In a letter to families, Klein Oak High School principal Thomas Hensley says a staff member was alerted about a student having a weapon. Administrators and Klein ISD police investigated the report and "safely detained" the student. Officials searched the student's backpack and found a handgun inside. view article

FIRST ON FOX: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in the first days of the Trump administration, has made more than 460 arrests of illegal immigrants, including those with criminal histories that include sexual assault, domestic violence and drugs and weapons crimes. view article

Fox News embedded exclusively with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Boston as the agency targeted egregious criminal aliens, including MS-13 gang members and murder suspects, as part of mass deportation efforts under President Donald Trump. view article

The Tornillo Independent School District experienced a cybersecurity incident resulting in student information being copied by an unauthorized user outside of the United States. According to a statement published on the district's website, PowerSchool, the district's provider of student information systems, informed the TISD of the incident on December 28. view article

The South San Antonio Independent School District board has unanimously approved a controversial, but financially incentivized, curriculum that has drawn criticism for its heavy use of biblical material. view article

The South San Antonio Independent School District board has unanimously approved a controversial, but financially incentivized, curriculum that has drawn criticism for its heavy use of biblical material. view article

The El Paso School District Board received a preliminary report from its long-awaited equity audit, revealing significant disparities in funding and disciplinary actions within the district. The audit, conducted by the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium (MAEC), began in February of 2024 following a 2020 lawsuit alleging neglect of poor, Hispanic neighborhoods. view article

The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office has gotten complaints about the Keller ISD controversy over the school board’s internal discussions about the controversial talks about potentially splitting the district. The Keller Police Department confirmed to WFAA that the department received a report regarding an allegation of Texas Open Meetings Act violation and forwarded it to the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Integrity Investigations Unit, which handles allegations against elected officials. view article

As Southern states attempt to lessen cockfighting penalties in the name of freedom and rural heritage, Texas isn't buying it.  A blood-soaked rainbow of feathers decorates the ground, the last breaths of a dying rooster escape in weak squawks, onlookers cheer and a victorious bettor happily accepts his payout. The losing bird, with gouged eyes, broken bones and punctured lungs, is shoveled to his final resting place — the closest trash can. This isn’t a one-time event — it’s a common occurrence in North Texas. view article

Abraham George’s comments are the latest sign of the state GOP’s embrace of fundamentalist ideologies that seek to center public life around their faith.   view article

Corsicana ISD’s Collins Intermediate Assistant Principal Candra Rogers, 56, blinded in her right eye after a student attacked her in August 2024, had her eye surgically removed on Jan. 14. Rogers told KWTX News Anchor Julie Hays that she is at home, and although she is suffering with agonizing pain, is hopeful the surgery will relieve the daily headaches she has experienced since the on campus attack. view article

A Celina ISD bus driver has been arrested following allegations of inappropriate conduct with a female student. In a statement released by Celina ISD, officials said they were informed on Monday, Jan. 13, about alleged inappropriate contact between Timothy Adams and a female student. The district immediately contacted police, and Adams was taken into custody. view article

The administrator said that she has no fear of going to jail for advocating for the LGBT agenda in education.   view article

A former day care worker in the Princeton Independent School District is facing charges after allegedly injuring a child. What We Know: The alleged incident happened sometime before Dec. 13 at the Panther Cub Day Care. Princeton police said that’s when they met with the child’s parents and staff members at the day care to begin their investigation. view article

Justices on Monday heard arguments from Annunciation House, which is fighting to stay open, and the Texas Attorney General’s office, which claims the shelter’s work with migrants violates state law.   view article

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD trustees are considering a gender policy that could require staff to notify parents if their child uses a pronoun at school other than their biological sex. Staff would also be prohibited from diagnosing or treating a student with "gender dysphoria" under what some are calling a "hateful policy." view article

A federal court in Kentucky drove a final nail in the coffin of the Biden administration’s attempt to inject radical “transgender” ideology into the nation’s schools, rejecting a rule that radically reinterpreted Title IX—a 1972 civil rights law enacted to protect women from sex-based discrimination in education. view article

The attorney general argues that the social media company violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by listing itself as appropriate for children.   view article

"When consumers questioned the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine, Pfizer sought to silence them—prioritizing profits over the truth," said Paxton. "I will not stop until Pfizer is held accountable for deceptively pushing its COVID-19 vaccine on consumers."  AG Pax­ton Pursues Lawsuit Against Pfizer for ‘Knowingly Misrepresenting’ COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy view article

As the college and professional football seasons come to an end, many fans- myself included- are reminded of this truth: not every hire can be a touchdown. A seemingly great candidate joins your team and suddenly they’re not hitting the mark. It could be due to disciplinary issues, ineffective work, or a number of other problems. Many administrators have dealt with difficult employees and have at times been required to make the decision to terminate their employment. When those employees happen to be at-will or probationary employees, some assume they can safely terminate their employment without developing the usual documentation. This, in fact, may not be a safe assumption.

Former Fort Bend Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Christie Whitbeck has dropped the defamation lawsuit against the district she used to run, as well as some trustees. She is still suing for breach of contract, the district announced Tuesday. A Fort Bend ISD spokesperson said she concedes she cannot legally maintain her claims against trustees regarding statements made about her performance. view article

A judge sentenced a former Longview teacher’s aide to 5 years in prison Tuesday. Judge Scott Novy handed down the sentence Tuesday after Cynthia Talley pleaded guilty to three charges of injury to a child and one charge of unlawful restraint in December. Talley, 58, of Longview, along with five other educators previously employed at Longview’s J.L. Everhart Elementary, was accused in connection with the abuse of 11 disabled children spanning from 2019 through 2021. view article

Southern Methodist University in Dallas tried to declare its independence after the church voted to ban gay weddings and clergy in 2019.   view article

Paxton’s latest tour is the continuation of his efforts in the past year to get political revenge on House Republicans who supported his impeachment.   view article

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has determined that Fort Bend ISD did not violate state law with its voting incentives during the Voter Approval Tax Rate Election in 2023, although some people involved with the district at the time could potentially face bribery investigations. The ballot measure asked residents to approve a tax rate increase that would be used for teacher and staff raises as well as armed security required by an unfunded state mandate. The tax rate increase passed overwhelmingly, with 57% of the vote share. view article

The state bar sought to take away the law license of Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster over a Texas lawsuit challenging 2020 presidential election results.   view article

The Houston-area school district faced accusations of electioneering for its attempts to encourage voting in a tax-rate election in 2023. While the district was cleared of wrongdoing, people involved with Fort Bend ISD at the time could potentially face bribery investigations. view article

A former Round Rock ISD teacher resigned after admitting to intentionally tripping a 5-year-old student with autism at a Head Start program, according to an arrest affidavit. Lynn Shin, who was hired in August 2024, resigned on October 1 after being placed on administrative leave following the September 26 incident at WBCO Head Start in Round Rock. view article

Charges have been filed against a former Round Rock ISD teacher accused of intentionally tripping a nonverbal student. According to an affidavit, Lynn Shin was charged with misdemeanor assault of an elderly or disabled victim following an incident at Round Rock Head Start's campus in September. view article

When a school district analyzes locations for construction of potential facilities, water supply is often a key component of that evaluation. At times a location does offer easy access to an established and affordable municipal water supplier to whom a district can simply “hook up.” With an existing system, a school district will hope to pay a reasonable rate for water of a quality and quantity sufficient to meet its needs. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. A school district may need to examine obtaining an alternative water supply in order to meet the demand for its project or explore options to supplement its primary supply due to water quality, quantity, or cost concerns.

For as long as I can remember, school district administrators have been comfortable placing employees on paid administrative leave in the best interest of the district and reassigning even Chapter 21 contract employees to another department, position, or campus so long as the reassignment did not result in a change in the employee’s contract or pay, and the new position was in “the same professional capacity.”

It’s election season! That wonderful span when all Americans make the time and mental effort to reflect on and celebrate the fact that we are more alike than we are different and when we, as an electorate, focus on the real issues to be worked on instead of being distracted by curated, quasi-contextual soundbites that serve only to divide us and make political consultants rich. Or…something like that.

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.

As districts face an ever-increasing number of community “watchdogs” and social media warriors posting opinions on issues based on, at best, 50% of the actual facts, it is common to question what the legal remedies are for defamed districts, employees, and officials. On the other hand, districts may also question what recourse the public may have against them and their employees and officials when defending themselves in a public forum on a controversial issue. Below is a brief analysis of each of those situations.

Texas school districts are authorized to provide public school transportation. For those that do, motor vehicle accidents are fertile ground for claims against school districts. School districts may benefit from taking the time to review their risk management approach to the provision of transportation services.