Tag Archives: schools

So now we start processing what happened and what will happen with the TEA takeover

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron editorial board points to three key items. Still, if this takeover must happen — and Texas Education Agency announced Wednesday that it is indeed happening — we want it to work. Houston’s schoolchildren don’t have time for another … Continue reading →

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The TEA takeover has begun

Posted on March 16, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

At least the suspense is over. That’s the extent of my optimism about this. State education leaders notified the Houston Independent School District on Wednesday that they are resuming the process of stripping all power from the district’s elected school … Continue reading →

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HISD ends lawsuit against TEA

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

A formality at this point. The Houston Independent School District board voted on Thursday night to end its lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency, effectively ending the district’s legal fight against an attempted state takeover.  The motion passed with support of eight of the … Continue reading →

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Wheatley’s fate

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

We may learn today of the TEA’s intentions with HISD. Whatever does happen, let’s remember that in the end this will affect a lot of people, and some of them are not happy with the position they’ve been put in. … Continue reading →

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Three stories on Uvalde and gun control

Posted on February 19, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

First, a story about locks and why an obsession with locking school doors is not really going to improve safety. In the aftermath of school shootings like the one in Uvalde, what can get overlooked is basic: Schools need doors … Continue reading →

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Still more Uvalde bills from Sen. Gutierrez

Posted on February 10, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

At least one of these might have a chance to pass. State Sen. Roland Gutierrez wants the Texas Department of Public Safety to create robust mass shooting response training for all public safety entities after the chaotic response to the … Continue reading →

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Uvalde school district will not finish its internal review of police response to mass shooting

Posted on February 8, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

If nothing else, there are two clear arguments to be made in this debate. The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District announced it will not continue with an independent review of the district police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting. … Continue reading →

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Spring Branch ISD to discuss a book ban today

Posted on January 24, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t post stuff like this often – it’s not really my remit, and timeliness usually works against me – but this one really annoyed me, so here it is. Via Facebook: PLEASE CONSIDER SPEAKING ON TUESDAY @ 1PM! (If … Continue reading →

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Pushing the panic button

Posted on January 23, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

This feels like security theater to me, but it’s what passes for progress these days. All school districts in Montgomery County will soon be using panic alert technology during emergencies, including an active shooter situation, a security measure Texas education … Continue reading →

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Uvalde parents will take their fight to the Lege

Posted on January 17, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

They’re not going to get what they want and they know it, but they’re still going to fight. I have so much respect for them. More than seven months after a teenage gunman killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School, … Continue reading →

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Department of Education investigating removal of LGBTQ books from Texas school library

Posted on December 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The U.S. Education Department’s civil rights enforcement arm has launched an investigation into a North Texas school district whose superintendent was secretly recorded ordering librarians to remove LGBTQ-themed library books. Education and legal experts say the federal probe of … Continue reading →

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Senate committee makes small Uvalde recommendations

Posted on December 23, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Par for the course. A special Texas Senate committee that convened in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting made a series of policy recommendations Wednesday regarding school and gun safety, mental health, social media and police training. In an … Continue reading →

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More on the limits of social media monitoring for school violence prevention

Posted on December 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Some good stuff from the DMN. When Social Sentinel representatives pitched their service to Florida’s Gulf Coast State College in 2018, they billed it as an innovative way to find threats of suicides and shootings posted online. But for the … Continue reading →

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HISD to get funding for electric school buses

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Some good news. Houston Independent School District is hopping on the city’s net-zero carbon emissions bus, so to speak, thanks to more than $6.2 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency. The funds are part of the EPA’s Clean … Continue reading →

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If all we ever do are defensive measures, we’ll never make any progress

Posted on November 14, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I’m not saying we shouldn’t do these things, although some of them definitely should be questioned. I am saying we can’t just do things like these. The Texas Education Agency announced Thursday a plethora of proposals that would, among other … Continue reading →

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More on hoax school shooter reports

Posted on November 7, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know when this ends, but I continue to be worried that they will cause a major problem eventually. This year has seen a significant number of hoax calls across the country. In the three weeks between mid-September and … Continue reading →

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It’s really tough on LGBTQ students right now

Posted on October 29, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Not a surprise, unfortunately. Schools remain a hostile place for LGBTQ students, according to a new report from the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, which found a decline in access to resources, books and supportive clubs for those students. … Continue reading →

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Math test scores took a hit during the pandemic

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The decline started before the pandemic, but kept on going from there. Students in Houston and across the nation showed “appalling and unacceptable” declines on the 2022 Nation’s Report Card, adding to mounting evidence that the pandemic impacted young people … Continue reading →

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Reading and writing and DNA kits…

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I dunno, man. I just don’t know. Texas public school systems are set to distribute DNA and fingerprint identification kits for K-8 students to parents who wish to participate. The state Legislature passed a law in spring 2021 requiring the … Continue reading →

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There’s a wave of hoax school shooting reports around the country

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Weird and scary. When Emmi Conley first heard in September about a rash of hoax calls reporting active shooters in schools, she dismissed it. Conley, an extremism researcher who studies groups and people behind public displays of violence, said she … Continue reading →

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Uvalde school district suspends its entire police force

Posted on October 9, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Um, wow. Uvalde school officials on Friday suspended all of the district police department’s activities following the firing of a recently hired district officer who was revealed to have been among the first state troopers to respond to the deadly … Continue reading →

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Another hoax shooting situation

Posted on September 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

And this one shows another challenge for school districts and law enforcement to reckon with. After a lockdown at Jefferson High School sent worried parents to the school, the San Antonio Independent School District says it will enhance communications with … Continue reading →

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Now we’re dealing with hoax shootings

Posted on September 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

A new thing we need to be prepared for. Texas and other states have experienced hoax shootings, but experts say these threats shouldn’t be taken lightly. Research shows that if someone is going to commit a mass shooting there is … Continue reading →

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The one big question DPS still hasn’t answered about Uvalde

Posted on September 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib gets at something that I’ve mentioned a couple of times. Ever since the Uvalde elementary school shooting left 19 students and two teachers dead, blame for the delayed response has been thrust on local law enforcement. The school … Continue reading →

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The proposed HISD charter partnership policy change

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t have a lot of time to dig into this, but there are a couple of things I wanted to touch on. Parents, education advocates and a group of Houston elected officials including three Houston ISD trustees on Monday … Continue reading →

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First school ratings since 2019 released

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

All in all, not too bad. But for poorer schools and school districts, it remains a very hard go. The Texas Education Agency on Monday released its first public school ratings in three years and despite pandemic interruptions, the number … Continue reading →

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The book ban requests are coming from inside the house

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Typical “grassroots” campaign. The wave of book reviews and removals that swept across Texas in the last year was driven more by politicians than parents, a Houston Chronicle analysis found, contradicting claims that recent book bans were the result of … Continue reading →

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It’s not a teacher shortage yet

Posted on August 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

But you can see one on the horizon. School districts across the Houston region are trying to fill thousands of teacher vacancies before most will be welcoming students back to classrooms in the coming weeks. A review of about 18 area school districts’ job … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit tosses mask mandate lawsuit filed by disability rights activists

Posted on July 30, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Par for the course. A federal appeals court on Monday tossed out a lower-court injunction, issued in November, that would have allowed public schools in Texas to ignore Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel of Austin had blocked Abbott’s order as … Continue reading →

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Cornyn-Murphy gun bill gets final passage

Posted on June 25, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

What great timing, huh? Exactly one month after a gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers in a Uvalde elementary school, the most significant new gun laws in decades were headed to President Joe Biden’s desk on Friday … Continue reading →

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Cornyn’s gun control bill passes the Senate

Posted on June 23, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Happy to have had my cynicism proven wrong. Exactly four weeks after a teenage gunman armed with a semiautomatic rifle massacred 19 elementary schoolers and two teachers in Uvalde, the U.S. Senate voted 64-34 Tuesday night to advance a bipartisan … Continue reading →

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HISD approves its budget

Posted on June 12, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

First one for the new Superintendent. Houston ISD trustees on Thursday unanimously approved a $2.2 billion budget that will give teacher raises some have called long overdue and fund the upcoming school year when the district is expected to begin … Continue reading →

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Social media monitoring is not a solution to school shootings

Posted on June 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

While current Republican “solutions” for gun violence include door control and arming teachers, one “solution” that has been in place for the past few years has been monitoring social media for signs of gun-related threats. That was in place in … Continue reading →

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Please don’t ever talk to me about “a good guy with a gun” or “hardening the schools” again

Posted on May 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The police were there but did nothing. A gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at a South Texas elementary school walked unopposed onto school grounds, state law enforcement officials said Thursday — and once he was inside, it … Continue reading →

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