Embattled Uvalde Police Chief Fired

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The Uvalde CISD has  fired police chief Pete Arredondo, three months after Robb Elementary massacre.

The embattled now-former chief was a no-show at Wednesday's school district meeting, instead submitting a 17-page statement asserting his First Amendment rights were violated.

The decision of the board was effective immediately.

He still remains an elected member of the city council, to which he was elected before the shooting at the school.

(Full story HERE.)
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Governor's Public Safety Office Gives $1.25 Million To Uvalde ISD For Counseling

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Gov. Greg Abbott yesterday announced the Governor's Public Safety Office (PSO) is providing $1.25 million to the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD). 

The funds will provide counseling, trauma-informed care, crisis intervention, and community outreach efforts for students and faculty affected by the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School. These state financial resources will also establish a district-wide, trauma-informed counseling program to ensure Uvalde students receive support services and counseling within the UCISD.

(Full story HERE
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Gov. Abbott Orders Random Safety Audits Of Schools

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Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday instructed state school security and education officials to start conducting “in-person, unannounced, random intruder detection audits on school districts” to find weak access points and see how quickly staff can enter a school building without being stopped.

The mandate was one of several the governor laid out in a letter to school security authorities in an effort to ensure district emergency operations plans are solid and school buildings are protected in the wake of the Uvalde school massacre that left 19 children and two adults dead.

(Full story HERE.)
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Police Response In Evalde School Shooting Investigated

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The actions — or more notably, the inaction — of a school district police chief and other law enforcement officers moved swiftly to the center of the investigation into this week’s shocking school shooting in Uvalde, Texas,

The delay in confronting the shooter — who was inside the school for more than an hour — could lead to discipline, lawsuits and even criminal charges against police.

(Full story HERE.)
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Abbott Will Investigate Whether School District Pressured Staff To Vote For Bonds

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Gov. Greg Abbott wants to look into allegations to see if staffers at the largest school district in San Antonio, Northside Independent School District, felt pressured to vote in the recent bond election last weekend. 

Voters approved San Antonio's $1.2 billion bond, which also included the passing of Northside ISD's $992 million bond. About 58% of voters were in favor of Northside ISD's bond. 

(Full story HERE)
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Conservative Candidates Sweep Tarrant Co. School Election

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All but one of the 11 Tarrant County conservative school board candidates, who were backed this year by several high-profile donors and PACs, defeated their opponents during Saturday’s local elections, according to unofficial results.

The one candidate backed by the groups who didn’t win outright advances to a runoff election in June.

(Full story HERE.)
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Williamson County Denies School Districts Federal Funds Over Curriculum Concerns

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The Williamson County Commissioners Court voted 4-1 to allocate additional federal coronavirus relief funds to school districts in the county except for Leander ISD and Round Rock ISD during its Dec. 14 meeting.

The districts in Williamson County, which is located just north of Austin, have been embroiled in controversy since this summer, when parents discovered books with explicit sexual content being assigned to students or available in libraries

LISD and RRISD were excluded from this round of funding—the second batch of funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economy Security Act the county has distributed to schools—over concerns commissioners voiced both about inappropriate books in school libraries, and critical race theory being part of the school curriculum.

(Full story here.)
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Gov. Candidate West Would Investigate Parent Arrests By School Police

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Allen West, a Republican candidate for governor, vowed in front of Round Rock parents and community members Wednesday that he would launch an investigation into the Round Rock ISD Police Department if elected governor.

It comes after two men were arrested in connection to a RRISD board meeting.

(Full story here.)
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Abbott Directs Texas Education Agency To Investigate Pornography In Schools

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is directing the Texas Education Agency to investigate any pornography that may be in public schools and to report it to law enforcement if it's accessible to students.

"I am directing the Texas Education Agency to investigate any criminal activity in our public schools involving the availability of pornography," Abbott wrote in a letter Wednesday to Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath.

"During this investigation, I ask the agency to refer any instance of pornography being provided to minors under the age of 18 for prosecution to the fullest extent of the law."

In Texas, it is illegal to provide pornography to anyone under the age of 18 according to Section 43.24 of the Texas Penal Code. 

Democrats in the legislature and reporters in media outlets often scoff at claims that there is pornography in schools, but parents across the state and across the country have recently read excerpts from books available in school libraries to school district officials in public. Some of the books describe graphic sex acts between underage children.

(Full story here.)
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Judge Says Abbott's Student Mask Ban "Violates ADA"; Paxton Says It's Not Over

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A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting mask mandates in schools "violates the Americans with Disabilities Act" — freeing local officials to again impose mask mandates on students across the state.

The order comes after a disability rights organization sued Texas officials over whether the state was violating the 1990 law, known as the ADA, by not allowing school districts to require masks. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel barred Attorney General Ken Paxton from enforcing Abbott’s order.

Paxton reacted to the verdict on Twitter Wednesday:

"I strongly disagree with Judge Yeakel's opinion barring my office from giving effect to GA-38, which prohibits mask mandates imposed by government entities like school districts.

My Agency is considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision."

Local school districts face a growing firestorm from parents, who oppose mandates for masks in schools. School districts have attempted to limit public comment time during public meetings and reduce attendance in the rooms during those comment times in order to avoid excessive parental criticism. 

A recent letter from the Biden justice department labeled parents as "domestic terrorists" for commenting publicly at school board meetings, claiming they were threatening school board members across the country.

(Full story here.)
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Abbott Asks Texas School Board Assn. To Root Out Inappropriate Books, They Decline

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Gov. Greg Abbott today sent a letter to Texas Association of School Boards Executive Director Dan Troxell to ensure no child is exposed to pornography or other inappropriate content in a Texas public school. 

"A growing number of parents of Texas students are becoming increasingly alarmed about some of the books and other content found in public school libraries that are extremely inappropriate in the public education system," reads the letter. "The most flagrant examples include clearly pornographic images and substance that have no place in the Texas public education system. 

"You have an obligation to Texas parents and students to ensure that no child in Texas is exposed to pornography or other inappropriate content while inside a Texas public school," he wrote.

TASB officials were confused upon receiving Abbott’s letter because their organization has “no regulatory authority over school districts and does not set the standards for instructional materials, including library books,” spokeswoman Theresa Gage wrote to media via email.

Many media outlets portrayed Abbott's letter as "vague" in describing the problems he had with sexual content in books, but throughout the summer, parents across the state and local school boards have read explicit passages from books either assigned to students in elementary grades, or widely available in their libraries. 

Some of the passages included graphic sexual encounters between two underage children.

(Full story here.)
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Taxpayer Group Sues Round Rock ISD Over Tax Rate Hike Vote

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The Travis County Taxpayers Union is suing the Round Rock Independent School District in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The lawsuit comes after a few disruptive school board meetings, including one on Sept. 14 that ended with two arrests. That’s the same meeting where board members approved a new tax rate.

In the lawsuit, the union claims RRISD didn’t have enough trustees to vote on a new, higher rate, saying they tried to circumnavigate the Texas tax code.

(Full story here.)
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Sherman School District Rescinds Face Mask Mandate

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The Sherman Independent School District is dropping its face mask mandate starting Tuesday, September 21.

School board members meeting Monday evening voted to reverse the policy that had been in place for nearly a month in the wake of elevated COVID-19 cases among students and staffers.

"In order to keep our schools open and our students learning in person, we must begin to address this spike in cases before the situation becomes unmanageable," Superintendent David Hicks wrote in a letter to parents on August 23.

According to the district's own COVID dashboard, there are currently 199 students with coronavirus at all schools out of a total enrollment of more than 7,500.

Sherman, with a population of 44,000, is located just north of Dallas, just 16 miles south of the Texas/Oklahoma state line.

On September 10, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit against the Sherman ISD for defying Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order prohibiting face mask or vaccine mandates at public schools in the state.

(Full story here
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Judge Blocks Round Rock ISD Mask Mandate

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State District Judge Rick Kennon has temporarily blocked the Round Rock school district from enforcing its mask mandate.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who sued the school district along with several others, declared "Another WIN!" in his legal fight against school districts that have defied Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order banning schools from requiring masks.

"The Court finds that the State of Texas is thus likely to prevail on the merits and that a temporary restraining order is required to preserve the status quo and to prevent the irreparable harm of the continued violation of state law absent injunctive relief," Kennon's Tuesday order said.

A hearing on whether to extend the order will take place at 9 a.m. Sept. 28.

Round Rock ISD officials respond

Round Rock school district leaders said they would "comply with any lawfully issued court order."

(Full story here.)
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AG Paxton Sues Round Rock, Galveston, Other School Districts For Defying Mask Ban

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced a series of lawsuits against Texas school districts actively defying Gov. Greg Abbott's Executive Order GA-38 regarding mask mandates.

The six districts include Richardson, Round Rock, Galveston, Elgin, Spring and Sherman ISDs.

In the current school year, many districts across the state have chosen to go against the executive order, and the attorney general's office expects to file additional lawsuits if they're defiance of the order continues.

(Full story here.)
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AG Paxton Sues San Antonio ISD Over Employee Vaccination Mandate

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Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a complaint asking for a temporary restraining order against San Antonio ISD after it refused to follow Executive Order GA-38. GA-38 prohibits governmental entities and officials from mandating COVID-19 vaccinations. It has the force and effect of state law and preempts local rules and regulations.

“Executive Order GA-38 clearly states that government entities in Texas cannot impose mandates for vaccines with only an emergency use authorization,” Attorney General Paxton said. “The Texas Legislature gave the Governor the authority to create and enforce executive orders during a statewide emergency – not a hodgepodge of county judges, city mayors or superintendents."

"If other governmental entities continue to blatantly disregard state law, I will sue every single one of them," he said.

(Full story here.)
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#Texas Supreme Court Upholds School Mask Mandates; Paxton Defiant

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The Texas Supreme Court upheld school mask mandates in the state on Thursday, at least temporarily.

After a judge in Travis County, which encompasses the state capital of Austin, issued a temporary restraining order rejecting Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates, the decision was appealed to the high court, which upheld the lower court’s ruling.

Attorney General Ken Paxton said the ruling wasn't a defeat.

"Recent SCOTX decision is NOT a mask-mandate loss. Not a loss for freedom-loving Texans or the Rule of Law. A common procedural move that fake news is spinning. We addressed it & will press forward. I will defend TX Law & sue every entity that violates it. We will win! Stay tuned."

(Full story here.)
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#Texas AG Paxton Readies Lawsuits Against Mask-Imposing School Districts

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Attorney General Ken Paxton is making good on his threat to sue school districts that impose mask mandates on staff and students, contrary to Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order benning such mandates by government entities.

Paxton tweeted Wednesday:

"My office is reviewing all of your emails & taking action. I’m committed to protecting the rights and freedoms of all Texans. Exec. Order GA-38 prohibits gov. entities & officials from mandating face coverings or vaccines."

Paxton listed over 70 independent school districts, counties, and schools that have violated the governor's executive order on the Attorney General's website.

(Full story here.)
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#Texas Supreme Court Upholds Governor's School Mask Ban

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The Texas Supreme Court on Sunday ruled in favor of upholding Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) order prohibiting mask mandates, a win for the governor after local entities across the state attempted to defy him.

The state Supreme Court action blocked temporary restraining orders that came from district judges. The orders, upheld Friday by intermediate appellate courts, made it possible for local authorities to temporarily override the state mask requirement ban, the Austin American-Statesman reports.

(Full story here.)
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Abbott, Paxton File Suit To Challenge Dallas School Mask Mandate

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Gov. Greg Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday filed a petition to halt a judge's order requiring face masks inside schools and businesses in Dallas County. The order was signed despite Abbott previously banning government entities and officials from implementing mask mandates in Texas.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins on Wednesday signed an order requiring public schools, child care centers and businesses in Dallas County to develop health and safety plans that include, at minimum, face mask requirements for employees and visitors, CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reports. Jenkins cited rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations as the reasoning behind the mask mandate.

(Full story here.)
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