Members of the Houston Independent School District board again Thursday apologized for their behavior during the past week and called for unity as they voted to reinstate the previously ousted interim superintendent. The unanimous vote came after last week’s vote to boot Grenita Lathan from the interim superintendent job and bring in former HISD Superintendent Ave Sevaadra. The decision seemed to surprise some board members and sparked a contentious debate. view article

Although Dr. Ted Gordon has not appeared to enjoy his time as an AISD trustee – or even proven effective in enacting policy goals – he has been a strong voice for his underserved district, and we feel he is best suited for pushing the school board toward the drastic changes needed to balance the budget, close racial achievement gaps, and bridge the district's east/west divide. His opponent LaTisha Anderson is a passionate and qualified candidate, and someone Gordon has said would ably succeed him, but we hold reservations over the amount of time she would be able to commit to the full-time volunteer job. District 1 voters will best benefit from Gordon's experience and determination. view article

Edward Romero was enthusiastic when he took his seat as an Edgewood Independent School District trustee three months ago. He’d won an election to the board in 2016, but had to wait to take office when the state took control of the district with an appointed board of managers. Last summer, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced a transition back to an elected board and picked two trustees to start the process. Romero was one of them and said he was “excited about the opportunity.” He was sworn in July 24. view article

The Royse City Independent School District Board of Trustees will hold a joint meeting with the Royse City Council on Thursday to discuss residential and business growth in the city. School and city officials will at 6 p.m. at the Ernest Epps Education Service Center, located 810 Old Greenville Rd. in Royse City. According to the meeting agenda, City Manager Carl Alsabrook will give board members an update on the city’s infrastructure and residential growth. Larry Lott, the executive director of the Royse City Community Development Corporation, will speak about commercial development in the area. view article

The Lufkin ISD Board of Trustees discussed updates to the bond projects and amending the 2018-19 salary compensation plan during a Tuesday work session.  Superintendent Lynn Torres said the district is about to finalize the contract with Goodwin-Lasiter-Strong, and board members Kristi Gay and Scott Skelton asked that the contract be provided for the board to look over by Wednesday evening.  Chief Financial Officer Charlotte Bynum said the Lufkin High School multipurpose facility and athletic field topographical design surveys to begin the building had been completed, and the surveys for the middle school would be underway soon. view article

College Station school board trustees unanimously approved the elementary boundary adjustments recommended by district administration during their meeting Tuesday. The adjustment is to accommodate the new River Bend Elementary School -- the 10th in the district -- and overcrowding at some existing elementary schools. River Bend is scheduled to open in fall 2019, pulling in students who are currently zoned to four different schools. The approved recommendation includes a grandfathering clause that will allow current third-graders -- next year's fourth-graders -- to stay at their currently zoned schools if their zone is affected. For those who choose to grandfather, though, transportation will not be available, as busing will operate on the new routes. view article

The Democrat submitted questions to each of the candidates in the Brock ISD Place 6 race. Candidates were given 150 words to answer each question. view article

HISD's Board of Education is the official policy-making body of the Houston Independent School District. The board consists of nine trustees, elected from separate districts, serving staggered four-year terms. Take a deeper look at the trustees: view article

Mesquite ISD Board of Trustee Elaine Whitlock joined 34 other school board members from across Texas Sept. 27-29 at the kickoff session of the Leadership TASB class of 2019. Selected by the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), the group is participating in a yearlong education leadership study program. These trustees represent school districts of all sizes, with student populations of 114 to 215,408, and reflect a similar range of property wealth.  view article

Students in Big Spring will have a change of schedule for the rest of the 2018-2019 school year. The following comes from Big Spring ISD: view article

The sheer numbers and the developing variety are impressive, but there’s far more to the Killeen ISD Career Center than facts and figures. The specialized high school on Stagecoach Road in Killeen is in its seventh year and it is larger and more diversified than ever. Great as that is, there’s more to the story. view article

During the Frisco ISD board of trustees meeting Monday night, Deputy Superintendent of Business and Operations Todd Fouche said due to the significant rezoning done last year that impacted 26 schools, the district would not go through the rezoning process this year. “[Last year] we really focused on utilizing space at existing facilities, and this is the first time in 20 years we’re not actively building anything,” Fouche said during the meeting. “We hope through last year’s process that some of these zones will hold for a couple of years.” view article

Greenwood ISD has not implement a new policy. Last week, the community spoke out about a the code, which would not allow male students to have braids or hair taller than two inches. During the board meeting on Monday, the board did not address the topic of a new grooming policy. However the board released this statement, which reads, "The Greenwood ISD board of trustees would like to address recent events that have transpired concerning dress and hair code polices.  view article

One of the newest members of the Katy Independent School District’s Board of Trustees wanted to know when she could speak to the public during school board meetings and not run afoul of Texas open meetings rules. Susan Gesoff, serving her first term on the Katy ISD school board, said it was “kind of weird” when members of the public addressed the trustees during the regular open forum periods at board meetings. view article

Five seats on the Austin Independent School District’s Board of Trustees will be on the ballot Nov. 6. The role of the school board is to oversee the AISD superintendent and district administration. The board votes on district policy and budgets, and sets tax rates. Members serve four-year terms. You can see which district you live in here. view article

Houston ISD trustees have scheduled a board meeting for Thursday to rescind a vote to install Abelardo Saavedra as the district's interim superintendent, and to vote on reinstalling Grenita Lathan as the district's temporary leader. The scheduled meeting would come one week after HISD trustees unexpectedly voted 5-4 to hire Saavedra to replace Lathan, who has been interim superintendent since March. Saavedra announced Sunday that he no longer would become HISD's interim leader, telling the Houston Chronicle he discovered in recent days that "the dysfunction (in HISD) is not at the superintendent or leadership level, it's at the board level." view article

Ore City ISD board members are set to consider approving a service contract with Champion EMS on Monday night. Trustees also will consider a budget amendment, resolutions regarding the credit by examination audit process, district and campus improvement plans and longevity pay. view article

Kathy Duke has been part of the Lewisville ISD community for most of her life. First as a student and then as an education advocate. She served on the LISD Board of Trustees in two different stints, and now she’s involved with other organizations such as Communities in Schools of North Texas. She also supports Winning the Fight, which provides support and resources to families dealing with addiction. Where did you grow up and go to school? view article

Sabine ISD Trustees celebrated board member Patty Pickle’s four years of service during her last scheduled board meeting Monday night. Neither Pickle nor trustee Rusty Taylor filed for re-election for another term, and the district subsequently canceled polling in November. The next meeting of the SISD board, Nov. 9, will include the swearing-in of two new board members and the beginning of another term for a veteran: Paul Franklin won his third term (like his second) unchallenged for Place 4. view article

One Little Elm ISD trustee was invited to participate in a statewide leadership program, and at the end he'll be able to earn the master trustee status. Trustee Dan Blackwood joined 34 other school board members from across Texas Sept. 27-29 at the kickoff session of the Leadership TASB class of 2019. The group was selected by the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), and will participate in a yearlong education leadership study program. view article

Greenwood Independent School District is being criticized for a new grooming code. Some community members are even calling the district racist as they implement a rule that effects how students can style their hair. The code states male students cannot have braids in their hair, and their hair cannot be more than two inches in height. view article

Nancy Cline, trustee from Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD recently joined 34 other school board members from across Texas at the kickoff session of the Leadership TASB class of 2019. Selected by the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), the group is participating in a yearlong education leadership study program. These trustees represent school districts of all sizes, with student populations of 114 to 215,408, and reflect a similar range of property wealth. Participants who complete all required elements of the study will graduate next year by earning Master Trustee status. This is the highest designation recognized by TASB. view article

Two new draft school attendance zone maps—Plan 3 and Plan 4—were released by the Hays CISD high school rezoning committee this week. The committee is charged with drawing attendance zones in advance of the August 2019 opening of Johnson High School, the district’s third comprehensive school for grades 9-12. Members of the committee can also make changes to middle school attendance zones, but they are not allowed to consider elementary attendance zones. view article

To say Marsha Colley Stephens loves Brownsboro Independent School District would be an understatement.  A 1973 graduate of Brownsboro High School, Stephens, 63, worked for the district for 23 years before retiring. Despite stepping away from full-time work, she wants to return to an active role with the district by joining the school board.  view article

A Brownsboro graduate, Michele Olson Blackmon is seeking another term on the Brownsboro Independent School District Board of Trustees.  She has served on the school board for the last seven years as the district has made strides to increase security and plan for the future.  view article

If at first you do not succeed… Sean Ray is trying again. Ray ran for one of three open seats on the Brownsboro Independent School District Board of Trustees in 2016 losing out in a close race to Steve Sanders, Cody Seale and Michele Rinehart. This time Ray is running against three different incumbents but for one of four open seats. view article

The Waxahachie ISD Board of Trustees unanimously rescinded the electioneering policy adopted in April and voted to prohibit polling at campuses where children are present. Trustee John Rodgers placed the action item on the agenda of Monday’s regular meeting to rescind the board’s regulation concerning electioneering activities on district-owned polling locations, which was adopted on April 9. “With all due respect to the board members here and former board members — it was a complete debacle in my mind,” Rogers expressed. “It was very tough as a campaigner to participate in the policy, and it created a lot of problems for the school district.” view article

Bartlett Cocke General Contractors, an Austin-based company selected in May to develop plans for two new Georgetown ISD elementary schools, has given more than a third of the $6,370 in total contributions made to the Vote Yes GISD Bond specific-purpose political action committee, according to filings with the Texas Ethics Commission. Vote Yes GISD Bond is so far the only campaign group involved in Georgetown ISD’s $166 million November bond election that has registered with the commission, according to a review of filings Tuesday. view article

The Friendswood ISD board of trustees presented an update on its “See Something, Say Something” program at its Oct. 8 meeting. The “See Something, Say Something” program allows parents and students to submit reports of concerning behavior to the school district. The alerts are sent to six to nine people in the administration, depending on the report, Director of Communications Dayna Owen said. view article

The Lewisville ISD is launching a series of public meetings called “LISD Engage” to educate and interact more with the community. The series of meetings is intended to deepen community members’ understanding of LISD, including the district’s finances, safety and security, academic programs offered, current successes and challenges ahead, according to a district news release. view article

The Ector County Independent School District Board of Trustees will consider approving a contract with the Ector County Elections office to conduct a Nov. 6 joint election at its work study session at 6 p.m. today in the board room of the administration building, 802 N. Sam Houston Ave. Along with city and county elections, that is the day residents will vote on a tax ratification election. If it passes, it would generate $18 million this year. Of that, $16.5 million would come from the TRE and $1.5 million from the state in new funding, the presentation said. view article

The Killeen Independent School District board will meet tonight for its regular monthly meeting. The board will convene in closed session before opening the meeting to the public. One topic of the closed discussion if the naming the new school facilities. To date, Elementary No. 35, which is under construction near Rosewood Drive and Morganite Lane and is set to open for next school year, is just one of the campuses that does not have a name. High School No. 6 is also yet to be named. view article

A Perryton ISD Board Trustee has resigned. The president of the board of trustees said he received a letter of resignation from Board Trustee Tommy Butler. view article

The North East Independent School District’s board of trustees has approved changing West Avenue Elementary into a pre-kindergarten academy. The school board said declining enrollment at the school since 2013 was the reason behind the change. view article

Community Impact Newspaper hosted a forum Thursday at the Klein ISD Multipurpose Center for candidates seeking two positions KISD board of trustees position in the Nov. 6 election. KISD trustees serve three-year terms. Position 3 was occupied by Bill Pilkington, who is not running for re-election. Seth Batiste, Vijay Patel and Chris Todd are vying for the seat. view article