Students at Bryan ISD’s alternative high school may have a new home as early as the fall of 2024. The principal at M.C. Harris school, Karen Kaspar, told school board members Monday (March 4) that 12 to 15 students are learning in rooms of a former hospital building that are one-third to one-half the size of a normal classroom. Administrators asked school board members to move M.C. Harris students to space in the former Milam elementary school that is not being used by BISD’s special education department. Associate superintendent Barbara Ybarra said staff at M.C. Harris and the special education department have been notified. Board member Mark McCall, who said he wants to ensure there are places for what he calls students in recovery to graduate, suggested moving M.C. Harris students to Bryan Collegiate High School and move Collegiate students to the RELLIS campus. view article

Ramirez is still receiving at least 50 packages every day from people as far as Japan, Netherlands and Kuwait.  Ramirez is still receiving at least 50 packages every day from people as far as Japan, Netherlands and Kuwait. view article

The Fort Worth Independent School District will combine two schools next year in an effort to trim its budget and adjust for declining enrollment. The plan calls for the consolidation of the Wedgewood 6th Grade campus with Wedgewood Middle School for the 2024-2025 school year. view article

Silos Elementary School is a sprawling $43 million campus under construction on the slight ridge of a new subdivision in far west Bexar County. Medina Valley Independent School District, a mostly rural but rapidly growing district, plans to open its sixth school for kindergarten through fifth-grade students there in the fall. But the district’s plan for which students will attend Silos has Medina Valley parents questioning how those decisions were made and what to do about it. view article

The Laredo Independent School District’s Communications Department was recognized among the best in the State of Texas after winning two Best of Category Star Awards, five Gold Star Awards, five Silver Star Awards, and four Bronze Star Awards from the Texas School Public Relations Association. view article

School board trustees took action to remove the books from circulation for review following an audit by Citizens Defending Freedom Trustees in Princeton Independent School District have removed more than 100 “inappropriate” library books from circulation for review in response to concerns raised by public education advocates. Grassroots advocacy group Citizens Defending Freedom found the questionable titles through an audit of the school district’s libraries. Collin County CDF Education Division Lead Shannon Ayres exposed the content of some of the books at Princeton ISD’s February 26 school board meeting..  Ayres said CDF volunteers searched Princeton ISD libraries for 408 titles they believe violate standards imposed by House Bill 900, legislation that prohibits explicit or educationally unsuitable books in school libraries.  The audit found 148 of the titles in Princeton school libraries. view article

President Joe Biden used the term during the address in response to heckling by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia.   Texas Democrats were not thrilled with President Joe Biden using the term “an illegal” to describe an undocumented immigrant during his State of the Union address Thursday.  During the speech, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene heckled Biden to acknowledge Laken Riley, a Georgia student who was allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant, as he was discussing the border. Biden repeated Greene saying Riley was “killed by an illegal. That’s right.”  Democrats were not impressed, even if it was parroting Greene.  “It's dangerous rhetoric. And I think that the president is getting bad advice from his advisers and speech writers. That kind of rhetoric is  what inspired the people who killed Aaron Martinez,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said, referring to a North Texas man who was killed by his neighbor who repeatedly harassed Martinez’s family over their Latino ethnicity. Castro brought Martinez’s wife, Priscilla Martinez, as his guest Thursday. view article

For less than five minutes on April 8, parts of Central Texas will turn dark in the middle of the afternoon at approximately 1:36 p.m. The 2024 total solar eclipse is only visible in certain parts of the world, including in the Austin area. To celebrate this rare phenomenon, some Central Texas school districts are giving students and staff the day off. view article

Claire Hall, a special education teacher who is also a trained hair stylist, cut her student Mason’s hair in front of the class when he needed to get ready for a big event. NBC News’ Peter Alexander has more on the act of kindness and why it meant so much to Mason and his family. view article

Smith earned a Division I scholarship to the Miami-based school.  Skidmore-Tynan had a massive signing Wednesday as Chloe Smith is headed to Miami to play volleyball for Florida International out of Conference USA.  Smith racked up over a thousand kills in her career, but talked about wanting to give up on playing volleyball at the next level. But her perseverance lead to something big: a Division I scholarship. view article

An obituary is not available at this time for Julius Gordon.  view article

The 2024 primary election was a major success for school choice advocates in Texas. Several opponents of education reform lost outright, others went to runoffs, and still more were electorally weakened. Corey DeAngelis, a school choice advocate and head of the American Federation for Children Victory Fund, released a statement touting six wins and four forced runoffs in the 13 races where his PAC was engaged. Throughout multiple called special sessions in 2023, the Republican-led House alternatively delayed and killed Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to create school choice in Texas. Ultimately, these efforts culminated with 21 Republicans voting for an amendment by John Raney (R-College Station) to strip school choice from an omnibus education measure. view article

The 2024 primary election was a major success for school choice advocates in Texas. Several opponents of education reform lost outright, others went to runoffs, and still more were electorally weakened. Corey DeAngelis, a school choice advocate and head of the American Federation for Children Victory Fund, released a statement touting six wins and four forced runoffs in the 13 races where his PAC was engaged. Throughout multiple called special sessions in 2023, the Republican-led House alternatively delayed and killed Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to create school choice in Texas. Ultimately, these efforts culminated with 21 Republicans voting for an amendment by John Raney (R-College Station) to strip school choice from an omnibus education measure. view article

A Texas mother is facing charges after a drink she allegedly gave to her son to prevent bullying was consumed by a student at a school in San Antonio, sending the child to the hospital, police say. The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office says it responded to Legacy Traditional School – Alamo Ranch on Tuesday upon learning that the sick child was "given a drink by a classmate during P.E. class." "The drink provided was found to contain a mixture of lemon, salt and vinegar inside a sports drink bottle," police said in a statement. "Shortly after the child consumed the drink, he began experiencing nausea and a headache. view article

Hillsboro ISD is moving to a four-day school week for the 2024-2025 school year. The Hillsboro ISD board of trustees approved the four-day school week calendar Monday. District officials say they hope the change will help them attract teaching candidates. "Ensuring the best teachers for our students is paramount. The adopted calendar provides our dedicated staff with an additional planning day, fostering an environment of continuous improvement,” said Hillsboro ISD superintendent Darrell Brown in a statement. view article

Spring Branch ISD’s school board will hold a meeting on March 25 to consider removing former Superintendent Duncan Klussmann’s name from a district building weeks after he questioned the board’s financial decisions to close two campuses and cut librarians in an effort to accost a $35 million budget shortfall. view article

Newly-obtained documents shed light on what happened leading up to a faith-based film crew’s visit to a Keller ISD school. Keller ISD confirmed that on Feb. 9, then-school board trustee Sandi Walker let an Evangelical film crew into Central High School without district permission or parental consent. During the film crew’s visit, students were filmed and interviewed for an upcoming documentary: ‘God, Jesus, Trump.’ view article

A high school play that was canceled at a Keller ISD school is back on. The decision to bring it back comes nearly a week after a show of support for the play from students and staff at Timber Creek High School. After a heated Keller ISD board meeting last week, theater students at Timber Creek HS didn’t hear anything from the district, so they assumed they may have lost this battle. view article

Fort Worth ISD is closing the Wedgwood Sixth Grade campus in May because running the school is too costly as enrollment declines, according to district officials. The sixth grade campus will be folded into Wedgwood Middle School, which is 1½ miles away, starting in the 2024-25 academic year. The consolidation marks the first school closure since the district shuttered Como Montessori School in 2022. view article

When Keller ISD closed the curtain on Timber Creek High School’s performance of “The Laramie Project” students brought their concerns to the board. Their voices were “censored,” they said during a Feb. 24 board meeting, and the story of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was beaten and tied to a fence outside of Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998, “deserves to be told.” view article

Lamar Consolidated ISD officials are proactively planning for what a demographic firm projects will be decades of “hypergrowth” by opening nine new schools in the next two years. A January report from demographer Zonda predicted the district will receive an average of 2,135 new students annually for the next decade. LCISD is the fastest-growing school district in the Houston area, surpassing local districts with 3,818 new home starts and 4,110 home closings in 2023, according to the report. view article

The Bryan ISD Communications Team recently attended the annual Texas School Public Relations Association conference in Sugar Land. They shared all of the great things happening in Bryan ISD and came back with more than a dozen silver and gold certificates and two “Best Of” medals. view article

Nominations for the second class of the Northwest ISD Athletics Hall of Honor, a program created to recognize those who have made exceptional contributions to school programs in the district, is now open through May 1. view article

BRYAN, Texas — Bryan ISD is preparing the next generation of students who want to pursue a career technical education through its CTE program. Students are hard at work, building up their futures at the Bryan Career and Technical Education Complex (CTEC). Maxine Kalil is a sophomore in the Bryan CTE program. “How to use these machines like manually, the lathe and the mills,” Kalil said. “Recently, we learned how to how to do the CNC application of that, which is the computer numerical control.” view article

The Village Market at Jacquet Middle School in Fort Worth's Stop Six neighborhood will serve families fighting food insecurity.  A ceremonial ribbon cutting and school band performance kicked off the grand opening of the Village Market at Jacquet Middle School on Tuesday morning. The market opened in the Stop Six neighborhood school to fill a need.  "There's a food desert in these areas," Zenobia Hood said. Hood is the Director of Parent Partnerships at Fort Worth ISD. "That's the reason why we work with the Tarrant Area Food Bank. We select the markets by zip code and see which areas are most in need."  Stop Six neighborhood, where Jacquet Middle School is located, has the highest level of food insecurity in Tarrant County. view article

HILLSBORO, Texas — The Hillsboro ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved the move to a four-day school week for the 2024-2025 school year on Monday, March 5. Superintendent Dr. Darrell G. Brown says it is important for the school district to hire the most qualified teachers. However, since 2020, the number in highly-qualified applicants has diminished. Brown says it is their hope that this new adoption will bring in more of those special applicants. view article

Faith Snapp has never let her blindness get in the way of pursuing her dreams. A 22-year-old Texas native who is legally blind, Snapp was accepted into the Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine, FOX 26 Houston reported. "My entire life, my family has raised horses and goats for as long as I can remember," Snapp shared with the news affiliate. view article

According to KXAN school districts all around Texas, have found themself closing due to an illness spreading around the state. As if COVID-19 wasn’t enough to give you anxiety about sending your children back to school. More cases of respiratory illness are being reported all over the country and has taken its toll in Texas. Recently, the Texas Department of State Health Services launched a respiratory illness, interactive dashboard, which shows not only the trends in COVID-19 and RSV but also influenza and the latest statistics say that all three illnesses are honestly upward which is not only dangerous but worrisome. Read More: BEWARE: Texas Schools Are Closing Due To Dangerous Illness | https://kfyo.com/ixp/513/p/beware-texas-schools-are-closing-due-to-dangerous-illness-spreading/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral view article

Last week, more than 50 superintendents and their leadership teams from school districts across Texas descended on Liberty Hill to spend two days learning about innovation in the community and using AI in the classroom.  LHISD Superintendent Steve Snell hosted the event, put on by the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) as a part of the Future-Ready Superintendents Leadership Network. The program allows superintendents to gather for events with current school leaders to network and learn more about leadership beyond the local level. view article

HARLINGEN, Texas – More than 600 high school students and visitors toured Texas State Technical College’s Harlingen campus during TechXperience Day on Thursday, Feb. 29, to learn more about the technical career pathways and state-of-the-art technologies that the college offers. The participating schools included some from Donna, Edinburg, La Joya, McAllen, Mission, Monte Alto, Palmview, Port Isabel, Progreso and Roma. Stephanie Garcia, TSTC’s senior admissions advisor in Harlingen, said students were thrilled to encounter an interactive and immersive experience during TechXperience Day. view article

In a world where education continually evolves, it’s crucial for our schools not just to keep pace but to lead the way in innovation and effectiveness. This is the purpose behind the Learning Lab hosted by the Victoria Independent School District this week. A learning lab is a quarterly event held around the state that embodies our commitment to fostering a System of Great Schools (SGS).  On February 28th, VISD welcomed district leaders from across the SGS Network to a day filled with learning, sharing, and strategic planning. Our Learning Lab, themed around "Sustainable and Effective Central Office Functions," aimed to highlight the importance of building strong, cross-departmental structures to support our schools' long-term success. We shared some of the bedrock principles that have helped us to build a robust system around innovation in our schools and throughout our district. view article

The Anahuac Independent School District Board voted to adopt a four-day academic week in its 2024-2025 school calendar at its monthly meeting.  “While it may not suit everyone, the committee, comprised of staff and community members, deemed this the best option for a four-day calendar at this time,” board member Carlton Carrington said.  The students will attend classes at their schools Mondays through Thursdays. They will not get any less instructional education because the school must be in classroom sessions for a certain number of minutes each year. view article

Richardson ISD is proposing to consolidate or re-purpose five campuses starting the next school year due to budget challenges. view article

Election years are supposed to be the time for democracy to shine. We’ll debate, we’ll campaign and then in November we’ll come together to decide which direction we'll swim for the next two to four years. But in Texas, who’ll run the state is usually decided in the spring. And it’s a much smaller share of people who participate in those elections. view article

A group of Tomball ISD parents is questioning the process in which the district purchased land for the Tomball Innovation Center (TIC), in light of recently obtained reports that reference potential “environmental concerns” at the site. In 2021, Tomball ISD spent nearly $40 million on 70 acres of land for the TIC. So far, the land has been used for district offices, the Tomball Star Academy and an FFA show barn. For some parents, the concern surrounding the property stems from the fact that it was purchased from BJ Services, an oil services company. view article