Education

The federal hearing concluded without a final decision in the case between the Northside Independent School District and a John Jay High School student who refuses to wear a radio frequency identification card.

In the meantime, 15-year-old Andrea Hernandez, the sophomore refusing the ID card, will be allowed to stay at John Jay until the end of the semester. Northside Superintendent Brian Woods said that decision was made by the district.

[Update: Thursday, Dec. 20] The Texas School Safety Center, located at Texas State University in San Marcos, now says there are only 29 schools not in compliance with the safety audits.

This is down from the 78 total districts who did not meet the Texas Education Code safety requirement -- 38 that did not report, and 40 that were not fully compliant. The center said that slow paperwork is to blame for those schools that are now cleared.

The first steps are in motion that will take Mayor Julián Castro’s early education initiative from the ballot box to the classroom.

On Thursday city council officially appointed the new Pre-K 4 SA Board of Directors. They also voted to hire a recruiting firm to look for the top positions within the initiative, and they adopted the ordinance to implement the sales tax increase.

Appointees to the board include: