A black teenager in Texas said he had been suspended and told he can't walk in his high school graduation ceremony unless he cuts his dreadlocks to meet the school district's dress code.  DeAndre Arnold, a senior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, about 30 miles east of Houston, told NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston that his hair had been in compliance with school rules until recently, when he faced in-school suspension after he refused to cut it. view article

MONT BELVIEU, Texas — A Mont Belvieu-area high school student said he will not cut his hair after the school board passed an amendment to its dress code last month requiring boys to have short hair.  Barbers Hill High School senior DeAndre Arnold said the rule is sexist and a violation of his civil rights.  “Whenever you go through something in life that you feel like you’re being mistreated or anything like that, you have to stand against it,” Arnold said. “You can’t just let people walk all over you like that. You have to be willing to take a stand and that’s what I’m willing to do.” view article

A Round Rock school board trustee is defending her behavior after a school district staffer filed a grievance against her.  The grievance alleges Amber Feller used her position as a trustee to pressure someone facilitating an SAT testing session that involved her son. It also contends Feller acted in an aggressive manner toward the facilitator.  While the school board denied the grievance in a 6-0 vote on Jan. 9, several trustees said they didn’t agree with Feller’s actions. view article

HIGGINS, Texas (KVII) — "Declining enrollment and reduced funding" could cause two Texas Panhandle school districts to merge.  In a letter, Higgins ISD Superintendent Kristy Waite said Higgins is unable to operate independently after the current school year, and said the district is "exploring options" to consolidate with Canadian ISD.  The Higgins ISD Board approved a resolution at its meeting last week to begin the consolidation process. view article

As its first meeting of 2020 on Jan. 21, the Conroe ISD board of trustees approved and considered various projects, including full-day prekindergarten, rezoning and the 2020-21 school calendar.  The trustees unanimously approved applying for a waiver for the 2019-20 school year but are expected to open full-day pre-K next year.  Full-day pre-K is a requirement that came with House Bill 3, which was signed into law June 11. However, in order to apply for a waiver available to the district, the district has to look into private partnerships with local schools to offer pre-K through them. view article

A school board member in Canutillo Independent School District is accused of threatening a teacher’s job for personal reasons. The school district is deciding to handle the situation. Board trustees discussed agenda items one of which is about a corrective action plan about a complaint that was filed in the summer of 2018.Former president of the board Blanca Trout is mentioned in the complaint that she allegedly acted unprofessionally to threaten a teacher with review of her teacher contract due to an issue concerning Trout’s daughter who was a student. Trout is now a board trustee. view article

The Katy ISD board of trustees approved staff changes and construction contracts at the Jan. 20 regular board meeting. The board approved a new principal and transportation director at the Jan. 20 regular board meeting. Sally Gupton is the new principal at Creech Elementary School, located at 5905 S. Mason Road, Katy. Her first day as principal was Jan. 21. view article

MONT BELVIEU, Texas - De'Andre Arnold and his family are continuing to fight for what they say is a violation of their son’s civil right to wear his dreadlocks.  Barbers Hill ISD issued us this statement today, saying:    view article

MONT BELVIEU, Texas — On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a district that touts its excellence found itself embroiled in controversy about race, discrimination and dreadlocks.  "The dress code is designed by white people for white people and is damaging to black bodies," said Black Lives Matter activist Ashton Woods.  Activists stood beside Deandre Arnold and his family as they addressed the Barbers Hill ISD school board. Deandre has been suspended and won't be allowed to walk at graduation in three months unless he cuts his locs. view article

January is School Board Appreciation Month and during the monthly meeting of the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Board of Trustees, Superintendent Stacey Brister thanked the Board on behalf of Administrators and the District for their diligence in handling the business of LCM. She complemented them on working as a team, with the best interests of the students and staff at the forefront of all they do. Pictured from left are: Chris Riedel, President Marlene Courmier, Josh Fisher,  view article

A large crowd got involved in a board meeting at the Sharyland Independent School District on Monday night after police say a hazing incident happened in Corpus Christi. More concern from frustrated school district taxpayers. Some parents and former students saying the words “incident” and “hazing” are not enough to describe what allegedly happened. view article

"Our policy limits the length. It's been that way for 30 years," says the school district's superintendent.  MONT BELVIEU, Texas — On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a district that touts its excellence found itself embroiled in controversy about race, discrimination and dreadlocks.  "The dress code is designed by white people for white people and is damaging to black bodies," said Black Lives Matter activist Ashton Woods.  Activists stood beside Deandre Arnold and his family as they addressed the Barbers Hill ISD school board. Deandre has been suspended and won't be allowed to walk at graduation in three months unless he cuts his locs. view article

Klein ISD presented a preferred elementary school rezoning option at the Dec. 9 board meeting that could alleviate future overcrowding, but raised concern over the stability of certain school programs.  The rezoning comes in preparation for the upcoming unnamed Elementary School No. 33, which is slated to open in fall 2020.  According to Robert Robertson, KISD’s associate superintendent of facility and school services, the new campus opening is expected to affect the attendance boundaries of other elementary schools in the district and can therefore be utilized to alleviate future overcrowding. view article

The Cy-Fair ISD board of trustees approved a recommended instructional calendar for the 2020-2021 school year, including a holiday for election day and professional days for teachers, during the school board meeting on Jan. 16 at the Instructional Support Center.  The recommended calendar was created by the Instructional Calendar Committee, formed in Nov. 2019 to construct the calendar. Linda Macias, chief advancement officer for CFISD, said in a Jan. 13 work session that the ICC included 35 community and business members, teachers, campus and district administrators and paraprofessionals. view article

MONT BELVIEU, Texas — On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a district that touts its excellence found itself embroiled in controversy about race, discrimination and dreadlocks.  "The dress code is designed by white people for white people and is damaging to black bodies," said Black Lives Matter activist Ashton Woods  Activists stood beside Deandre Arnold and his family as they addressed the Barbers Hill ISD school board. Deandre has been suspended and won't be allowed to walk at graduation in three months unless he cuts his dreadlocks. view article

The New Waverly ISD Board of Trustees were given two presentations Monday, both showing that the district is in good financial shape.Kyle Heinemann, an auditor with Davis, Heinemann and Company, presented the budget audit to the board, which showed the district was slightly under budget. The audit also showed that the district has seen growing revenues from local taxes, but owe $4 million due to pensions, a new accounting standard and the Texas Retirement system plan. view article

Hours after Houston ISD’s four recently elected trustees took office, enshrining the district’s first all-female school board, the new-look governing team on Thursday made its first big decision.  Trustees voted 8-1 to postpone approving a facilities assessment contract sought by the district’s administration, which would serve as a significant step toward asking residents to approve a multi-billion bond package in November. Board members will return in February to decide on the contract, giving them additional time to consider the ramifications of the deal. view article

A Leander ISD committee formed in 2018 to recommend new school start times and bus schedules has requested additional time to get more feedback from LISD stakeholders.  At a Jan. 16 LISD board of trustees meeting, Assistant Superintendent Matt Smith recommended that the bell schedule committee seek another meeting with LISD stakeholders—primarily administrators and parents—who would be directly affected by any change to school start times or bus times.  The bell schedule committee has been researching the issues since its formation in 2018, according to LISD documents, and was expected at the Jan. 16 meeting to offer recommendations to reduce student tardiness and increase instruction time through more efficient busing and school start times. view article

HOUSTON — The state’s largest school district now has an all-female board for the first time in its history.  Four new Houston ISD school board members were sworn in Thursday afternoon, joining five current trustees.   The new board is facing a state takeover of HISD, which a judge temporarily stopped.  “No matter what happens, the elected board will stay in place,” said new trustee Judith Cruz of District VIII. “They will lose voting power, but the elected board stays in place.” view article

MIDLAND, Texas — The fate of the Midland ISD bond could be decided Friday afternoon.  The judge presiding over the election contest has ordered that the found 836 ballots be added to the recount results.  All 836 ballots will be counted beginning at 1p.m. inside the Commissioner’s Courtroom of the Midland County Annex. Each ballot will be tabulated with the tallies that were reported during the recount. view article

Wednesday's filing kickoff created a contested race between two people interested, they said, in giving back to their community.  It's in the Wylie Independent School District, where Place 5 incumbent Steve Keenum, who is currently board president, is facing a challenge from Cheryl Sawyers.  Sawyers currently is planning services manager for the city of Abilene. Keenum is multi-area director for Big Country Fellowship of Christian Athletes. view article

Beaumont ISD has updated online information about how much board members were reimbursed after initially sharing erroneous and incomplete numbers at December’s meeting.  When asked about specific reimbursements for costs such as lodging and transportation for training and other district-related activities, BISD officials discovered that incorrect information had been shared. view article

Frisco ISD will have at least one new board of trustees member after the May election, as Anne McCausland recently announced she will not seek re-election to the Place 4 seat.  “For the past nine years it has been an honor to serve you as a trustee on the FISD board,” McCausland wrote in a post on her Facebook page on Jan. 13. “However, after careful consideration, prayer and reflection I have decided not to seek reelection this year for another term. While I will continue to support FISD endeavors in any way I can, I will now lend more of my volunteer time to other causes that are also near and dear to me.” view article

Dr. Patricia Nation is looking to secure a third term serving the families of Tyler Independent School District.  Nation, first elected to the District 4 seat in 2014, filed to run for another three-year term on Wednesday as campaign filing opened for the May city and school board elections. view article

Refugio ISD school board member Lorraine Garcia listens as a resident gives a statement in favor of discontinuing "Dixie" as the school's fight song during public comment at a special meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020. The board unanimously voted to discontinue the use of the song. view article

At the age of 37, Frank North has parlayed his Houston ISD education and entrepreneurial spirit into an accomplished resume: clinical pharmacist, small business owner, adjunct professor, recipient of three college degrees.  With his fast-changing career calming down, the Booker T. Washington High School graduate now wants to help create more academic opportunities for students in his hometown district. Late last year, North applied for a spot on the replacement Houston ISD school board the Texas Education Agency is expected to appoint, confident his personal background and work history could well serve children in Texas’ largest district.  “I bring a real-time experience of what a student in that environment thinks, what they want and what they hold dear in terms of their future,” said North, who now lives in Houston’s Third Ward. “A school board (member) doesn’t necessarily need to be someone with extensive experience in education, but someone who understands and takes their experiences to make better outcomes for students.” view article

A Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Center ISD will be held January 16, 2020, beginning at 12:00 PM in the Center Independent School District Administration Boardroom 107 PR 605 Center, TX 75935.  The subjects to be discussed or considered or upon which any formal action may be taken are listed below. Items do not have to be taken in the same order as shown on this meeting notice. view article

OVERTON — The Board of Trustees of the Overton Independent School District met in a regularly called meeting at 6 PM on January 13, 2020 in the district’s administrative annex. The meeting opened with a public hearing on the Texas Academic Performance Report.  Superintendent Stephen DuBose explained that the TAPR is basically the same data derived from previous reports on accountability with some additional demographic information on students and employees. No one had any questions in the public hearing. view article

The month of January is proclaimed School Board Recognition Month to emphasize the importance of the men and women across the state of Texas who serve on school boards. Shelbyville I.S.D. students benefit every day from the dedication and commitment to public education of our local  trustees. These men and women sit through meetings, read reports, view article

Proposed policy revisions and a presentation on student support and wraparound services are scheduled at the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees workshop set for 6:30 p.m. today (Tuesday, Jan. 14).  Teen Parent Related Services and the Community Outreach Center are part of the Division of Student and School Support. The purpose of this presentation is  to  communicate  the  student  supports  provided  by  the  Teen  Parent  Related Services and the Community Outreach Center. view article

A day before the filing window opens for the upcoming Dallas ISD school board elections, trustee Miguel Solis told The Dallas Morning News that he won’t be running for reelection.  Involved in the district as a teacher, administrator and trustee for more than a decade, Solis has been a stalwart supporter of some of DISD’s controversial and catalyzing reform efforts, such as the district’s teacher evaluation and merit pay system and its campus turnaround program put in place by previous superintendent Mike Miles.  Solis, 33, also authored some of DISD’s leading-edge policies, drafting the district’s first early childhood education policy, helping ban on out-of-school suspensions for young students, and drawing the district’s focus on racial equity. view article

he tallying of the 837 ballots that were not counted during the recount for Midland ISD’s $569 million bond election has been set for 1 p.m. Friday in the Commissioner’s Courtroom of the Midland County Annex, Midland County Attorney Russell Malm said today.  When there was an 820-vote discrepancy between the manual paper ballot recount on Nov. 22-23 and the electronic machine tabulations, investigations began. Then the county discovered one ballot in an electronic voting machine and an entire ballot box, containing 836 ballots, in a storage room. view article

In one semester this school year, Stephen English said, 37 Pine Tree ISD students have been caught vaping on campus. And he doesn’t think that’s even half the number of students using electronic cigarettes on campus — even in classrooms, and sometimes to ingest illegal substances. view article

A day before the filing window opens for the upcoming Dallas ISD school board elections, trustee Miguel Solis told The Dallas Morning News that he wouldn’t be running for reelection. Involved in the district as a teacher, administrator and trustee for over a decade, Solis has been a stalwart supporter of some of DISD’s controversial and catalyzing reform efforts, such as the district’s teacher evaluation and merit pay system and its campus turnaround program put in place by previous superintendent Mike Miles. view article

MIDLAND, Texas (Big 2/Fox 24) – Controversy still surrounds the validity of the Midland Independent School District’s $569 million school bond. The first hearing for the contested bond election took place Friday morning at the Midland County Courthouse. “Everybody seemed to agree that if counting these ballots take us back to the election night total, there would be no reason to go forward,” stated Midland County Attorney, Russell Malm.  “Better Bond for Midland” was represented by Joe Nixon Friday morning. He says the court is not allowed to guess, or speculate, the outcomes of the election but rather make certain of the results. view article