BY VALERIA ESCOBAR
Katy ISD to install secure locks in 11K classrooms Before the 2025-26 school year, 11,000 class- rooms in Katy ISD will gain iplocks to provide further safety to teachers and students in case of a campus lockdown. The KISD board of trustees approved a $3.8 million contract with Flip Lok LLC at the March 31 meeting, funded by the 2023 bond. While the district already employs several safety protocols and requires doors to be locked during instructional time, the locks would act as further reassurance, KISD Police Chief David Rider said. How it works Fliplocks will be installed in the door frame with four-inch screws and are activated by swinging the locking mechanism toward the door and allowing it to drop down into a locked mode, according to the company website. It works on both inward and outward swinging
LCISD course to boost career readiness At the April 15 meeting, the Lamar CISD board of trustees unanimously approved the new general employability skills course for seventh and eighth graders ahead of the district’s $189 million career and technical education center opening in fall 2026. Kayse Lazar, executive director of CTE and career readiness, said the biggest change is that the general employability skills course, starting in September, will award students one high school credit upon completion— something the current course o ering, career investigations, does not. What else? Additionally, LCISD could receive over $1 million in new CTE revenue for the 2025-26 school year from the state for the middle school career course, Lazar said.
“We were already ahead of the game. We were already doing all these things. This is another example of something
that we’re doing that’s beyond the basic requirement that we have.” REBECCA FOX, KISD TRUSTEE
doors and will egress in one motion away from the door, Rider said. Next steps District operations and Flip Lok teams will work together after school hours and on student holi- days to install the locks on all classrooms where attendance is taken by August, Rider said. “These iplocks would give an added layer of protection and a visible a rmation to the students and sta ,” he said.
Katy ISD to hire fewer sta in 2025 26 school year Katy ISD trustees approved a plan March 31 to hire 262 additional sta members for the 2025-26 school year, slightly less from last year’s ask for 306.5 additional sta members. District growth Chief Human Resources O cer Brian Schuss quadrant and special education sta is a bulk of the sta ng demand.
Katy ISD's student enrollment
+2,118 +4,299
+1,852 +524
100K 90K 80K 0
Additionally, the district will hire less than needed to sta Boundy Elementary School, Cross Elementary School and Freeman High School in the 2025-26 school year, Schuss said. If the Legislature makes a contribution to sta - ing, then district o cials will bring a new sta ng plan to the board, Schuss said.
said it will be a “low-growth year” with about 524 new students next year. Growth in the northwest
*PROJECTED ENROLLMENT AS OF JANUARY
SOURCE: POPULATION AND SURVEY ANALYSTS COMMUNITY IMPACT
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