Hays CISD vies to keep students safe

HAYS COUNTY — In an effort to keep students safe, Hays CISD has implemented a dismissal order at all campuses that requires walkers to be the last to leave.

Under the new policy, bus riders will be the first dismissed, then parent pickup, student drivers and student walkers.

Earlier this year, a student died after being hit by a vehicle in the Goodnight Middle School parking lot in San Marcos. While the tragic accident played a factor in the district’s decision, concerns were also brought to Hays CISD by city councils and local law enforcement.

“They had fielded a number of complaints from residents of neighborhoods around schools regarding parents trying to skip out of the car rider line by listing their children as walkers when they really were car riders. Many of these car riders listed as walkers would meet their parents elsewhere in the neighborhoods — around the corner [and] in other people’s driveways in some cases.” said Hays CISD Chief Communication Officer Tim Savoy. “This was a big part of the problem regarding walker safety. We had a lot of students who were walking in a number of different directions to find their parents' cars strategically parked to try to avoid waiting in the car pick-up line. Many walked in the road and between cars.”

The change is necessary for safety, Savoy said, but should also help with efficiency.

According to Savoy, Hays CISD recognizes that bus riders are the students who get home last by default, but by altering the dismissal order, the district hopes to cut down the length of time they are on the bus.

“Our bus riders are oftentimes on our buses for the most significant amount of time. Those are kids that are getting home very late. It’s not unusual for a kid to have to be on the bus for over an hour,” said Jeri Skrocki, head of district safety and security, at the Aug. 21 board of trustees meeting. “What our decision was is we are going to make sure that we get our queue lines for our buses moving first and foremost for all of our students at all of our locations.”

Also by implementing this policy, Skrocki said the district wants to get as much traffic out of the path where walkers will be released.

“Those kids are typically going to get home the soonest because they are typically going to live the closest. But our goal was to prevent anyone from having to deal with extra traffic on the roadway, so we want to empty our parking lots,” she said. “Unfortunately, we all heard of a very tragic situation in San Marcos and the bottom line is that we wanted to make sure our parking lots were as safe [as they could be].”

Skrocki said the district will be evaluating the queue lines throughout the school year and making any adjustments as necessary.

“Our goal 100% is to make those crossings 100% safe,” she said.

District updates

Ahead of Hays CISD’s first day back to school on Aug. 15, the district sent out a newsletter to families for updates to expect this year.

Bell schedule

The bell schedule for elementary schools has stayed the same, but middle schools have a new end time and high schools have a new start and end time. The additional minutes on each of the school days helps to give buses more time to make their pick-up and drop-off schedules, according to the newsletter. The added time also allows for more banked inclement weather minutes that would otherwise have to be made up on a scheduled holiday.

The new bell schedule is:

• Elementary schools: 7:30 a.m. – 2:55 p.m.

• Middle schools: 8:10 a.m. – 3:45 p.m.

• High schools: 8:55 a.m. – 4:25 p.m.

Attendance

Pending board approval, Hays CISD will implement a new policy affecting students who are absent without notice and unreachable for more than five consecutive school days. According to proposed changes to Policy FEA (Local), any student who has had no contact, participation or has not met the minimum criteria to be marked present for five consecutive school days shall be withdrawn from school. Hays CISD will make every effort to contact absent students at risk of being withdrawn to help them return to school.

The primary goal is keeping students in school, but the state of Texas continues to fund public schools based on average daily attendance and students who have moved or stopped attending school count against funding. That means tax dollars don't come back to the district to enable Hays CISD to give teacher raises and pay for instructional materials and supplies; rather, those tax dollars are redistributed by the state elsewhere.

Clear bag policy at games

For all football fans, a clear bag requirement is still active at Shelton Stadium, limiting the size and types of bags allowed during games and events. More information can be found at www.hayscisd.net/bags.

Graduation requirement

Freshmen entering high school beginning this year will be required to earn 40 volunteer service hours prior to their graduation. The specific graduation requirements are listed in Policy EIF (Local). Students will submit documentation and verification of their service hours through the SchooLinks platform; they can find more information from their specific campus.

ID badges

As another aspect of keeping all Hays CISD students, staff, volunteers and visitors safe, ID badges must be worn and clearly visible while on campus. The IDs must be prominently displayed at the neck or chest level at all times during the school day with no exceptions, according to the newsletter.

Clothes Closet and HaysHope2Go

The district is continuing the Clothes Closet and HaysHope2Go supplemental nutrition program this year. According to the district, both of these transformational social service initiatives are invaluable in the district’s efforts to eliminate socio-economic barriers that prevent students from succeeding. The Hays CISD Clothes Closet provides new and gently used clothing at no cost to Hays CISD students and their siblings, while HaysHope2Go works to alleviate hunger among district students who are most in need. Food insecurity is a major barrier to having students focus on their work in class and reaching their full academic potential and clothing insecurity can negatively affect self-esteem. To donate, volunteer or access services, visit www.hayscisd.net/clothes or www.hayscisd.net/hayshope2go.

To read the full Hays CISD Back to School Newsletter, visit www.hayscisd.net/backtoschool2324web.