The Three Rivers Independent School board of trustees in South Texas approved the policy Tuesday, which would allow for paddles to be used as corporal punishment against misbehaving students. Corporal punishment is defined by the Texas Classroom Teachers Association (TCTA) as “deliberate infliction of physical pain by hitting, paddling, spanking, slapping or any other physical force used as a means of discipline.” view article

The abundance of windows and wide open common spaces at Timber Creek High School created an enormous challenge for the school’s safety team when looking for places where students could shelter during tornado warnings and severe weather. “It took us a year to figure that out. We walked every inch of that building,” said Gusti Ratliff, an assistant principal at Timber Creek. Once they plotted a course, Timber Creek earned the distinction of being the first school in the state to be named a “Storm Ready School” by the National Weather Service. view article

The first day of school for students in the Spring Independent School District will be Thursday, Aug. 17, and students are required by state law to have their immunizations up-to-date before they start school.  view article

New district wide security measures were approved at Weatherford Independent School District’s board of trustees meeting Monday. Card readers and the purchase of updated surveillance cameras will help make the district safer, said WISD superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Hanks. Card systems are more secure than using keys, Hanks said. view article

With the passing of David’s Law (SB 179) — which states that a single, significant act might be sufficient to meet the definition of bullying — the Stephenville ISD board of trustees discussed updates to the code of conduct, ultimately approving it Monday night. David’s Law is named for David Molak, a 16-year-old student who took his own life after being cyberbullied. “This just came out last week and the big changes are in the bullying section,” said SISD Executive Director of Human Resources & Student Services Kathy Haynes.  view article

Every year about 300,000 young athletes suffer a concussion. A new report in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons shows exactly which sports put young athletes at risk. Female sports that are typically considered safe topped the list over football. Hali Jester knows what it’s like to push beyond her limits. view article

The heart of the vaccine debate is not just about whether vaccines help or hurt children anymore. It’s about civil liberties, at least in Texas. An episode of “VICE News Tonight” which aired Wednesday on HBO focuses on what the program considers a uniquely Texan phenomenon that came to a head during the regular legislative session that ended in May. The news program noted that more than 20 vaccination-related pieces of legislation were filed during the session, including one that would have made public data on how many children in each school weren’t immunized each year for nonmedical reasons.  view article

Local law enforcement is using Steiner Ranch Elementary School for training today, according to Leander ISD. The training takes place from approximately 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. view article

Brazosport ISD staff are being trained for something they hope they never have to use. “Has anybody seen anything about a school shooting ever in the last 10 years?” said Fred Ortiz, Lake Jackson Emergency Medical Services director, told those being trained Monday. view article

Fifteen-year-old Isaiah Gonzalez was a soon-to-be sophomore who just joined the ROTC program at his high school. But on Saturday, Gonzalez’s father, Jorge, stepped into his son’s bedroom in their San Antonio home. Isaiah was dead, hanging from the closet, an apparent suicide. Next to his body was a cellphone propped up on a shoe, broadcasting the suicide, according to KSAT. If the teenager’s sudden suicide wasn’t tragic enough, the Gonzalez family quickly learned Isaiah’s end was possibly tied to a macabre online spectacle known as the Blue Whale Challenge. view article

 A six-month investigation by the KSAT 12 Defenders revealed that San Antonio-area public schools have had at least 32 gun incidents at campuses since the start of the 2013 school year. While nine area school districts reported at least one incident, most of them refused to make their superintendents or police chiefs available to discuss what, if any, steps have been taken to make their campuses safer. view article

Fifty-year-old Javier Hernandez was arrested Friday at approximately 4 p.m. after an accusation of an improper relationship with a student was made with the Alice police.  “Today, local law enforcement advised Alice ISD that a district employee may have engaged in serious misconduct with a student.  view article

Teen pregnancy in the United States was declared one of seven “winnable battles” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2014, highlighting the importance of reducing teen pregnancy and birth rates. Since then, local and national efforts to prevent teen pregnancy appear to be showing results. In 2016, the teen birth rate dropped 9% compared to the previous year, a new report published by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics found, with 20.3 births occurring per 1,000 teenage women aged 15-19 – a historic low. view article

A school security guard charged with improper visual recording is facing even more trouble. Yandry Rivero, 20, worked for Houston ISD's Energized for Excellence Academy. He was in court Friday morning, where a prosecutor detailed new charges against him. Rivero was arrested in June after an 11-year-old boy allegedly saw Rivero put a cellphone over a bathroom stall at the school and recorded video of him. view article

A panel on dealing with the aftermath of a suicide featured a speaker from Salado Independent School District Wednesday. The panel was a part of Education Service Center Region 12’s 2017 Teen Suicide Prevention Symposium. More than 100 participants from schools and other organizations signed up for the one-day event. ESC Region 12 counseling specialist Jenipher Janek introduced the panel and explained that as the regional official sent out to schools that have experienced a suicide she had met many of those present under tragic circumstances. view article

Stacey English has modest desires for her 7-year-old daughter Addison: Be able to eat without gagging and move both her arms. But since Addison’s occupational therapist went out of business this winter, the child with a rare genetic disorder has regressed in her fight to do even that much. “I don’t know where to go from here,” said English, who has been unable to find a replacement therapist in their Texas college town of College Station. “How do you continue to help her make progress when you don’t have someone to teach her?” view article

Remodeling on a few Hidalgo ISD buildings are at a standstill after an inspection resulted positive in asbestos. The schools include: J.C. Kelly Elementary, Hidalgo Early College High School and Diaz Jr. High School. Resident Marie Treviño first heard about the issue when she asked a worker why construction at Hidalgo Early College High School was halted. view article

An additional school zone and new speed limits are in the works for Hudson ISD after the Texas Transportation Commission recently approved the changes. view article

A Cleveland Independent School District police officer took down an unruly passenger Sunday after eyewitnesses said the woman tried to open the plane's emergency exit in mid-flight. Flight 4519 landed at Corpus Christi International Airport instead of its intended destination at Hobby Airport. It was coming from Los Angeles.  view article

About six years ago, a Texas resident visited Minnesota three times to talk with its Somali community. Not just any Texas resident - this was Andrew Wakefield, the doctor disgraced for his fraudulent 1998 study claiming a connection between autism and the measles vaccine. Dozens of studies have since proven Wakefield wrong, but scientific fact hasn't stopped him from continuing to spread harm. view article

The Early Independent School District in Brown County held a town hall this week where board members listened to input from the public on a proposal to arm teachers and staff members on campus. “Nothing has been decided by a long shot,” Superintendent of Early Wes Beck said on Wednesday. About 30 people attended the town hall on Monday to hear about the “Guardian Program,” according to Beck. He and the school board have spent the last two years researching the subject of arming teachers. view article

Personnel with the Brownwood Independent School District participated in an emergency response drill held at both the middle school and high school on Wednesday. Several law enforcement and emergency response vehicles were parked in front of both schools. view article

An analysis from the University of Texas System and UT Health Northeast shows that suicide rates among white Texas residents has been trending up since 2000. UT reports suicide rates for white people were more than triple the rates for white people than black black and Hispanic people in 2015. view article

Coppell ISD and the Police Department are investigating allegations of a sexual assault on the Coppell High School campus after a post circulated through social media view article

The state of Texas is known for its guns. Some say this West Texas school is looking to take preventative measures in the event of a “what if?” Early ISD held a town hall meeting Monday night to discuss the idea of implementing the “Guardian Program.” It would give designated employees the right to carry concealed handguns on school grounds. Of course, the topic of guns always has strong opinions on both sides. So far, noting is set in stone. view article

The Coppell Independent School District is considering allowing police officers to carry rifles inside schools as a deterrent to trouble. After a school year that included allegations of rape and an actual robbery at Coppell High School, the city’s police department decided to ask the district if the officers assigned to schools could AR-15 rifles inside schools. And they’re considering it. view article

The Fort Bend County Health Department conducted testing for tuberculosis at George Bush High School Monday after an active case was discovered at the school on May 30. Joey Duran, a sophomore at the school, received a letter last week saying she may have been exposed to tuberculosis and needed to be tested. "We had to wait in front of the clinic, and they had us put on like this mask so just in case anything was around there," Duran said. view article

The Coppell ISD Board of Trustees is considering permitting school resource officers to bring rifles onto the campuses they monitor. "The world around us is changing ... we all see it, we all know it," Coppell Police Chief Mac Tristan told the Board on Tuesday evening at a work session. "Tragedy continues to happen. In our city alone the last few months have been interesting. You can't ignore those things so we look into them." Earlier this year an armed man robbed someone on the Coppell High School campus. He was arrested within 24 hours. At the end of the year, rumors of alleged sexual assault floated around the same campus, resulting in protests and questioning of the Coppell police. view article

Gunshots echoed across the Union Grove ISD secondary campus Wednesday morning, and soon after, a group of students were led to safety by a rifle-wielding police officer. But these were only the sounds and images of a training exercise meant to test the response and teamwork of school and law enforcement officials. view article

In the past five years, Texas has seen the number of students claiming conscientious, or non-medical exemptions, from vaccines grow by roughly 47 percent, or 16,284 students, according to a Department of State Health Services report.  This trend extends to the North Austin area as well, including Georgetown ISD, which has seen increases in this select student population over the past four academic years. view article

For years, Vernon ISD has been providing a safe place for community members to go to during a storm, and residents say there are other places in town they can go as well. Vernon resident, Kenneth Barton said, "They have an alternative, they'll let you go down to the courthouse here, there's a basement there, whenever there's a storm, it's always available" view article

There’s now an extra layer of security on many Cy-Fair ISD campuses. “We call them emergency call boxes,” said associate superintendent Roy Sprague. They’re more common on college campuses and elsewhere. But crews are spending the summer installing 50 of them throughout the local district. view article

Governor Greg Abbott signed a new law last Friday designed to fight cyberbullying in schools. It's Senate Bill 179, also known as David's Law. It's named after 16-year old David Molak. The San Antonio area teenager was the victim of extensive online harassment and committed suicide in January 2016.  Among other things, David's Law requires school districts to include cyberbullying in their policies against bullying. They will also be required to notify a student's parents if the student is a victim of online bullies. Districts will also have to contact the parents of the accused bully. Under this law, cyberbullies can also be charged with a misdemeanor if the victim is under 18 years of age, and harms themselves or commits suicide.  view article

Bonham ISD is notifying the public about a scammer who could be in your neighborhood. District representatives said there have been reports of a door-to-door salesperson claiming to be hired by the district to sell promotional and educational materials. view article

Early Independent School District Superintendent Wes Beck is calling for community input on an idea to secure its schools. Beck said the district will hold a public town hall meeting during the regular public comment section of its school board meeting on whether to implement the Guardian Program. view article