A former Temple ISD teacher was arrested for engaging in an improper relationship with a 17-year-old student. Former TISD teacher Jennifer Hoelscher, 35, was arrested Tuesday for engaging in an improper relationship with a 17-year-old Temple High School student. view article

With cases of the coronavirus rising in Austin and Travis County, Austin Independent School District has decided to stop all strength and conditioning workouts until July 13, at the earliest. view article

A new statewide report from the TEA shows that more than 600,000 students didn't complete assignments or respond to teacher outreach during the pandemic.  The Texas Education Agency released a report Tuesday showing that higher percentages of low-income, Black and Hispanic students were not completing assignments or were not responsive to teacher outreach compared with higher-income, white and Asian peers. Texas collected the data from school districts in early May, and districts have until July 16 to update their numbers. view article

The U.S. senator is endorsing Raul Reyes over Tony Gonzales for the 23rd Congressional District and launching TV ads in support of Reyes.  U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is jumping into the Republican primary runoff for Texas' most competitive congressional seat this fall, going against the candidate favored by retiring U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, and national GOP leaders.  Saying the district "deserves strong conservative representation," Cruz is endorsing Raul Reyes over Tony Gonzales for Hurd's seat — and launching a six-figure TV ad buy backing Reyes, according to details first shared with The Texas Tribune. view article

Rains ISD will suspend all athletic activity and will extend a previously planned closure for the holiday week after a student’s parent tested positive for COVID-19. view article

The North Zulch school district has closed its campus and canceled athletic workouts after a staff member had exposure to someone who recently tested positive for COVID-19.  Superintendent Alan Andrus said in a statement released Monday that the staff member is self-quarantining at home and does not have symptoms of the virus. view article

School nurses already have a lot of responsibilities, but the possibility of students being back in classrooms this fall may add a new duty: screening for COVID-19.  "There seem to be no certainties. The guidance changes frequently and there is some concern that the guidance doesn’t take into account the realities in a school building," says Laurie Combe, the President of the National Association of School Nurses. view article

Carroll ISD does not believe any of the three athletes contracted the virus at school.  Three Southlake Carroll male athletes tested positive for COVID-19 after taking part in the school’s Performance Course program and in summer strength and conditioning/sport-specific workouts at the school, Carroll ISD said Monday. The district said that it doesn’t believe any of the athletes contracted the virus at the school.  Carroll has continued workouts, even as a growing number of Texas schools have put workouts on hold.  The Dallas Morning News has found as of Monday night that at least 192 schools statewide have temporarily suspended summer workouts at some point since the UIL allowed those to begin June 8. Positive tests resulted in some of those shutdowns, but many schools and school districts paused workouts because of concerns about the coronavirus in their area, or because numbers continue to spike in Texas. view article

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is extending the application deadline for the federal Pandemic-Electronic Benefit Transfer program (P-EBT) to July 31.  Governor Greg Abbott made the announcement, Monday morning. P-EBT is a benefit for assisting families “who lost access to free or reduced-price school meals through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) due to school closures.”  The program ensures $285 per eligible child for families, and can be used in a similar way to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits are used to pay for groceries.  Governor Abbott says extending the deadline will help ensure eligible families have time to apply for this one-time food benefit. view article

n his YouTube Live video on Monday evening, Conroe ISD Superintendent Curtis Null told the community that if the recent rise in positive COVID-19 cases continues, face-to-face instruction may not even be an option for next year.  “We are making every decision in Conroe ISD that we can with our focus being protect our community and protect the school year. What do we need to do today, to ensure that we can have a school year in August?” Null said. “Over the last few weeks, I’ve become very worried about our ability to have school next year. In just the last few weeks we’ve had positive tests at all of our strength and conditioning programs at our high schools — or almost all — we’ve had positive tests at a few of our food distribution sites, and we’ve had positive tests here in our administration building.” view article

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Public Health is encouraging families to schedule their children’s back-to-school checkups and make sure they’re up to date on all required vaccinations.   The public health agency says doing so is necessary to avoid as health officials other vaccine-preventable outbreaks as the community fights the spread of COVID-19.  Because of the pandemic, the Texas Medical Association reported a drop in parents taking their kids to the doctor’s office. view article

School communities desperate for normalcy are hoping that the new school year will be more stable than the last, when the coronavirus forced schools to close and launch remote learning overnight. But that seems like wishful thinking, as 2020-2021 is shaping up to be even more problematic.  School districts are embarking on novel experiments in learning, unveiling plans to reopen with new procedures for just about everything. But none of them are set in stone because the unknowns about how things will work far outweigh the knowns. view article

LEVELLAND, Texas — Levelland Independent School District has suspended workouts for the remainder of the week after a student-athlete tested positive for COVID-19, Levelland athletic director and football coach Andy Correll said. view article

MISSION — Among the host of challenges schools are expected to solve before children return to in-person class this August is just how exactly to identify students who may be infected with COVID-19, and how to keep them from spreading the virus to the rest of the student body.  The Sharyland school board voted last week to spend $178,488 on a high-tech effort they believe may help to accomplish that goal, purchasing 52 walk-through infrared temperature scanners the district plans to deploy at the entrance of every campus and some other district offices. view article

As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the state, another Southeast Texas school has announced multiple cases.Seveal students at Port Neches-Groves High School have tested positive for coronavirus and currently are being quarantined, according to Assistant Superintendent Julie Gauthier.  This is the sixth local district to confirm a positive case. view article

The Houston Independent School District is closing all campuses and facilities in the month of July due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.All HISD buildings will be closed from Friday, July 3 through Saturday, July 19.   All athletic practices will also be canceled.  The district said it will continue to operate virtually to provide educational services, so all students will be allowed to keep their laptops until the fall rather than return them to campus -- eliminating the need to bring students, families and extra staff to buildings.  view article

Port Neches-Groves — Port Neches-Groves ISD Superintendent Dr. Mike Gonzales confirms to KFDM/Fox 4 that at least one student has tested positive for COVID-19.  Dr. Gonzales says it's believed the high school student contracted the virus at an extracurricular activity away from campus. He says as many as three students may have contracted the virus. "I hate that this has happened, but this seems to be touching everyone these days," said Dr. Gonzales.  The district is on summer break and he encourages students and staff to stay safe. view article

A Belton ISD student athlete tested positive for COVID-19, the district’s athletic director announced Monday. Symptoms developed on Saturday morning, so they did not attend camp today but instead went to get tested, according to Skidmore. However, the student did participate in activities last Friday at Tiger Field, within their workout group. view article

Northside ISD, the largest school district in the San Antonio area, has suspended its summer sports camps until at least July 13 because of the area’s rising number of COVID-19 cases, athletic director Stan Laing said Monday. view article

As the new coronavirus continues to spread in Texas, leaders of some of the state's biggest cities said Monday that their testing sites were being strained, forcing them to turn away people in the middle of the day or limit who is eligible to take a test.  In Travis County, interim County Judge Sam Biscoe said the county’s public testing is being rationed to only people with symptoms. Previously, local leaders had encouraged anyone to get tested, including asymptomatic people and people that had come into contact with COVID-19 patients. view article

Texas education officials delayed an expected announcement of school reopening guidelines recently, but a draft plan shows the state taking a light-handed role in coronavirus prevention measures. Masks and distancing are recommended but not mandatory. Texas public schools will be required to provide in-person instruction for students this fall, but state education officials have delayed releasing final public health guidelines for keeping them safe on campuses during the pandemic.  “We are unable to give final guidance today on on-campus instruction. We are actively monitoring the situation, and we will try to get out final information as quickly as possible,” Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said during a Tuesday briefing of school superintendents who had been expecting him to outline the agency’s reopening guidelines. view article

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Friday moved the county to the worst threat level, calling for a return to the stay-at-home conditions of March and April, as COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to spike.  She also banned outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people in unincorporated Harris County, while urging mayors to do the same in their cities.  Hidalgo described in dire terms the danger the pandemic currently poses and said the county is at greater risk than at any other time since the outbreak began here in March. view article

It's a déjà vu moment, with the Texas government making some of the same moves to curb the spread of the coronavirus that it adopted in March — and started to get rid of a month later. The virus is spreading, and the remedies are back.  The spread of the coronavirus in Texas is accelerating. State leaders dither, following the example of national leaders — all of them afraid to impose unpopular restrictions and many of them doubting epidemiologists and other medical and public health officials as overly dramatic Chicken Littles.  But the numbers pile up; maybe the sky is falling, after all. view article

MISSION — Among the host of challenges schools are expected to solve before children return to in-person class this August is just how exactly to identify students who may be infected with COVID-19, and how to keep them from spreading the virus to the rest of the student body.  The Sharyland school board voted last week to spend $178,488 on a high-tech effort they believe may help to accomplish that goal, purchasing 52 walk-through infrared temperature scanners the district plans to deploy at the entrance of every campus and some other district offices. view article

The LISD Board of Trustees discussed their 2020-21 Instructional Continuity plan that includes more virtual and remote learning details during a special called meeting on Thursday. During the meeting, the board agreed that students wearing masks for the upcoming school year was the best course of action in the case of traditional learning. LISD Superintendent Dr. Sylvia Rios said that during the TEA Commissioner meeting, that plans have been affected by the recent spikes of COVID-19.  Dr. Gerardo Cruz, the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, also presented summaries of recent TEA commissioner meetings that included the June 18, June 23 and expectations for the July 2 meeting view article

WACO, Texas (KWTX) -The Waco Independent School District said Thursday it isn’t sure what the fall semester will look like, but it’s working toward a solution.  The Waco School Board met virtually to discuss options.  With the delay of guidance from the Texas Education Agency for the second straight week, school board member Robin Houston applauded Waco ISD’s efforts.  “I think it’s wonderful that our district is being proactive and trying to put something in place with no guidance, you know, trying to take a shot in the dark,” she said. view article

MIDLAND, Texas (Big 2/Fox 24) – In a virtual press conference Thursday afternoon, MISD Superintendent Orlando Riddick says the school district is taking steps to keep the community safe after a official tested positive for COVID-19 Wednesday evening.  Fears of community spread come from the June 22nd MISD Board meeting where this official was present. The meeting was held at the Bowie Fine Arts Center. view article

CRAWFORD/MART, Texas – The Crawford Independent School District is suspending all summer strength and conditioning camp activities.The district posted on social media Friday afternoon that this is due to the escalating situation concerning COVID-19, as well as the effort to protect student athletes as much as possible.  This rule is in effect until July 13th. view article

This week, the Fort Worth Independent School District has been holding Senior Commencement Celebrations. But because of a recent state order that put limits on large gatherings, the school district had to move Friday’s start time up, by several hours - from 7 p.m., to 1 p.m.Anxious students waited to walk across the stage at Farrington Field in Fort Worth even if it was just for the memories, and pictures  “It’s really exciting, but it’s confusing because it’s like, everything happened all of a sudden,” said Senior Monica Escarsega. view article

GROVETON, Texas (KETK) – Groveton ISD and Hughes Springs ISD have suspended summer workouts, citing COVID-19 concerns.  Both districts have suspended all summer workouts until Monday, July 13.  Groveton ISD says it is “strictly a precautionary measure to keep our student athletes and staff safe.” view article

Here are the latest COVID-19 updates, closures and postponements in Central Texas for Sunday, June 28.  KVUE is keeping you updated with the latest coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, news in the Austin area.  Scroll down for the top headlines and latest updates in KVUE's June 29 live blog. view article

Northeast High School in the Austin school district and Hays and Johnson high school in the Hays school district are the latest to postpone summer strength and conditioning programs.  Northeast’s football coaching staff tweeted Saturday that it has halted its summer workouts “effective immediately,” citing the surge of positive coronavirus tests in Travis County in recent weeks. The tweet did not mention any positive tests by any Northeast athlete, coach or staff member. According to the tweet, the school will resume its strength and conditioning program July 13.  “We have made this decision to suspend conditioning camps because of the recent spike of COVID-19 cases in Austin and Travis County,” the Northeast staff tweeted. “The safety of Northeast Raider athletes and coaching staff and all their families is our first priority.” view article

HOUSTON — Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz (both R-Texas) on Thursday formally asked the federal government to continue funding community-based coronavirus testing sites in Texas. The support is supposed to run out in five days.  “Obviously, in light of what's happening in Texas, this is not a time to pull back on testing,” Cornyn told KHOU11. “I think everybody realizes that we need to tap the brakes and not to and make sure we manage our way through this. So we'll be following up with the personal phone calls (and) if I need to call the president, I will. But I expect this will be worked out here more or less informally.” view article

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas school districts will have two new ways of calculating attendance come the fall semester, when many are set to reopen for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.  On Tuesday, the Texas Education Agency announced its two modes of attendance-counting for the 2020-21 school year — and how they will contribute towards state funding. view article

Decatur ISD has canceled the high school prom set for Saturday and stopped its summer conditioning athletic workouts after at least 20 students at McCarroll Middle School came into contact with an individual who was symptomatic and tested positive for COVID-19. “It was a situation where we had 20 families with direct exposure, and it was the right thing to do,” said Decatur ISD Superintendent Joseph Coburn. view article