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Texas News
Women in education: Two Coastal Bend superintendents recount their rise to the top
Being a woman in power has its own set of obstacles.

One of the most influential people that help shape the world we live in — are educators.

3NEWS sat down with two superintendents. One from Kingsville ISD and the other from Gregory Portland ISD — with both discussing the type of obstacles they encounter in their profession.
TASB Legislative Report – March 31, 2023
Share how inflation has impacted your district: Raise Your Hand Texas has created a template for school districts to calculate the impact inflation has had on their budgets. You may use this tool to share that impact with your local legislators, especially as we approach discussion of the House budget bill, HB 1 (Bonnen), on Thursday, April 6.
Marfa ISD Superintendent Oscar Aguero resigns
Marfa ISD trustees voted unanimously on Monday evening to accept the resignation of Superintendent Oscar Aguero and to appoint teacher and Coach Arturo Alferez as interim superintendent. 

Aguero, who is in his fifth year as superintendent, has resigned effective June 30. He is in his eighth year with the district overall, having served in principal and curriculum director roles before becoming interim superintendent in 2016, then superintendent in 2017. 
KIPP Texas Public Schools announces next regional superintendent for San Antonio schools
KIPP Texas Public Schools has announced Guadalupe Diaz as the next regional superintendent for KIPP Texas-San Antonio.

KIPP Texas-San Antonio has seven tuition-free schools educating more than 3,700 students in the San Antonio region and is part of the KIPP Texas network of more than 59 pre-K-12 schools with 34,000 students across Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.

A news release said Diaz will join KIPP Texas with 20+ years in education encompassing community relationships, staff development, student achievement and school leadership.
March against HISD takeover builds on Latino activists’ legacy
Students, teachers and staff in the Houston Independent School District had a day off on Friday to commemorate labor activists Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta — and civic leaders are hoping the community honors their legacy by rallying against the impending state takeover.

At least a dozen groups joined forces to organize a march against the Texas Education Agency’s intervention in the state’s largest school district, which serves mostly Hispanic and Black students. In June, the state plans to oust elected trustees and appoint a board of managers to govern the district, a move that has sparked great confusion and concern in the community. 
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National News
More state takeovers are likely on the horizon: Here’s what to watch for
States are applying greater scrutiny to academic shortfalls and financial management, both of which play a role — sometimes alongside politics.

State takeovers are at a crossroads years following passage of both the No Child Left Behind and Every Student Succeeds Acts. 

Taken together, the two successive federal laws heightened school accountability politics and granted states power over low-performing districts. Now, in light of a push for increased local control on one hand and scrutiny of districts after COVID-19 closures on the other, some states are likely to steer toward state takeovers, while others move away from them. 
Teen Mental Health Crisis Pushes More School Districts to Sue Social Media Giants
More districts claim tech companies are a cause of the youth mental health crisis, with harmful algorithms and practices. Experts cast doubt on trial.

The teen mental health crisis has so taxed and alarmed school districts across the country that many are entering legal battles against the social media giants they say have helped cause it, including TikTok, Snap, Meta, YouTube and Google.

At least eleven school districts, one county, and one California county system that oversees 23 smaller districts have filed suits this year, representing roughly 469,000 students. 
The culture wars are driving teachers from the classroom. Two campaigns are trying to help
A new legal defense fund and a One Million Teachers of Color campaign seek to support and recruit teachers, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds

When Willie Carver Jr. won Kentucky’s 2022 Teacher of the Year award, he had no plans to leave the profession he was so passionate about. But a few months later, in June of last year, Carver suddenly announced he was departing his position as a high school teacher because of the constant discrimination and threats he said he faced as an openly gay man. 

“I never had an easy time teaching. I was a gay man in the rural south,” Carver said. “But I felt called to do it, because I know that students need to see people who look like them, who come from where they come from.” 
How 4 school leaders use communication, transparency to battle community divisions
Amid growing politicization, administrators are working to cultivate community with authenticity, visibility and meeting people where they’re at.

Ask an administrator about the state of politics in the classroom and, for the most part, you’ll get the same answer: U.S. education — already inherently political at its core — is more charged now than at any other point in recent decades. 

“Today there is far more politicization and polarization than in the past,” said Mike Lubelfeld, superintendent of North Shore School District 112 in Illinois, during a Wednesday afternoon panel and fireside chat hosted by K-12 Dive. “Times of calm are several years behind us, and hopefully very soon in front of us.” 
Nashville School Shooting Spotlights Security at Private Schools
An alarm blared and lights flashed as a heavily armed assailant stalked the hallways of The Covenant School.

Surveillance footage of the shooting Monday at the private Christian school in Nashville showed many familiar security measures, including the double set of locked glass doors the killer shot their way through before fatally shooting three children and three school employees.
Las Tienditas
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