Latest news with #PalestineISD
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
TOWNHALL TENSION: State reps booed off stage during education meeting
PALESTINE, Texas (KETK) – East Texas State Rep. Cody Harris ended a Q&A session one hour early on Friday night after he warned the audience to be respectful. East Texas Rep says school choice will pass in State House Harris, who represents Palestine in the Texas State House, was holding a town hall at Palestine High School in order to answer questions about his education policy push in Austin. He's pushing for bills meant to better educate Texas children and to create more opportunities for our teachers. Harris talked to parents about his initiatives, but the set two-hour long meeting only lasted half that time. It was intense from the very beginning. There were school choice protestors outside and educators yelling throughout the evening. Harris was joined by the author of the school choice bill, Representative Brad Buckley of Salado. Anytime Rep. Buckley would explain a fact in House Bill 3, he was met with loud comments, yelling and questions from the audience. Harris gave one warning and became fed up. People had already started leaving before Harris ended the meeting one hour early and walked off the stage. One Palestine ISD principal was upset she didn't hear from the man she voted for. 'Mr. Buckley, who does not represent Anderson County, answered,' Grace Mancilla, principal of A. M. Story Intermediate in Palestine said. Texas budget proposals would fund school choice, border security, property tax relief Harris said he wanted to bring the author of the townhall to explain HB3 in more detail. He explained that the point of the town hall was to explain the pieces of legislation to help rural East Texas public schools. House Bill 2 will invest over $7.6 billion into public education including a significant portion for teacher pay raises. House Bill 4 would eliminate the STAAR test and Harris said House Bill 6 would expand disciplinary measures to 'foster a respectful and conducive learning atmosphere, encouraging more professional to join and remain in the teaching profession.' 'In my entire district where I've got over 30 public school days, I have one private school that is accredited. The rest are not. None of those other private schools right now would even be eligible for the ESA's. The vast majority of what we're talking about tonight is what we're doing to benefit our local public schools,' Harris said. One Palestine ISD parent believes the money taken away from public schools and it will hurt her daughter's education. 'Teachers do deserve to get higher pay, higher funding and I want my taxes to go towards teachers getting a better pay so my daughter can get a better education. I don't want my taxes going to the hands of the wealthy,' Palestine ISD parent, Lauren Jones said. If parents are still worried, Harris encouraged anyone who is willing to reach out to his office. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
East Texas schools, doctors see surge in illnesses
TYLER, Texas (KETK) – Since last Fall, 12 million flu infections have led to more than 6,600 deaths in the United States, according to the CDC. These staggering numbers are being felt in East Texas classrooms as well. RSV cases in children, elderly on the rise in East Texas East Texas doctors are seeing a surge of people come through their offices and schools said they're seeing a dip in attendance. 'It started gradually and then has just hit us really, really hard,' Director of public relations for Palestine ISD, Larissa Loveless said. 'Recently we've seen a drop about a 5% drop.' Loveless said the school's attendance typically sits at 96% but in the past few weeks has hovered at around 90%. 'We've had everything from intestinal stomach issues to cold allergy, flu-like symptoms and flu as well,' Loveless said. Dr. Johnathan David with East Texas Community Clinic said they're seeing several serious visits and that high numbers might stick around. 'This is the peak that we've seen so far. That could change and the peak could continue to rise in cases,' Davis said. 'At least in our local clinic here, we're seeing more acute visits right now than we have in previous months.' UT Tyler celebrates School of Nursing's 50th Anniversary They're trying to keep spots open in their day for cases of type 'A' and 'B' flu, RSV and the common cold. 'We try to help patients out at a pretty quick turnaround, to get them in and out of the clinic, to get treated for these illnesses, especially in this season,' David said. With three known illnesses going around, schools like Palestine ISD can only do their best to stay ahead of a surge of sickness to keep everyone healthy during the sick season 'One of our elementary campuses, our kindergarten and first grade campuses, have requested particular disinfectants being sprayed in their building and campus administration,' Loveless said. Other schools in East Texas are also taking steps during this season to help slow the spread of germs. Trinidad ISD closed their doors on Friday to give time for additional cleaning and Carlisle ISD sent messages home to parents warning them to keep their children home if they are sick. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
