SAN ANTONIO — A person at Brandeis High School tested positive for tuberculosis and some students and staff may have been exposed. Officials also noted that there is a 'common link' involving Clark High School as well. Principal Dr. Geri Berger sent a letter to parents saying that Northside Independent School District and the high schools were notified by the Metro Health of the case. view article

Internet safety for kids will be the topic of a Richardson ISD seminar for parents, guardians, and community members. The event is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 19, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Richardson ISD Professional Development Center, 701 W. Belt Line Road, according to a district announcement. view article

More details have been provided concerning the recent arrest of 43-year-old Joshua Neil Goen, the Seagraves ISD Superintendent. KAMC News reports that in mid-November of 2020, Gaines County Sheriff's Deputies were called to Seagraves High School after a digital recording device had been found in the visiting girls' locker room. On security footage from the school, Goen can be seen entering the locker room from the hall but not leaving. The footage then shows a girls' basketball team arrive for a game. Read More: Additional Details on Arrest of Seagraves ISD Superintendent | https://kfyo.com/additional-details-on-the-arrest-of-the-seagraves-isd-superintendent/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral view article

Video of a gunman being captured was shown during a demonstration that took place Wednesday near Florence. The man was caught after an artificial intelligence computer system identified him as a threat. The demonstration was put on by SparkCognition, an Austin tech company. Marketing Director Steven Gold led a discussion, at the company testing facility near Florence for a group of school administrators and security analysts. view article

Parents are outraged after an aide who's supposed to help kids with special needs in the Wharton Independent School District was arrested for hitting students, some of whom are non-verbal. CPS has been investigating this for months, but once the school district found out about what was going, it launched its own investigation and fired 66-year-old Donna Plunkett. view article

SAN ANTONIO - University Health is partnering with the Northside Independent School District on a new clinic that's bringing medical care to an underserved area on the west side of Bexar County. The Jones School-Based Clinic is located in the Shirley Schreiber Building next to Jones Middle School. It's the fifth facility for the county health provider in collaboration with a local school district "They're so important because not all areas of town have access to medical care," says George Hernandez, Jr., CEO and president of University Health. "There's a natural partnership between schools and health care systems." view article

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Lubbock State Representative Dustin Burrows spoke with area parents Tuesday evening about the state House investigation into the Robb Elementary School shooting in May. He shared his findings and a Lubbock ISD trustee explained the district’s preparation to keep students safe. The public meeting was hosted by the Lubbock Chapter of the Republic National Hispanic Assembly at the Holiday Inn Lubbock south location. Before getting into the findings, Rep. Burrows shared some of his experiences while conducting the investigation over the summer in Uvalde, including meeting one of the victim’s father.  “I’ll never forget the look on his face, and when I say it’s indescribable, I mean it’s indescribable. I don’t know that there are words to describe the pain and anger and sorrow and mixture on those people’s faces and he wasn’t the only one in that community that felt that way,” he said.  Burrows led the State House investigation into the shooting and the response from law enforcement. State leaders praised that preliminary report as a reference for new policies when it comes to school security and law enforcement. view article

SPRING, Texas (KTRK) -- A 14-year-old girl in Spring ISD said she was followed by a man who got out of his car and chased her as she was walking home from the school bus. Jeremy Yeakey said his daughter is a ninth-grade student at Wunsche Senior High School and gets dropped off at the bus stop at Bay Leaf and Trailing Vine every day. On Nov. 30 at about 3 p.m., she noticed a silver sedan with a black stripe near the bus.  "A guy rolled down the window and waved her over after bus took off and said, 'Hey, come over here,'" Yeakey said. "My daughter took off running, because she knew something wasn't right with that. He got out of the car and started chasing her."  According to Yeakey, the terrifying encounter didn't end there. He says the man got back in his car after he could not catch her, went down the street, and got out with a rag in his hand as he chased after her again. view article

The district’s news release said the funds are to expand programs dealing with student well-being, school safety and curriculum. “These are outside grants that we have received thus far,” Superintendent Dino Coronado said. “It’s a credit to a great team because it takes all of them to put this together.” view article

The messages suggest that the agency was moving toward a required Sept. 1 release of the state’s first updated count of pregnancy-related deaths in nearly a decade.  On Sept. 2, however, then-Commissioner John Hellerstedt, an appointee of Gov. Greg Abbott, said the agency needed more time to complete the analysis.   The last-minute delay infuriated maternal health experts who have spent years pressing the state to update its sluggish data review process. Members of the state’s Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee, which analyzes pregnancy-related deaths, said they were given no heads up about the announcement.  Advocates have since accused Abbott of instigating the delay in an effort to protect his re-election chances in the midterms.  view article

The website for FOX 44 out of Waco shared the following information: The district says Hamilton Junior High and Ann Whitney Elementary were locked down as the threat was being evaluated. School Officials are releasing 1st Grade through 5th Grade students from the elementary at 2 p.m. Parents can pick up their children at the First Baptist Church Family Life Center on Bell Street. The school says all of the students are safe. view article

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A yellow smiley face bounces around a flat screen TV as a mesmerized toddler sits in front. He’s wearing a cap that cradles his head, attached to a bundle of wires.  The baby seems impossibly calm as UT Associate Professor Maria Arredondo conducts this experiment — one she’s already done on over 100 children.   In a study published in March, Arredondo revealed how bilingual infants from 6 to 10 months old think and learn differently from those who grow up in monolingual households.  Even before their first words, bilingual children are already able to differentiate languages, she showed. This unique skill allows bilinguals to strengthen parts of the brain that are essential to managing behavior and planning.  view article

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Shallowater ISD has a new home for two of its medical programs, the SISD Health Sciences Learning Clinic. One of those programs is the first of its kind in the state. The school district celebrated the grand opening of the clinic Monday, alongside its partner on the project, University Medical Center.  Superintendent Anita Hebert says this moment of celebration is the result of years of hard work and strong partnerships. The clinic is the new home for students enrolled in Shallowater’s new Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) and Occupational Therapy (OT) programs. The hands-on programs are possible through a partnership with UMC. The hospital’s CEO, Mark Funderburk, says the partnership doesn’t just provide classroom training.  “But also exposure to our clinics. A very front-row seat for students to see, I think, the possibility of a future in healthcare,” he said.  In the CMA program, students get classroom and real-world experience in direct patient care at UMC’s community clinics throughout Lubbock. The new learning clinic is also in the same building as Shallowater physician Dr. Brian Carreon. view article

Texas school districts received the latest school safety standards and have begun checking the status of their buildings and how they are going to pay for the updates required by the state. Spurred by the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde where 19 children and two adults were killed, Gov. Greg Abbott charged the Commissioner of Education Mike Morath with rule development to ensure existing school facilities are held to heightened safety standards and to determine costs of more secure facilities in schools. On Oct. 3, the governor also appointed John P. Scott as the new Texas Education Agency chief of school safety and security. view article

DALLAS — If it feels like there’s something – or multiple things – going around right now, it’s because it there is. At Pediatric Healthcare Associates of McKinney, Dr. Catherine Frank is getting so many calls, their lines are jammed each morning. “I’ve been in private practice here for 21 years and it’s, I would say, the busiest I’ve seen,” Frank said. Across the metroplex at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, Dr. Laura Romano said they check in a patient every one to two minutes. “Things have been pretty busy and hectic here,” she said. “Now nobody is wearing a mask anymore so we’re getting a lot of people who maybe haven’t been exposed to RSV or the flu for the past two seasons.” The Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council said Friday that in the past week flu hospitalizations have gone up 30% and COVID hospitalizations are up 70%. Pediatric hospitals are now 98.9% full.    (5) view article

Wise County Judge J.D. Clark is calling on everyone in the county to wear pink, Athena's favorite color. Residents throughout Texas are being asked to help honor a 7-year-old girl who was found dead following an abduction last week. Athena Strand, who was the subject of an AMBER Alert, went missing last week in rural Wise County, and her body was discovered on Friday night. The suspect, identified as 31-year-old Tanner Lynn Horner, confessed to abducting and killing her on Wednesday. Authorities said Horner was working as a contract FedEx driver and was delivering a package to Strand's home when the abduction allegedly happened. view article

Fort Bend ISD schools in areas under Houston’s boil water advisory are open today after the district purchased more than 10,000 bottles of water to provide the campuses, according to the school district. A boil water notice (BWN) issued Sunday night by the city of Houston affects areas that include the FBISD campuses of Willowridge High School, Christa McAuliffe Middle School and Ridgemont, Ridgegate, Briargate and Blue Ridge elementary schools. view article

Dogs can really be your best friends. They're a furry friend that will help you destress after a tough day. Travis High School in Fort Bend ISD helped students do just that in preparation for their final exams of the semester.On Thursday, Travis High School in Richmond welcomed volunteers from Faithful Paws Pet Therapy and their therapy pets on campus to provide emotional and mental support for students and staff ahead of exams. view article

In a new collaboration between Fort Bend ISD, Fort Bend Transportation Church and NRG, donated hygiene items donated to students last week at Briargate Elementary to be distributed by teachers to students who may suffer from the stigma of coming from low-income families. Briargate is located in Fort Bend Houston, the area within Houston city limits that lies within Fort Bend County. According to Fort Bend ISD, 9.4 percent of Fort Bend residents under 18 live in poverty, and 94.9 percent of the people living in the area surrounding Briargate Elementary are economically disadvantaged. Parents in that area often have to choose between buying food or hygiene products like toothpaste. To begin to address this need, on November 29 officials and dignitaries gathered at Briargate for the first distribution of more than 1,700 hygiene products contributed through a drive initiated by Pastor David Lee Sincere, Jr. of Fort Bend Transformation Church. The drive officially launched on October 26 and ended on November 16. view article

Charges have been filed against an adult after a handgun was found inside a student’s backpack Tuesday at a Fort Bend Independent School District elementary school, according to the district. Mission West Elementary school administrators received a tip about the student and immediately removed them from the classroom, officials said. view article

SHALLOWATER, Texas — UMC Health System and the Shallowater Independent School District will host the grand opening of the SISD Health Science Learning Clinic on Monday, December 5. A ribbon cutting event will take place at 9:00 a.m. at 1502 12th Street. According to a press release from UMC Health System, the SISD Health Sciences Learning Clinic will house Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) and Occupational Therapy (OT) programs for Shallowater ISD students. “The CMA program began last year and provides students with real-world, hands-on learning experiences, both in the classroom and in direct patient care as part of clinical rotations in UMC community clinics throughout Lubbock, the press release said. “The OT program is the first of its kind among high schools in the State of Texas. In its first year of state approval, this innovative program provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary for a career in Occupational Therapy.” view article

The 38-year-old Hill Country man faces up to five years in prison if convicted. A Texas man was arrested Friday on a federal charge that he left a threatening voicemail message for one Boston doctor who provides care to transgender people, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts. The man, Matthew Jordan Lindner, 38, of the Hill Country town of Comfort, was charged with one count of transmitting interstate threats. Comfort is in Kendall County, about 50 miles northwest of San Antonio. Lindner, whose company Lindner Ammo was a federal firearms licensee in 2019, is accused of leaving a voicemail message on Aug. 31 threatening to kill the doctor, who works at the Boston-based National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center. view article

The Victoria Independent School District is proud to be partnering with the Gulf Bend Center on “Bend the Trend,” a school-based mental health community collaborative. This program strives to identify and provide early intervention mental health services for students who attend Torres Elementary at no cost to families. Bend the Trend is a proactive approach that provides early intervention and support to students who show signs of social and emotional needs. If these needs are not met at an early age, children can develop unhealthy coping habits that often impact their learning and their ability to function in society. By proactively identifying these students and building a continuum of support around the student and their families, our goal is to empower students with healthy coping mechanisms that will lead to students finding their genius. view article

CLEVELAND, Texas (KTRK) -- A commercial truck driver has been charged after police said he hit two Cleveland High School students walking near campus. The driver, 32-year-old Dillon Lamb, has been charged with intoxication assault with a motor vehicle. Cleveland police smelled alcohol on Lamb's breath the night of the crash on East Houston Avenue. "There was a field sobriety test given to Mr. Lamb. There was a detection of what we believe to be some form of alcoholic beverage on his breath," Cleveland Police Chief Darrel Broussard said. On Monday night, investigators said the ninth and 10th-grade boys were walking back to Cleveland High School and crossing the street when a commercial truck hit them, breaking their bones. view article

This is the first piece in a two-part series, The Texas Story, a special report from the George W. Bush Institute on paths to opportunity for young people in select Texas regions. Are young Texans on track for prosperous, self-determined lives? How do we know? And what might the outcomes mean for students and communities in other states? In a prior series last year, we explored these questions in Dallas, Houston and Austin. This fall, we visit two smaller Texas cities — Midland and Longview. This piece examines the challenges that school districts in the two cities face in preparing students for the modern workforce. Towering metropolitan populations dominate the storyline of modern Texas. The 13 largest cities in the United States include five from Texas: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth. The Texas Triangle, a megaregion in the middle of the state that includes those five main urban centers, is home to nearly 21 million of the state’s 28.6 million residents. The rest of the state’s 7.5 million residents — still greater than the population of 30 smaller states — live in rural areas, small towns and moderately sized cities. view article

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Victims of the Uvalde school shooting that left 21 people dead have filed a lawsuit against local and state police, the city and other school and law enforcement officials seeking $27 billion due to delays in confronting the attacker, court documents show. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Austin on Tuesday, says officials failed to follow active shooter protocol when they waited more than an hour to confront the attacker inside a fourth-grade classroom. It seeks class action status and damages for survivors of the May 24 shooting who have sustained “emotional or psychological damages as a result of the defendants’ conduct and omissions on that date.” Among those who filed the lawsuit are school staff and representatives of minors who were present at Robb Elementary when a gunman stormed the campus, killing 19 children and two teachers in the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. in nearly a decade. view article

AUSTIN, Texas — The city of Uvalde sued the local prosecutor’s office Thursday seeking access to records and other investigative materials on the May shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 children and two teachers dead, a move that highlights ongoing tensions over the slow police response and information flow on the rampage. The lawsuit filed in Uvalde County against District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee says the lack of access on the May 24 massacre is affecting an independent investigator’s ability to look for policy violations by local responding officers and determine whether internal disciplinary actions are needed. Busbee is conducting a criminal investigation into the shooting, which will include examining a report she is awaiting from the Texas Department of Public Safety. The state’s police chief said it would come by the end of the year. view article

At a school district in Texas, mental health professional training to address grief and trauma is healing for school-based therapists and social workers who lost loved ones during the pandemic. view article

A United ISD student has been arrested for assaulting another student in a school bus, according to the United ISD Police Department. Jesus Armando Guerrero, 17, was served with an arrest warrant on Nov. 28 charging him with assault. On Nov. 10, a United ISD police officer assigned to the S.T.E.P. Academy on 1600 Espejo Molina Road received information about an incident that occurred the day before. view article

Dumas police say one person was taken into custody after an incident at JBS in Cactus on Thursday. According to the Dumas Police Department's Facebook page, after "an incident in Cactus at JBS," the Dumas Independent School District decided to lockdown schools as a precaution. view article

Two Elkhart High School senior cheerleaders, Kassidy Thomas and Aly Henderson, along with cheer sponsor Pepper Thomas are recovering from their serious injuries since the rollover bus wreck on Oct. 28. view article

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas — Two Central Texas schools ended up dealing with either a lockdown or an evacuation on Wednesday. No one was hurt in any of the incidents.  Round Rock High School was placed on lockdown because of police activity in a nearby neighborhood. The school's principal told parents there was never a threat to campus safety.  In Dripping Springs ISD, authorities evacuated the Sycamore Springs campus because of a bomb threat written on a bathroom stall. That campus is home to both elementary and middle school students.  Dripping Springs officials say police swept the campus but didn't find a credible threat.  The school district issued the following statement: view article

Lockhart Independent School District and Caldwell County announced a partnership that provides constables to bolster security at schools through an interlocal cooperation agreement. Deputies from the Caldwell County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office will provide law enforcement presence with armed commissioned peace officers at LISD elementary campuses and PRIDE High School and Lockhart Discipline Management Center. Lockhart Junior High School and Lockhart High School already have School Resource Officers made available through the Lockhart Police Department who serve those campuses. view article

Two Cleveland High School students were critically injured in an auto-pedestrian accident around 6:20 p.m. on Monday on SH 321 in front of the high school. The two male students – a ninth-grader and a tenth-grader – were returning to the high school parking lot after having walked over to a restaurant in the shopping center across from the high school when they were struck by an eastbound commercial pickup truck. “The students were crossing the street at the designated crosswalk. We were told this pickup truck came down the street and ran right into them,” said Cleveland ISD Superintendent Stephen McCanless. “We had a game going on at the high school tonight and we believe they might have stayed after school for the game and had gone to get something to eat when this happened.” view article

DALLAS — It seems discussion surrounding gender identity in schools will be a topic of conversation in the upcoming legislative session after Texas governor Greg Abbott alluded to support for stopping what he called “indoctrination.” Gov. Abbott tweeted the link to a Fox News article on Sunday, which detailed a Fort Worth teacher who reportedly came out to students and staff as nonbinary and discussed it with the middle schoolers. Abbott said in the tweet that "we will put a stop to this nonsense in the upcoming legislative session." "Schools must get back to fundamentals & stop pushing woke agendas," Abbott continued in his tweet. "We will pass laws to get it done." view article