The FBI has been requested to join the ongoing investigation into threats made to the Hearne school district by a student, according to the latest update from Hearne police. The police department, Hearne ISD, FBI agents and police officers, K9 units, and the Texas A&M University Police Department police were among the law enforcement agencies on Thursday on campus and investigating the threats made by the unidentified student Wednesday night. view article

An Edna ISD elementary school teacher in Jackson County has been arrested for an improper relationship with a student. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office said Logan O'Connor is facing multiple charges, including soliciting a minor and sexual performance of a child. He was taken into custody on Monday. view article

The Pflugerville ISD teacher accused of breaking a kindergartner's fingers was arrested on September 18. Court records show McKinzie Merrell, 31, was arrested and released the same day. She is charged with injuring a child. view article

Four middle school students from the Bastrop school district were arrested Tuesday and each charged with making a false alarm or report, a Class A misdemeanor, after a social media post circulated that contained a threat to Bastrop Middle School, a district spokeswoman confirmed. view article

Four middle school students have been arrested after allegedly circulating potential threats against Bastrop Middle School. Bastrop ISD informed parents and staff on Tuesday a screenshot was circulating on social media, which indicated a possible threat to the campus. view article

A Channelview Independent School District student is facing real life consequences after admitting to making threats against her school, according to the Harris County Pct. 3 Deputy Constable’s Office. view article

A high school student has been arrested after Sulphur Springs ISD staff identified a social media post containing a threat. On Sept. 13, ISD staff received an email notifying them of a threatening post made on Instagram, according to an arrest affidavit. The email named a student, Lucinda Beck Smith, 17, of Sulphur Springs. view article

A kindergartner is recovering after his parents say his teacher broke his fingers at school. Donte and Tabathe Moore's son recently started kindergarten at Pflugerville Elementary School. He's five-years-old and has autism. On Sept. 4, they noticed he wasn't acting like himself after school. "He said, 'my hand hurts.' I said, 'your hand?' And he said, 'yes.' I said, 'what's wrong with your hand?' He said, 'she broke it. She bent it back,' and he was gesturing like this. 'She bent it back.' I said, 'who? Who bent it back?' And he said, 'my teacher,'" Donte said. view article

Accurate voter rolls are an essential component of trustworthy elections. The inverse is also true, and election after election, one party fights to keep the rolls dirty, making elections untrustworthy. view article

Superintendent Angélica Ramsey’s record with Fort Worth ISD is going under the microscope. The school board called a special meeting for Sept. 17 to discuss Ramsey’s contract, a sign that trustees are considering whether she is the right top administrator amid questions about her leadership. The special meeting comes three weeks after Mayor Mattie Parker said a leadership vacuum existed in the school district after a decade of languishing and stagnant academic achievement.  The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Sept. 17 at the District Service Center, 7060 Camp Bowie Blvd. view article

Llano ISD said one person has been placed in custody after threats were made earlier this week. In a release sent Thursday night, the district said it will increase campus security again Friday after receiving initial reports of a social media threat Wednesday. view article

Parents already enrolled can still use their scholarship for tutoring, just not private tuition   view article

An employee at Goodman Elementary School accused of tying up students with string and putting tape over their mouths last week is on administrative leave, according to an Arlington ISD statement. The district was alerted to the allegations Friday, immediately prompting an investigation, and the employee was placed on administrative leave. The parents of involved students were notified the same day, according to the district. view article

A Cleveland ISD student has been arrested and expelled for reportedly posting a school shooting threat on social media. The district said it was made aware of a school shooting threat made to Cleveland Middle School on Monday morning. Investigators quickly determined that a Cleveland Middle School student made the threat, and law enforcement arrested the student. view article

Arlington police have confirmed that no criminal charges will be filed after an employee at Goodman Elementary School was accused of tying students up with strings and putting tape over their mouths. The Arlington Independent School District said that on Friday, Sept. 6, it learned of the allegations and "immediately began an investigation and placed the employee on administrative leave." view article

When, last month, former teacher and coach Taureaus Alvaro Maxwell was sentenced to prison for sexual misconduct with three students, it was not the end of the matter for Atlanta ISD. view article

A longtime administrator with the Gonzales Independent School District is accused of using district resources to print flyers for a school board candidate, state records obtained by KSAT Investigates show. The actions of Wanda Fryer were probed by the Texas Attorney General’s Law Enforcement Division beginning in April, at the request of the Gonzales ISD Police Department, records confirm. view article

Former Uvalde ISD police chief, Pete Arredondo, is pushing to have his indictment, encompassing ten counts of child endangerment and abandonment, dismissed. In a bold defense move, Arredondo\’s legal team is challenging the basis of the charges, asserting that school districts and their employees are not obligated to shield students from dangers posed by third parties. The motion further contends that Arredondo\’s actions were within the scope of his official responsibilities. view article

The Austin Independent School District must create a $4 million fund for hundreds of students it failed to evaluate for special education services within state and federal timelines, according to nonprofit Disability Rights Texas, or DRTx. view article

Christina Williams was arrested August 5th and charged with possession of a controlled substance and unlawful carrying of a weapon. The Snyder Independent School District issued the following statement: view article

Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray appeared in Barrow County Superior Court on Friday following this week’s mass shooting. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation initially said that Gray had been "charged with 4 counts of felony murder in connection to the shooting" at Apalachee High School in Barrow County. view article

Austin ISD settles lawsuit over delayed special ed evaluations, creates fund for affected students    A federal court signed off on a settlement Wednesday between Disability Rights Texas and Austin ISD over its backlog of special education evaluations. The settlement requires the district to establish a fund to help cover the cost of services for students who were affected by the delayed evaluations.  Disability Rights Texas Supervising Attorney Kym Davis Rogers said in a statement the group was pleased to reach the agreement on behalf of Austin ISD students.  “Most importantly, AISD has committed to the timely evaluation of students with disabilities and established a $4 million dollar fund to provide compensatory education to students whose evaluations were delayed,” she said.  K  nneth M. Walker II, general counsel for Austin ISD, said in a statement to KUT that students who are eligible for assistance under the deal must meet certain criteria. For one thing, they have to be currently enrolled i  the district. They also have to have experienced a more than 20-day delay to their evaluation between March 1, 2020, and the end of the 2024-25 school year.  When the lawsuit was filed in 2021, Disability Rights Texas said at least 800 students had not received an initial evaluation within the timeframe required by state and federal law. Evaluations, which determine whether a student has a disability, are the first step in the process of getting them any services or support they need. Some Austin ISD families had waited as long as a year for their children to be evaluated. view article

Georgia school mass shooting suspect Colt Gray has arrived at the Barrow County Courthouse in Georgia for his arraignment. Gray, 14, will face a judge this morning after being accused of opening fire on staff and students at Apalachee High School in Winder with an AR-style rifle, resulting in the deaths of two 14-year-old pupils and two teachers. view article

Instead of just being a time of excitement and anticipation, the return to the classroom this August was another reminder of the legal cases centered on sexual abuse that have embroiled the Lorena Independent School District and its community for more than three years. Since summer 2021, headlines about Lorena have focused on a scandal involving a former substitute teacher at Lorena Primary School who sexually abused two pre-kindergarten students. Nicolas Crenshaw, 29, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in May 2023. view article

A union leader and HISD teacher is back in the classroom this week after being placed on administrative leave for what the district called "inappropriate conduct" back in March. Houston Education Association President and 2nd Grade teacher, Michelle Williams, says she feels vindicated after the district accused the teacher of posting on social media during work hours. view article

Hawkins ISD Superintendent Susan Morton was arrested for driving while intoxicated in La Marque, Texas on Aug. 23. Morton was arrested by the La Marque Police Department after a “minor accident” which happened in the 2400 block of Gulf Freeway at around 7:49 p.m. in La Marque. According to a La Marque PD arrest report, there were three vehicles involved in the crash a 2005 Ford Explorer, a 2018 Kia Forte and Morton’s 2023 Ford F-150. view article

Some Leander ISD parents are frustrated after the district exposed the medical records of a number of students. And it isn't the first time it’s happened. Leander ISD parent Jeremy Gryder was told by his middle schooler that during lunch on Tuesday, the vice principal of Danielson Middle School put up a list on a projector screen with the names of about 30 students who hadn't received all their vaccinations. view article

A Kress ISD employee is under investigation for improper conduct involving a student. Kress ISD Superintendent Leah Zeigler addressed the incident in a press release. view article

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office reports a Jacksonville teen has been arrested for making a threat against a school campus. On Tuesday, New Summerfield ISD notified law enforcement of a possible threat against one of their campuses. After an investigation, law enforcement arrested a 15-year-old Jacksonville boy for making a terroristic threat. The Cherokee County Sheriff’s office confirmed the teen was not a student of New Summerfield ISD. view article

Silsbee Independent School District has placed an employee on administrative leave while it investigates the staff member's actions. view article

Southlake's Carroll ISD is fighting with the Biden administration again — and the district's LGBTQ+ students are caught in the middle. Why it matters: The affluent Tarrant County district has for years been at the center of school culture wars. view article

For anyone working in public schools, the category of “things I didn’t sign up for” seems to be expanding rapidly. It is increasingly routine, for example, to receive a subpoena for either testimony or documents in conjunction with your work as an educator. While no one would recommend that you ignore a subpoena, there are rules that must be followed by anyone seeking to issue and serve a subpoena. School staff are often unaware of these rules and can inadvertently make it easier to be subpoenaed, which can create a distraction from school-related duties and place school staff in the middle of legal disputes having nothing to do with them. More problematic is how frequently districts are asked to produce student or employee records via subpoena. If the subpoena is not properly served under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, this can impact a district’s ability to lawfully produce otherwise protected records.

A staff member with the Silsbee Independent School District is on leave while the district investigates an "incident." The staff member, who was not identified by name or job title, is on administrative leave while the incident is investigated, according to statement to parents released by the district on Monday. view article

A Pearland student says he was singled out and punished for a vape that he didn’t even have. The family not only says they have proof their son is innocent, but also say the school’s explanation for punishing him just isn’t adding up. Rodney Bonham Jr. is a senior and star football player at Glenda Dawson High School in Pearland. He says he stays out of trouble and focuses on maintaining his 3.6 GPA, but now he’s been placed in in-school suspension and will soon be temporarily transferred to an alternative school — over a THC vape he claims he never had. view article

Hardin Independent School District (Hardin ISD) recently received information indicating that one of its employees is alleged to have engaged in inappropriate behavior with a student from another school district. Upon learning of these allegations, Hardin ISD took action, suspending the employee in question pending the outcome of an investigation. view article