, Chris Ramirez, Aubrey Pruitt, Amanda Nicholson, Rick Sralla, and Shelby Balser.
The district lost a beloved member of the community in the flood: Reece Zunker. His wife, Paula, and their two children also died in the tragedy. Reece Zunker was a Tivy High School soccer coach, and Paula was a former teacher at the school.
In response to the news, the district offered counseling services to students and staff. Reece Zunker’s mantra was, “You’ll never walk alone.”
And as a testament to that mantra, the community never walked alone. Donations poured in from across the country, including a contribution from H-E-B, which donated cleaning supplies including boxed fans, shovels, and more. Supplies were distributed at Tom Moore High School a few days after the flood.
Young Life, a Christian youth organization, led a prayer and social gathering at Antler Stadium in Kerrville on July 9. The San Antonio Food Bank held two food distributions in Kerr County the following week.
The City of Kerrville, Kerr County, and Kerrville ISD partnered to offer a Family Assistance Center beginning July 13 at BT Wilson School. The center provided a range of services, including DMV and voter registration, FEMA support, the Kerr County Clerk, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Social Security Administration assistance, Texas Department of Insurance, veteran services, and Kerrville Pets Alive.
“There were just an enormous number of organizations that wanted to help and give,” says Leah Tull, a social worker in the Kerrville ISD Disciplinary Alternative Education Program.
The district also announced July 28 that all school supplies would be covered for the 2025-26 school year.
In August, the San Antonio Missions Baseball Club hosted a fundraising game. Tivy High School was represented as the players wore replica jerseys, which were later signed by players and auctioned to raise funds for Kerr County Flood Relief.
The district also created the KISD CARE (Crisis Assessment and Response for Education) Team. The team launched a survey via Skyward Family Access to identify staff and students needs at the start of the school year. The team collaborated with about 80 organizations to distribute gift cards and collect school supplies.
At the August Board of Trustees meeting, the team was honored. Members included Julie Johnson, Leigh Decker, Cheryl Manchester, Lynn Paulo, Leah Tull, Amy Waiser, Lauren Jette, Jenna Wentrcek, Shelby Balser, Dr. Sonny Mouton, Jason Gilbreath, Amy Ahrens, Mary Millette, and Julee Broscoff.
“Through the survey, we connected with individuals in the community who otherwise may not have reached out, and we tried to meet their needs as best we could with the donations generously given from across the nation,” Hal Peterson Middle School principal Dr. Sonny Mouton says.
“We were able to bless all of our families that responded to the survey—and some who didn’t. We provided school supplies and backpacks through the donations and gave them directly to our students.”
Convocations are meant to get teachers excited and prepped for the upcoming school year. However, the impact of the flood still loomed over the event.
Despite that, a student performance touched the hearts of everyone in attendance. About 100 students performed an original song written by senior Amber Stone.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard so many teachers and staff talk about a convocation,” Tull says. “Usually, it’s more like a pep rally to get everything going, and people love it, but this was just very deeply meaningful.
“Our community is going to take years to recover from this, but I think that sense of hope and resiliency was there. We really felt this sense that this experience has drawn us closer together.”
By the time of this article’s publication, Kerrville ISD is fully into the new school year. Football games, pep rallies, students and staff gatherings, and tributes to Reece Zunker and his family have marked the return to routine.
The effect of the floods will last a long time, but hope and resiliency will last longer.
Jack Densmore
Marketing and Communications Specialist
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