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

Arlington Heights High School, in Fort Worth ISD, sent out an email on Monday letting families know a weapon was found on campus. The email from the Principal of the school stated that Fort Worth Police conducted a search of a student following reports of suspicious activity. Police found a weapon in the student's possession and the individual was immediately arrested. The email did not specify what weapon was found. view article

A teacher for a Palestine school bonded out of jail Sunday after being accused of animal cruelty. Emily Marie Benner, 25, of Oakwood, was arrested Sunday by Westwood ISD PD for cruelty to non-livestock animals after what the school called a “deeply troubling” classroom incident on Friday. view article

Last Thursday, Austin ISD's board voted to approve the settlement, though neither the district nor Disability Rights Texas have released additional details. view article

In 2004, a public junior college in North Texas abandoned plans to lease some of its land to a religious organization for $1 a month after the state attorney general warned that the effort could violate the law. Nearly two decades later, the college went further. After publicly posting only that Weatherford College’s board would meet to discuss property, members emerged from behind closed doors in November 2022 and voted unanimously to give a 38-acre property to Community Christian School. The property was valued at more than $2 million, according to the county’s appraisal district. view article

A Round Rock Independent School teacher was arrested and accused of indecency with a child and child pornography, according to an affidavit of probable cause from the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office. Court records said the victim reached out to the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigation Division in June about the incidents. view article

The Abilene Police Department arrested Lawrence Brandt Grigg, a former employee with Abilene ISD, Wednesday on suspicion of engaging in an improper relationship between an educator and a student. Grigg, 53, was being held Friday in the Taylor County Jail on a $1 million bond, according to jail records. view article

Two El Paso Independent School District police officers were arrested and charged with official oppression and tampering with evidence and a dispatcher was arrested and charged with breach of computer security after trying to impose false criminal charges on a fellow police officer co-worker and trying to get the police chief fired. view article

Cell phone video taken on a Brenham school bus and obtained by KBTX last week shows what appears to be an adult boarding the stopped bus and physically assaulting a student. In a statement shared with parents last week, Brenham ISD said, “We want to inform you about an incident that occurred today, August 19, 2024, at approximately 4:45 PM involving Bus Route 13. A parent forcibly entered the bus to address a student. This incident was immediately reported to the authorities, and the parents of the student involved have been contacted.” view article

An Abilene ISD music instructor is accused of having an improper relationship with a student. Lawrence Grigg, 54, was taken into custody Wednesday on a warrant for Improper Relationship Between Educator and Student in connection to an investigation that began in July. A press release states police began investigating Grigg after receiving notification from Abilene ISD that he may possibly be engaged in an improper relationship with a student. view article

The Keller ISD school board of trustees unanimously approved 13 school policy changes during a meeting Thursday evening. Among the policy changes is a revision that would require teachers to use pronouns consistent with the biological sex listed on a student's birth certificate. view article

A former public school official is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from the Austin Independent School District for nearly a year. A grand jury on Friday indicted Lynn Brennan, 45, who used to be AISD’s Executive Director of Compensation and Benefits, with stealing between $30,000 and $150,000 from the district using gift cards. Austin ISD and police haven’t specified the exact amount believed to be stolen. view article

A former employee of the Yantis ISD has pleaded guilty in Wood County to Improper Relationship Between an Educator and a Student. Christopher McIntosh of Sulphur Springs was sentenced to 10 years probation and 240 hours of community service. He was no longer an employee of the school district. view article

A Midland Independent School District Police Sergeant and K9 Officer, Dakota Lindsey, was arrested on Tuesday after a lengthy investigation by the Texas Rangers. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by NewsWest 9, the Texas Ranger on the case, Cody Allen, interviewed a husband and a wife who made fake social media accounts and posted a photo of Lindsey in a MISD Police uniform with their daughter. The affidavit states that the wife told Officer Allen that she was claiming Lindsey was having an affair with their daughter. view article

Kayden Walker started the seventh grade at Kleb Intermediate in the Klein Independent School District this fall. His mom, Elizabeth Walker, said her son has autism and Down syndrome but still wants to have a role with the football team this fall. However, she told ABC13 that the district has prohibited that from taking place due to his disabilities. view article

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.

For many school districts, posting information on district websites and social media has become a vital tool in how districts communicate with their parents, students and communities. Additionally, the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Legislature have created a number of legal requirements involving posting information regarding transparency and district operations. Posting this information the district website is one way to ensure compliance with the law. Everything from your District of Innovation Plan to your school calendar to the next week’s lunch menu are available to anyone, at any time, day or night, via your district website.

At this point we don’t need to impress upon you the meaningful impacts that a well-written District of Innovation (“DOI”) Plan can have on school operations. After nearly ten years of the DOI experiment, it’s no secret that these plans are powerful tools—especially if properly drafted. Whether your District is seeking to adopt a plan for the first time, to renew an expiring plan, or to amend an existing plan, you must ensure that you carefully consider including the latest and greatest exemptions. This quick article will address some of the most popular and emerging innovations worth considering.

We see it every year: parents trying to opt their child out of STAAR testing. Some claim it’s against their religious beliefs, some claim it’s bad for their children’s mental health, and some have no problem stating they just don’t want to participate. Below we’ll discuss the constellation of consequences that students may face for their parent’s choice of opting out, and what issues your school district might encounter if more and more parents begin to follow this trend.

The State Board of Education is proposing amendments to 19 Tex. Admin. Code Ch. 74, as well as revamping and rewriting the Dyslexia Handbook, proposed to be called the “Texas Dyslexia and Dysgraphia Handbook.”

In Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled “students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Still, the First Amendment does not provide students absolute rights to such freedoms. Schools have a special interest in regulating on-campus student speech when it “materially and substantially interfere[s] with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school,” or such a disruption could be reasonably forecasted, or the speech “impinge[s] upon the rights of other students.” Balancing those competing interests, Tinker provides the standard for evaluating whether the First Amendment protects a student’s speech. Since Tinker, the Court has revisited student speech on multiple occasions, each time carving out narrow exceptions to the general Tinker standard based on certain characteristics or content of the speech, to include Tinker’s reach to off-campus student speech.

If you have spent more than five minutes in a Texas public school, you are likely aware that students must meet certain academic requirements to maintain extracurricular eligibility. At the end of each grading cycle, we hear the refrain echoing down the halls of the school—No pass, no play. With a slogan that simple, you would think the application would be straightforward. Not necessarily. Confusion seems to have arisen from UIL’s apparent interpretation of section 38.081 of the Education Code governing extracurricular eligibility and how it applies to students receiving special education and related services. It is important to understand both the statute itself as well as UIL’s interpretation to best position yourself to defend your eligibility decisions.

Texas Education Code (TEC) Chapter 37 outlines legal requirements for student discipline and the maintaining of law and order within schools, including required student discipline training for staff. Safety and security in schools is not just law enforcement’s responsibility but also the duty of all school staff—administrators, teachers, and support staff alike. Providing school staff with the necessary knowledge and tools for effective student behavior management has never been more critical than in today’s school climate. With a focus in school safety, applying the appropriate discipline management techniques for the situation can make the difference between effectively redirecting student misconduct or involuntarily escalating student behavior resulting in threatening or violent conduct that puts staff and students at risk.

A Garland ISD employee is on administrative leave after allegedly taking photos of a female elementary school student while she was in the restroom. The incident reportedly took place during the week of March 29 at Abbett Elementary, according to an email sent to parents on Thursday, April 1. view article

Pursuant to subsection 38.001(f) of the Education Code, the Legislature provided that a student who has not received the immunizations required by law “for reasons of conscience, including because of the person’s religious beliefs, may be excluded from school in times of emergency or epidemic declared by the commissioner of public health.” Read in context, a court likely would conclude that this exception does not permit exclusion of students who lack vaccinations unrelated to an existing "epidemic" contemplated by subsection 38.001(f). view article

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On May 4, 2020, the Department of Education (“DOE”) issued new Title IX regulations, which direct how educational institutions receiving federal funds must address reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault involving both students and employees. view article

At SL&A, we offer a full array of legal services for our school law clients throughout Texas. We strive to deliver a high-level of client service through teamwork, calling upon our attorneys’ decades of public and private experience to provide practical solutions and advice for all school needs. view article

Officers with the Hudson ISD Police Department arrested a former math teacher for the school district on Monday in connection to allegations that he had an improper relationship with a high school student that included sexual contact. view article

On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) officially filed a grievance against the Wimberley Independent School District, according to our partners at the Austin-American Statesman. The grievance is the result of an email Superintendent Dwain York sent to some parents in December 2019 regarding the altering of the district's logo to include the colors of the gay pride flag, according to the Statesman. view article

A former student has filed a lawsuit against Dallas ISD after he lost his status as his high school’s salutatorian a day before graduation due to a last minute change in rankings. In June, the district apologized after class rankings at Woodrow Wilson High School were changed right before graduation because of a calculation error. Now a former student is suing Dallas ISD, claiming that the change will affect his applications to universities and employers. view article

Terry Burchett, 69, was arrested in South Carolina on February 18 on charges of child pornography. He was found to be in possession of over 9,800 sexually explicit images of children according to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office. view article

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Irving ISD and the city of Irving by Ahmed Mohamed's family, according to Dallas Morning News. Ahmed made headlines when he was 14 years old and made a clock in school that was mistaken for a bomb in 2015. His family stated that his civil rights were violated when he was arrested at MacArthur High School and charged with making a "hoax bomb." The charge was later dropped, but he was still suspended. view article