There are more opportunities now for Angelina County students to graduate from high school with college credits and technical certifications — and in some cases entire associate degrees — than ever before.  The Angelina County Cooperative Early College High School partnership, Advanced Placement courses and dual-credit/concurrent courses allow high school students to earn their diplomas while becoming licensed in a trade or get a good head start on course hours toward a college degree. read more

(CNN)An African American security guard in Wisconsin who was fired for asking a student not to call him the n-word is celebrating his reinstatement.  Interim Madison Metropolitan School District Jane Belmore decided to rescind Marlon Anderson's termination, the Madison Teachers Inc., a union representing teachers and other staff, said in a statement on Monday. Anderson will be placed on paid administrative leave while a plan is finalized for him to return, the union said. view article

• House Bill 3 (HB 3) Implementation: Additional Days School Year10/18
• House Bill 3 (HB 3) Implementation: Reading Advisory Committee 10/18
• Blended Learning Planning Grants for Math Innovation Zones and Non-Math Blended Learning Pilots10/18
• Reporting of Industry-Based Certifications
• 2020–2021 Annual Survey of Children in Local Residential Facilities for the Neglected/Delinquent (SC9000)
• House Bill 3 (HB 3) Implementation: Blended Learning Grant Program 10/11
• Early Childhood Data System (ECDS) for Public Prekindergarten, High-Quality Prekindergarten Programs, Private Prekindergarten Providers and Kindergarten Data 10/11
• Senate Bill 1882 Texas Partnerships Deadlines and Guidance 10/11
• Upcoming LEA Deadline: Title I, Part A Comparability of Services Requirement for the 2019–2020 school year  10/11
• Texas Education Data Standards (TEDS) migration to Ed-Fi 3.010/11
• Tropical Storm Imelda Impact on Close of 2019-20 School-Start Window

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Some Riojas Elementary School students got their Texas history lesson from a special guest on Monday.  view article

Tears and cheers erupted from the Navarro Intermediate School campus as a small group of visitors popped into classrooms, bringing with them loads of surprises. The Navarro Education Foundation surprise patrols hit all four of the Navarro ISD’s campuses handing out grants to help enhance student learning across the district. view article

Kicking off Red Ribbon Week, Ector County ISD Superintendent Scott Muri told a story of the importance of making good choices and looking to the future. Muri was a junior in high school and they had won an away football game against a rival high school. After winning the game, they decided to go back to their hometown and ended up at one of their friends’ houses to spend the night. There were about 15 or 20 of them, he said. view article

The Bryan school board agreed Monday to support efforts to expand a student-teaching partnership with Texas A&M students The board members unanimously approved a letter of support that would continue the Texas A&M Grow Your Own grant. If the grant is approved, the aggieTERM program would expand to allow 21 senior student teachers to enroll in the teaching residency program. AggieTERM gives Texas A&M pre-services teachers a clinical residency, which means a full year of student teaching instead of the typical semester. view article

Students in Manor ISD put final touches on performances and displays Tuesday ahead of the district’s 2nd annual Hispanic Heritage Festival happening Tuesday evening. The cultural celebration follows a month of projects and preparation around the district, from elementary to high school, all focused on tradition. It will feature performances, poetry, art, food and other “We had a lot of people in our community that asked for it. They wanted our culture to be featured very prominently in our district,” said Meredith Roddy, Manor ISD’s multilingual programming director. view article

Sherman ISD held a cookout Monday to give free lunch to first responders. Sherman ISD Director of Safety and Transportation Brett Counce said this week is Safe Schools Week. Counce said the district wanted to make lunch for first responders to show their appreciation. view article

The Lee Rebel Cheerleaders decided to give back to members of their school staff after winning the Kent Kwik Mascot Challenge. According to Midland ISD, the cheerleaders donated their winnings of $1,300 in Kent Kwik gift cards to the school's hardworking custodial staff. view article

For the first time ever, the University of the Incarnate Word will be accepting an entire senior class from one school at the same time. All 101 seniors in the Judson Early College Academy Class of 2020 were accepted by the school.  Heather Flete, a graduating senior told us, "It is so exciting. I can't wait to get to the next chapter of my life. I kind of had my whole life planned out." view article

Tascosa High School’s Snack Shak and Rebel Rack program was selected by American Graduate to be a featured segment on the national PBS program Journey to Jobs. The special program will air on PBS stations across the nation this fall. Locally, it will air at 5 p.m. Oct. 27, then encore at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 and midnight Nov. 6. It also was featured in the Sept. 26 episode of The Handle. view article

The Houston Independent School District is getting students to reach out to each other for what it called No One Eats Alone Day. It’s part of how HISD is promoting awareness for National Bullying Prevention Month. During lunch Friday, students across the district were using icebreaker cards to start conversations at the lunch table. It was all to ensure no one eats alone. view article

Red Ribbon Week starts Monday, and Coppell ISD is using the time to raise awareness and provide education on alcohol, tobacco and other drug use prevention. According to the district, the National Red Ribbon Campaign began in 1985 in response to the murder of Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique Camarena in Mexico. Jennifer Villines, director of student and staff services, said this is a week where the entire district is united with the same message and is encouraging all students pre-K through 12th grade to participate in the national theme to promote awareness. This year’s theme is “Send a message. Stay drug free,” she said.  view article

Nothing is set in stone yet for what the Wichita Falls ISD wants to include in a bond election for next year. One thing they do know: there are 26 schools in the district and a student population that’s meant to support only 19. Today members of the board heard from wary parents and community members on what closing or building new schools could mean for Wichita Falls. view article

The North Channel Chamber hosted the annual State of the Schools report from the superintendents of Sheldon, Galena Park, and Channelview ISD’s at their monthly luncheon last Friday. A large audience, with many educators in attendance from the three districts, enjoyed hearing of the district accomplishments amid a competitive spirit. Presentations were similar for the three districts, filled with statistics, emphasis on special programs, and dealing with population growth through bond issues. Each superintendent showed a video of students, schools, and general character of the district. These well prepared videos gave an intimate and cheerful look into the life of students and staff. view article

Dodd City High School STEAM teacher Mr. Melson graciously hosted the Noble Research Institute (NRI) Youth Education Outreach team for 3 in-class agri-chemistry labs.  The Noble Research Institute is an Agricultural Research Institution located in Ardmore, OK that knows agriculture faces great challenges, and they are working to deliver solutions.  The institutes mission is organized into three main areas focusing on research, agricultural producer relations, and education. view article

October is National Bullying Prevention month, and Mesquite ISD staff is encouraging everyone in Mesquite to wear orange on Oct. 23 for Go Orange Day in Mesquite to show their support. Director of Guidance and Counseling Kem Edwards made the Go Orange Day in Mesquite announcement during the Oct. 7 MISD board meeting. view article

Early this year, the Koch network committed to starting an effort to transform public education. What would that look like? The author of a new book on the billionaire Charles Koch and his late brother, David, says it would amount to the destruction of public education as we know it.  The Koch network is the influential assemblage of groups funded by billionaire industrialist Charles Koch and more than 600 wealthy individuals who share his pro-business, anti-regulation view of economics and positions on social policy, such as climate change denial.   view article

If you're a woman, having a menstrual cycle is something natural and expected. But starting one is a different story. Unfortunately there's no alarm clock or warning and in most cases, starting your period happens in the most un-ideal setting. "Every women knows or remembers when all of that happened and had that horror story and asked somebody to borrow something. And as an educator, I used to keep hygiene products in my classroom for girls. That was something they didn't have to go without or feel embarrassed about," said Andra Jones with the Junior League of Midland. view article

An image that appears to show Smithson Valley High School football players with profane and racist comments is fake, Comal ISD officials said. Steve Stanford, executive director of communications at Comal ISD, said the image "looks like it was doctored by someone else." "We're just very concerned that someone may have taken and doctored an image that was posted in good faith," he said. "It is very concerning." view article

The 13th Floor Haunted House isn't just giving people a fright. It's ghouls are going into classrooms with a powerful message, "Don't Be A Monster." The anti-bullying program that started here is spreading across the country. One-third of students in the world have experienced bullying. That's why haunt industry leaders created the "Don't Be A Monster" program. view article

R.L. Kuykendall — a well-known advocate for the Lufkin community and the East Texas public school system — passed away Oct. 17, 2019, in Lufkin at the age of 85. Although not born in East Texas, he found his way here from the Houston and Galveston areas in 1969. Kuykendall was born in Houston in 1933 and moved to Galveston when he was still small. His childhood was spent in an integrated neighborhood, where he described his friendships in a 2013 interview with Jonathan Gerland for The History Center as “black, white, purple, green, and we grew up, we did everything but go to school together.” view article

HUDSON — Seventh-graders at Hudson Middle School spent their Friday immersed in the 1950s and ’60s in homage to “The Outsiders.”  The students read “The Outsiders” every year, but as the years have gone by, the seventh-grade teachers have continued experimenting with how to connect their students with the messages in the book.  “This was to get them fired up, to take them to do something that was out of the norm while still learning,” teacher Anita Boyd said. “They will never forget this. They’ll talk about this when they’re 60 years old.” view article

Southside Independent School District parents and community members organized through COPS/Metro Alliance told the district’s board of managers on Thursday night that parents without Texas driver’s licenses were being turned away from campuses. Dozens of students and parents gathered at the Thursday night meeting, standing behind COPS/Metro leaders who delivered an emotional, and at times tearful, plea to meet with Superintendent Mark Eads and district leaders to sort the issue out. view article

Thirteen Texas universities and colleges landed on the Princeton Review’s Best Colleges 2020 list.  The list, released in August, doesn’t rank universities but instead gives them a distinction of being considered the best according to more than 140,000 surveyed students.  The University of Houston and Rice University made the list, as well as University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University in San Marcos. view article

A local school district is teaching the value of being frugal. La Feria ISD is partnering with Lone Star Bank to offer Cowboy Savings Banks to their kinder and first graders. view article

Beaumont middle school students had another opportunity to learn about the importance of pursuing higher education and making good choices. view article

Two weeks ago, Travis High School coaches and players shared with the American-Statesman how poverty permeates almost every aspect of their football program, from aging equipment to the modest meals players eat before games. The Statesman found a correlation between student poverty and wins and losses among Central Texas high schools: The poorer the student body, the fewer games the football team won. Last Monday, the day after the story published, a West Lake Hills resident anonymously dropped off a $5,000 check at the South Austin school, where 79% of students are low-income, and gave specific instructions that the money only be used for football equipment. view article

Inside one of the oldest venues in Burleson ISD, a transformation is happening. A stage is set, smoke machines and multicolored lights are added, and more screens – from personal-sized computer monitors to big-screen televisions – are needed for an event that this gymnasium has never seen before. This happened back in February, when the district hosted its inaugural esports tournament. It was a huge success, according to Leslie Bender Jutzi, the district’s chief academic officer. And if you would’ve told her in seven months that the district would be hosting a similar event inside the largest esports arena in North America, she wouldn’t have believed you. view article

The North Lamar High School Marching Band, under the direction of Randy Jones, Jason R. Smith, Cristian Gomez and Marcus Lutz, with assistance from Gina Ervin and Chris Garza, traveled to Mineola on Monday, October 14 to compete in the Mineola Marching Festival. Over 30 bands in class 2A -5A showed up to compete in the festival. view article

An East Texas teacher was highlighted on her school’s Facebook page Thursday for a loving method she uses to greet her students. Cheryl Burnaman, a kindergarten teacher at Martinsville ISD in Nacogdoches, was filmed greeting her students to start the day. view article

As the Berry Miller Junior High School eighth grade football team took the field Wednesday night, its cheerleading squad was right there with them, along with one teammate who has been a game-changer. "I wasn't sure how it was going to go. I just knew that I liked Claire," said Natalie Pizzo, her cheerleading coach. Pizzo is also 14-year-old Claire Moreno's Life Skills Teacher at the Pearland ISD school. view article

Tomball ISD staff and parents met at a District Zone Committee meeting Thursday morning, Oct. 17, to look at the zoning boundaries for their new elementary and middle schools, with input and some criticism from parents. District Zone Committee members were given multiple maps showing options for zoning for the new schools, which have yet to be named, and were given the opportunity to rank their preferred choices. Tomball ISD plans to have their new elementary school open in 2020, and their new junior high school open in 2021. view article

Every day a group of students at Belton High School get together to not only play games, but to lift each other up. Students volunteer their time to meet with special needs kids at the gym for Partners P.E. It's a program that has been around for about 12 years, according to P.E. teacher Lauren Marx.  view article